Auckland’s threatened flora
In recent years, we have noticed an increasing emphasis on local biodiversity as a core value of several large projects in Auckland’s centre on which we have worked. This is particularly important for projects that utilise Green Star or Living Building Challenge as frameworks for the incorporation of environmental objectives and ideals.
This aligns well with our longstanding interest in increasing advocacy for New Zealand’s threatened flora, as well as species of regional significance. One example has been the inclusion of the regionally significant swamp astelia (Astelia grandis) within designs; a decision that seems self-evident when one considers that this impressive species was first described from the area adjoining Ponsonby Rd.
Swamp astelia is not simply a historical footnote in urban Auckland, for a substantial population endures in a reserve near Massey, within damp riverine forest draining into the Waitematā (as shown above, and recounted within a previous journal article).
Auckland’s west coast is home to a highly attractive, native forget-me-not, Myosotis pansa var. pansa, that is now classified as nationally endangered. This beautiful, white-flowered coastal herb can play a valuable role within early stages of planting, and its free-seeding nature allows it to self-perpetuate where sufficient fertility is maintained (as is typical for many plants associated with seabird habitats).
The map below indicates only 5 places where plants of national and regional significance survive, as an example of the wider ‘constellation’ of sites that occur around the Auckland region.
The location marked on the top left of the map is the only place that a recently discovered species, Parahebe (syn. Veronica) jovellanoides, has been discovered, whilst the two sites on the west coast show the position of populations of Leptinella rotundata (near Muriwai) and Myosotis pansa subsp. pansa (near Karekare).
The other 2 places depicted here mark out remnants of Astelia grandis (in the western reaches of the Waitematā Harbour), and an impressive fern, Ptisana (syn. Marattia) salicina, to the southeast of the city (near Clevedon). This only represents a small number of sites that have relevance to the kinds of projects mentioned at the start of this article, and when one looks at historical records of locally-extinct species (such as Pimelea orthia in Central Auckland), further potential for connection to biodiversity becomes apparent.
Leptinella rotundata (pictured below) dropped off the radar of local botanists for nearly a hundred years – having been comparatively recently rediscovered within the Auckland region, in habitats that are regularly scoured by coastal winds.
Placing tangible diversity on local and regional biodiversity helps to shift the momentum of cities in a small way – including making species such as Parahebe (syn. Veronica) jovellanoides (pictured below) more than just names on a page. Restricted to just one patch of riverine forest in Auckland’s northwest, this critically endangered forest herb is an outlier within a genus more commonly associated with further south.
