Our unique species continue to fascinate and surprise us

DAMP DELIGHT: A juvenile 3m-high "tawaki' (syzygyum maire) in Rob Butcher's swamp block. SWAMP-MAIRE

I would never have believed that I could be so fascinated with our native trees and plants.

At a recent botany group meeting, two speakers from the National Seed Bank gave a talk on native tree seed collection and preservation. The young female assistant was an ecology graduate specialising in clianthus and charmichelia (kaka beak and native brooms).

After the meeting I was delighted to find she had the same obsession as I do about our native trees. There was no faking the fire in her eyes when we talked about some of the unique oddities of mutual acquaintances.

The excitement factor for me comes from the difference of our endemic species (plants and critters) to their overseas cousins. This, of course, is because they have lived in complete isolation for many millions of years and evolved diverse genetic systems to adapt to our unique environment - differences like the lovely blue pollen on our native fuchsia (excorticata) and fruit-bearing conifers (podocarps).

These differences could also mean medical aids such as happens with manuka honey.

One tree that excites me is swamp maire, (syzygium maire) which I learned about at another botanical group meeting, a few years back. We were invited to Gordon Park Bush reserve where group leader Colin Ogle showed us a young specimen he had found growing there.

Our group, which included a class of children, waded through the swampy bush to find the 3m-high tree growing in a pool of water up to our gum boot tops. It was a wonderful experience and I am sure those kids remember the swamp maire.

These trees (tawaki) are endemic to New Zealand and are now a threatened species. They only grow in permanently wet swamps which have now been mostly drained. A lovely specimen can be seen actually growing in Virginia Lake.

Another tree that has played a big part in my life for the last decade is the native tree fuchsia (fuchsia excorticata). I have tried so hard to grow these fascinating trees with frustrating results, so imagine my surprise while clearing away old man's beard to discover a lovely specimen growing underneath the two metres of weeds.

I saw the distinctive fuchsia leaves sticking out above the weeds and it was a magic moment - all those years trying to grow them and here is one growing wild, even starting to get the distinctive orange trunk. These trees are stacked with fruit and nectar from an early age and attract birds and bees.

I have planted hundreds of other native trees in the three blocks I have on my lifestyle block which has amazingly different types of habitat for just a 10-acre block.

The eastern end is a swampy area fed by a permanent spring and inhabited by a family of moreporks. I have managed to grow two swamp maire here, with many more swamp-loving species.

It is so important for us to try and conserve these native species.

Rob Butcher is a retired engineer and keen conservationist