Thread: Native plant identification

Pepper wood is a deer favorite, Matagouri can contain particularly fallow during the early arvo but its really nasty shit! Spear grass is in the nasty's.

Rimu is also a good deer habitat

crown fern is a good bet for finding the elusive whitetail.
Manuka and kanuka are great fallow hiding trees which are a must to poke through. both are great for camo'ing your mai mai up or for use as a temporary blind for parries.

rata is iron wood, quite a bit in the north west arm of the catlins. with vines interspersing. best bet,go 200m in to escape the re gen and then its a bit easier. but not by much!.

Heres a few
Hemlock


Convolfulas



And grass

Heres the two pics I missed

Convolfulos


The friggen grass is taller than me but hey I'm no giant

Our pommie fore fathers have a lot to answer for bringing weeds in to this country. Reckon I should round up a bunch of them and get them to take the scotch thistle and ragwort back off of my farm.

They can have my ragwort too while ya at it Rushy.There are so many nasty weeds in our beautiful bush.

Ngaio (Myoporum Laetum)

Can be used to repel sandflys and mosquito by rubbing the leaves on your skin.

Can also be toxic to stock.

Originally Posted by ebf

I'm keen to increase my practical plant id skills. In broad terms, I want to work on a list of 5-10 of the most important plants in the following categories:

Deer food:

Seven Finger / Pate / Schefflera digitata
Five Finger / Whauwhaupaku / Pseudopanax arboreus
NZ Broadleaf / Kapuka / Griselinia littoralis
Stinkwood/?/Coprosma foetidissima

Nasty

Gorse / ??? / Ulex europaeus
Stinging nettle/ Onga Onga / Urtica Ferox
??? / Tutu / Coriaria arborea
Cutty grass / Toetoe / Austroderia
Hookgrass/?/Uncinia spp.
Leatherwood/?/Oleria colensoi and others
Bush lawyer/?/Rubus cissoides

Usefull / Medicinal

Dock / ??? / ???
??? / Kawa Kawa / ???

Edible (human)

Fern root / Aruhe / ???
??? / Hinau / Elaeocarpus dentatus
??? / Tawa / Beilschmiedia tawa
??? / Kiekie / Freycinetia banksii
Black tree fern / Mamaku / Cyathea medullaris
Supplejack/?/Ripognum scandens soft growing tips and the red berries
bush lawyer/?/Rubus cissoides and R. parvus berries like blackberry but smaller. parvus has the biggest berries only seen it once in the Burke R near Haast Pass

Pls help me flesh out the lists...

I've added some in blue.
Bush lawyer is the vine with little barbs, catches on your clothes. Stinging nettle has 10cm soft serrated leaves with delicate furry hypodermics underneath.
I've found it quite hard to get a book which is useful for identfying an unknown plant in the bush. Most, like Salmon's Native Tees focus on trees. Ferns and vines are harder to reference. Look for Andrew Crowe's "Which native tree ?' and "Which native forest plant ?" Publ Penguin 1992 and 1994 and reprinted. and he did a hardcover book "A field guide to the native edible plants of New Zealand" pbl Collins 1981

ta, been a bit slack with updating, will work my way thru the last few additions later this morning

Sorry slight off topic and this can be tidied up later, but has anyone seen that program (perhaps it was just the one episode?) about NZ 'native' birds and the whole Gwandana land / Zealandia / New Zealand movement of land etc..? It was really interesting but I wish they had a similar thing for plants!! It was about the evolution of birds and how for example the Kiwi actually started in Aussy.

Visit Welly library and get "Ghosts of Gondwana" by Greorge Gibbs.

Has fauna and flora from a tectonic movement perspective. Includes the divericate plants and proof of moa browsing, as well as some interesting chapters on hebe group of plants and similarities between South America and NZ.

The visitor centre at Zealandia has an awesome visual display from 200 M years ago to today about Gondwana breakup, how Antarctica functioned as a land bridge etc.

Latest updates...

