Overview
In January 2021, Research Scientist Heidi Meudt and Collection Manager Antony Kusabs made botanical collections in Otago and the West Coast. They visited the following areas:
- Harris Mountains (End Peak and Treble Cone)
- Pisa Range
- Dunstan Mountains
- Charleston
Over the course of the 12-day trip, different botanists accompanied them at different sites (David Lyttle, Neill & Barbara Simpson, Melissa Jager, Rebecca Teele, Hamish Brown, John Barkla, Dhana Pillai, Charlotte Boyt, Cara-Lisa Schloots and Alice Shanks).
Fourteen populations of seven native Myosotis species were collected. A herbarium specimen and leaf samples for DNA research were collected for each species to help address key research questions as part of Te Papa's Myosotis research program.
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).