Lesser-known native plants also in danger

By ANNE BESTON

Not being cute and feathery is a distinct disadvantage for New Zealand's endangered plants.

Bird conservation, in particular for the kiwi, kokako and takahe, is well advanced and has a relatively high public profile.

But saving rare plants from extinction just doesn't have the same pull on the heart strings.

"You have to be positive to do this job," Department of Conservation botanist Bec Stanley says wryly.

Auckland alone has 170 threatened plants, from the kakabeak to the king fern.

Nationwide, there are 300 native plants in decline.

We now have as many introduced plants in New Zealand as we do natives - and they are under pressure.

In Auckland, 40 native plant species are extinct while, nationwide, 10 have gone for good, including one mistletoe, two native grasses and two types of cress.

"We are not as far ahead as we are in bird conservation because historically our unique plants didn't get the same attention.

"But there has been more work done by DoC in the past five years than ever before," says Ms Stanley.

The department has just begun a conservation programme for one of Auckland's disappearing natives - pirita, also known as green or scrub mistletoe.

The work is in its infancy but after five years of research it is time to put theory into practice.

"Threatened plant propagation is quite technical and mistletoe are a special life form. We have lost a lot of them in Auckland," Ms Stanley says. "Two we did have have disappeared and are now restricted to the Hauraki Gulf islands."

Pirita is a bushy shrub with leathery rounded leaves, a small greenish-yellow flower and yellow fruit that attract birds.

It doesn't like shade and is often found huddled on roadsides, vulnerable to weed spraying and traffic.

Because mistletoe are parasites, if the host tree dies, they die too.

At Miranda, a population of Kaiaua pirita growing on makaka or saltmarsh ribbonwood will be lost unless they can be encouraged to shift to new host trees being planted on an adjacent DoC reserve.

Pirita seed will be scattered on the 900 newly planted hosts and it is hoped birds will also spread the seed to help the plant re-establish itself.

"This is the first time we have done this, so we don't know if it's going to be successful or not," Ms Stanley says.

The other threatened plant programme underway is the replanting of coastal cress on Rangitoto Island.

Lepidium flexicaule was once abundant in Auckland but hasn't been seen here for more than 100 years.

Possums and wallabies on the island ate it to extinction.

Now that these animals have been eradicated, the cress - closely related to Captain Cook's scurvy grass - has been taken to four planting sites on the island's northern coast.

The seed was collected from the South Island and sown at Auckland's Botanical Gardens.

The gardens have played a crucial role in propagating plants for relocation.

But despite the low profile, it is not all bad news in the world of plant conservation.

DoC staff recently found a mistletoe species, tupeia Antarctica, on Fanal Island, just north of Great Barrier Island, that was thought to be extinct in the Auckland region.

"It was really exciting," says Ms Stanley. "We've now discovered four other plants, so it's just a matter of monitoring them and making sure they survive."

The eradication of rats on the island may be the reason why the plants grew large enough to be rediscovered.

Pest eradication to help native birds often aids plants as well but that is not the only support Ms Stanley gets.

Each weekend, she says, a small army of botanists and conservationists are tramping the length and breadth of the country checking, mapping and collecting data about New Zealand's native flora.

"I couldn't do my job without them."