Rare plant find in Raetihi

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 13, Issue 623, 13 February 1996, Page 5

Rare plant find in Raetihi

Finding a rare plant species in Raetihi has Department of Conservation staff excited. DoC staff in the Wanganui conservancy made some exciting finds over the summer of a number of rare plant species including one in Raetihi, some not previously known to exist in the conservancy. Senior conservation officer John Barkla says staff went to Raetihi to check out an old record of yellow mistletoe dating back to 1939 and 1944 with little expectation of finding anything 50 years later or even being able to find the tree it grew in. After about an hour on the job laying prone on the ground in various places with binoculars pointing sky ward toward beech trees, two plants of the mistletoe, Alepis flavida, were spotted high in a host beech tree. The tree is in the Raetihi Motor Camp, and with cooperation from the owner, DoC staff have since been back to band the tree to protect it from possums. Mistletoe is a favourite possum food. A nearby tree was also banded in the hope that seed from the mistletoe would spread. "It's the only record of this species of mistletoe in the Wanganui conservancy and it is extremely rare in the North Island. It flowers in January with upright orange-

yellow flowers in small bunches. Mistletoe is a parasitic shrub. There are two red-flowered types, the yellow one found in Raetihi and two others with minute green flowers. They all have attractive juicy fruits which are spread by birds." Following up old sightings of dactylanthus in Taumarunui has also borne fruit. DoC had no recent records of li ve plants in the area but people who have li ved there for some time were spoken to about their memories of where the plants used to be. Wood roses are threatened by souvenir hunters who dig them up and polish the root on which the plants have been feeding, as well as by possums "who think they're caviar".