Ngā Manu Nature Reserve helps with recovery of dactylanthus

Rhys Mills inspects a dactylanthus specimen at Ngā Manu Nature Reserve. Photo / David Haxton

Ngā Manu Nature Reserve is playing a key part in the recovery of an unusual but very important plant species.

The threatened flowering plant, called dactylanthus, produces a lot of nectar and pollen which is enjoyed by various creatures.

Pekapeka [long and short-tailed bats], an endangered species, are one of the main pollinators of dactylanthus.

The Pua o te Reinga Recovery Project started in 2014 with the aim to create a new dactylanthus breeding population and seed bank at the reserve, located in Waikanae.

Ngā Manu Nature Reserve operations manager Rhy Mills said the remaining populations of dactylanthus in various parts of the country were on the decline because they weren’t reproducing.

“So all the plants are getting older and older.

“One of the curious things that happens to them is they [go from] producing lots of female flowers when they’re younger to just producing male flowers as they age.

“Initially with a new tuber, you’ll get lots of females, then as they get a bit older, they’ll go from male and female, and then just male.

Pekapeka are key pollinators of dactylanthus. Photo / David Mudge

“It’s in that latter part where most of these populations are sitting now, and unfortunately there’s not a lot of hand pollination or anything going on to try to reverse this.

“So we’ve been trying to establish this parasitic plant here at Ngā Manu.

“As far as we know, it’s the first time that this has been done outside of a [Department of Conservation] estate.”

After permission from DoC and iwi, dactylanthus seeds were sourced from the King Country and planted in some trail sites in Ngā Manu.

“In the last few years we’ve had four very active sites, and this year we’ve had a fifth one which had 12 tubers come up and significantly increased our population.

“It’s quite an achievement.”

Dactylanthus was “an absolutely mindblowing plant”.

“We really believe it’s a key part of the ecosystem as far as providing food.

“It produces a massive amount of nectar, and during the autumn you can smell a heavy musky scent from quite some distance away.

Dactylanthus growing at Ngā Manu Nature Reserve. Photo / David Haxton

“It produces flowers through the autumn when there’s very little other food around.

“It’s a larder for our ecosystem.”

Mills said one of the main pollinators of dactylanthus were pekapeka.

“The pekapeka will shove their face in and get completely covered in pollen.

“They take a huge amount of pollen to the next flower.”

There are pekapeka populations around various parts of the country.

The nearest one to Ngā Manu is a short-tailed population which was discovered recently in the Remutaka Range.

Mills said the reserve would “keep doing the job of the pekapeka” by hand pollinating the flowers each year.

“It’s about creating an insurance population and a seed bank to establish sites elsewhere.”