Overview
In December 2020, Research Scientist Heidi Meudt and Collection Manager Antony Kusabs made botanical collections on Hikurangi in the East Cape of the North Island, with permission from Ngati Porou.
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 (Myosotis amabilis) 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).