Tx to those providing info

Deer food:

Broadleaf / Kapuka / Griselinia littoralis
Bushmans Friend / Rangiora / Brachyglottis repanda
Crown Fern / Kiokio / Blechnum discolor - Whitetail
Five Finger / Whauwhaupaku / Pseudopanax arboreus
Seven Finger / Pate / Schefflera digitata
Stinkwood / Hūpiro / Coprosma foetidissima
Pepper Wood / ??? / ???
Whiteywood / Mahoe / Melicytus ramiflorus
Wild Irishman / Matagouri / Discaria toumatou - Fallow

Nasty

??? / Karaka / Corynocarpus laevigatus - has a poisonous seed in its fleshy orange fruit
??? / Tītoki / Alectryon excelsus – contains cyanide-producing poisons
Bushmans Lawyer / Tātarāmoa / Rubus cissoides
Cutty grass / Toetoe / Austroderia
Blueberry lilly, Inkberry / Turutu / Dianella Nigra - (purple) berries poisonous
Gorse / ??? / Ulex europaeus
Hookgrass/ ??? / Uncinia spp.
Kangaroo Apple / Poroporo / Solanum aviculare, S. laciniatum – their unripe green berries are poisonous
Kowhai / Kowhai / Sophora species – its yellow seeds are poisonous if chewed.
Leatherwood / ? / Oleria colensoi
Mousehole Tree / Ngiao / Myoporum Laetum - has poisonous leaves
Spear Grass / ??? / ???
Stinging Nettle / Onga Onga / Urtica Ferox
Tutu / Tutu / Coriaria arborea - just about every part of the tree (roots, bark, berries) is poisonous

Usefull / Medicinal

??? / Koromiko / Hebe stricta - eating young leaves is a remedy for constipation
??? / Kowhai / Sophora spp.
Dock / ??? / ??? - treatment for Onga Onga sting
Flax / Harakeke / Phormium colensoi & tenax - pulp of leaves & roots, heated, use for infections and boils
Manuka / Manuka / Leptospermum scoparium - leaves made into tea for fever, ash for dandruff
Mousehole Tree / Ngiao / Myoporum Laetum - repel sandflys and mosquito by rubbing the leaves on your skin
Pepper Tree / Kawa Kawa / Macropiper excelsum - toothache, upset tummy
Pepperwood / Horopito / Pseudowintera colorata - leaves & tender branches steeped, use for chafing, wounds, bruises, cuts
Rata / Rata / ???

Edible (human)

??? / Hinau / Elaeocarpus dentatus
??? / Karaka / Corynocarpus laevigatus - flesh of berries, seed is poisonous
??? / Kiekie / Freycinetia banksii
??? / Tawa / Beilschmiedia tawa
Black tree fern / Mamaku / Cyathea medullaris
Cabbage tree / Ti Kouka / Cordyline australis - center of the head of the tree ,the base or pith(the white bit) of the spear like center can be eaten raw
Fern root / Aruhe / Pteridium esculentum - carbohydrate, root cooked, then beaten to remove hard outer skin
Sow Thistle / Puha / ???
Suplejack / Kareao / Ripogonum scandens - soft tips are edible
Watercress / Kowhitiwhiti / ???

EBF...whitey wood; mahoe (in these parts) boil the tip leaves...taste like cabbage...

you call it stinkwood, here it is called stinking coprosma (only stinks when the foliage has wilted...smells like faecal matter)

Dougie wrote...
Sorry slight off topic and this can be tidied up later, but has anyone seen that program (perhaps it was just the one episode?) about NZ 'native' birds and the whole Gwandana land / Zealandia / New Zealand movement of land etc..? It was really interesting but I wish they had a similar thing for plants!! It was about the evolution of birds and how for example the Kiwi actually started in Aussy.

Not possible, Dougie, no Kiwi started in Australia, I will not have it

Then you have the vegetation on Campbell's Island...unbelievable...try the book Campbell Island - Land of the Blue Sunflower by Derek Fell, published by Bateman.

Mountain tutu has to be on the deer food list. Sika magnet in spring.

Originally Posted by Rushy

Our pommie fore fathers have a lot to answer for bringing weeds in to this country. Reckon I should round up a bunch of them and get them to take the scotch thistle and ragwort back off of my farm.

Many of the introduced plants, were not weeds in the Auld Countrees...ragwort was a garden plant, honeysuckle...etc

Originally Posted by Rushy

Our pommie fore fathers have a lot to answer for bringing weeds in to this country. Reckon I should round up a bunch of them and get them to take the scotch thistle and ragwort back off of my farm.

Tell ya wot me ole china, you pay for the airfare and i will take back whatever you want me to take.