Overview
In January 2020, Research Scientist Heidi Meudt and Collection Manager Antony Kusabs made botanical collections on Mount Hikurangi in the East Cape of the North Island and another site nearby.
They were joined in their search by Manaaki Whenua - Landcare Research botanist Kerry Ford, visiting Spanish botantist Santiago Martin-Bravo, Bay of Plenty Regional Council land management officer Scott Kusabs, Department of Conservation biodiversity ranger Graeme Atkins, He Oranga Trust manager Tui Warmenhoven, and spontaneous volunteer Molly Baptista.
One population of a native Myosotis species was located. A herbarium specimen and leaf samples for DNA research were collected to help address key research questions as part of Te Papa's Myosotis research program. A second native Myosotis species that had been last collected on Mt Hikurangi in the 1950s was searched for but not found.
Other indigenous and naturalised species were also collected as part of general Te Papa collection development to improve our knowledge of what grows where in New Zealand.
Most of the collection records and photos of plants we collected on this trip can be seen here (scroll down to "Related Objects" below).