Past Events

Start of semester FREE BBQ

Yes, there is such a thing as a free lunch! A BBQ to welcome new botany/ecology students and new BSO members. At the front lawn, Botany House Annex, Great King Street (across the road from the main Botany building). Sausage sandwiches and drinks provided free by the Botanical Society of Otago. All BSO members welcome!

Developing an urban sanctuary - the Karori Experience

A talk by Diane Campbell-Hunt, author of Developing a Sanctuary - the Karori Experience (2002), available from the Karori Wildlife Sanctury bookshop. The talk will cover:

• the history of the Karori Sanctuary project
• the challenges they faced in getting the project underway and how they dealt with those challenges
• and their long-term restoration goals, including progress to date.

At the NEW Zoology Benham Building, 346 Great King Street, behind the Zoology car park by the Captain Cook Hotel. Use the main entrance of the Benham Building to get in and go to the Benham Seminar Room, Rm. 215, 2nd floor. Please be prompt as we have to hold the door open.

Trip to Piko Piko POSTPONED

THIS TRIP HAS BEEN POSTPOSED UNTIL EARLY IN 2005 DUE TO BAD WEATHER AND RIVER LEVELS. SORRY FOR THE INCONVENIENCE. The plan is to leave the Botany car park at 9.00am Saturday 4th Dec. NB The fossil forest site is only accessible when the Waiau River is reasonably low, so we will send an e-mail message to confirm that the river level is OK by 12 noon on Friday 3rd. We'll have a one hour stop at a fossil site with silicified tree stumps near Mataura on the way. After that we will drive to Piko Piko itself for a 1pm lunch (about a 4 hour drive altogether). There is a short drive over private farmland and then a 15 min walk to the fossil forest from the cars. We can spend about 2 hours looking at the tree stumps, fallen logs, leaf fossils, and other interesting concretions, etc. After fossil viewing we have been asked to contribute to a species list for the beech forest with large number of divaricating shrubs on the adjacent river bank. So it will be a mix of ancient and modern floral activities. The plan is to be finished by about 5pm at the site. The trip officially ends here as Daphne is booked up for Sunday, but there are plenty of things to be seen in the local area, such as Lake Hauroko, or the Giant Totaras, if people wanted to do stuff the next day. Bookings essential. Contact Ian Radford (w 479 9065 or h 472 7470) to book a place.

Weekend trip to Hinewai

Weekend trip to Hinewai on the gorgeous Banks Peninsula. Saturday 13th November to Sunday 14th November. Against the backdrop of this impressive landscape, come and see old growth and regenerating vegetation ranging from sub-alpine, through red beech forest, to coastal/maritime vegetation, and including a number of Banks Peninsula endemics. Hugh Wilson, custodian of Hinewai, and also writer of several excellent botanical field guides, will take us on a personalised tour of the reserve, which he has become identified with. Hugh will not only introduce us to his wonderful botanical companions at Hinewai, but also to his unique approach to bush regeneration. The distance to travel will necessitate that this trip is an overnight one, and there are 12 beds on site for those interested in staying. People are mostly leaving on Friday night (12th November), so if you are planning to go, you must contact Ian Radford (w 479 9065 or h 472 7470) for details. You can also contact Hugh himself (03 304 8501) to book a bed.

Plants with a Purpose

A talk by Beatrice Hale, author of The New Zealand Pleasure Garden (2004). The speaker writes: "I want to explore the myriad purposes of plants- their purposes and our purposes.

 
I want to take you on a personal journey beyond the plants in our gardens to discuss the excitement of their origins, their journeys to New Zealand, and their value to us. The New Zealand Pleasure Garden is about how we can use our plants beyond the usual picking, cooking and potpourri activities. It is about making a garden for all the senses, vision, taste, touch, hearing and fragrance; it is also about what lies beyond. What else can we do with our plants? Touch them and feel their differences. Travel mentally by reading, time travel by looking into histories of plants and explorers. Exploit the beauty and endless fascination of plants to create pictures, jewellery.....
 
I want to explore what plants do for us - the wonder of planting and growing for people with disabilities - for people who are older - for migrants who want reminders of home.....
 
I want to explore the endless possibilities of plants."
 
At the NEW Zoology Benham Building, 346 Great King Street, behind the Zoology car park by the Captain Cook Hotel. Use the main entrance of the Benham Building to get in and go to the Benham Seminar Room, Rm. 215, 2nd floor. Please be prompt as we have to hold the door open.

Weekend field trip to the Catlins with John Barkla

The Catlins offer a huge range of botanical delights including silver beech forest, alluvial valleys with rare shrub communities, peat bogs, coastal dunes, cliffs and estuaries. Saturday will be spent in the south Catlins exploring the fine coastal podocarp forests of Tahakopa Bay, coastal ecosytems and possibly peat bogs. Sunday will be based around the northern Catlins with visits to see the extraordinary wildlife and flora of Nugget Point and an Olearia hectorii restoration site in the Owaka Valley. Accommodation on Saturday night will be at the Nugget Point Lighthouse Keepers house (numbers limited). Day trippers are welcome to join us on either day. To reserve accommodation or find out more contact John Barkla ph. 476 3686 (evenings). Leave from the Botany car park at 8:30 AM.

3rd Annual Geoff Baylis Lecture

A modern taxonomist in a postmodern era Servant or Master? A talk by Henry Connor, DSc, FRSNZ, co-author of Flora of New Zealand Volume V, Grasses. The pinnacle of botanical research is taxonomy; every subdiscipline is its contributor. Most users of the outcomes of taxonomic endeavour look for a binomial of convenience. Is this an appropriate outcome? Or are taxonomists just targets of attack over the lack of monophyleticism or the presence of paraphyleticism? A modern taxonomist will attempt some answers to modern problems, but will emphasise the amount of tedious work that lacks the modern appeal of DNA sequencing, cladograms and prominence in every botanical journal. In Castle 1 Lecture Theatre. For those that wish to join us, dinner will follow at Eureka Café and Bar, 116 Albany Street Dunedin.

The current state of bird-plant mutualisms in New Zealand

A talk by Dave Kelly, University of Canterbury. In an important paper, Clout & Hay (1989, New Zealand Journal of Ecology Supplement) argued that the bird-plant interaction most at risk in modern New Zealand was that of seed dispersal, especially for large-seeded trees dependent on the kereru. In this talk I review progress on this subject in the 15 years since their paper was published, and show that both pollination and dispersal are at some risk, but for different reasons. Despite extensive work on these topics, there are still some very important questions that we have only the beginnings of answers to. Some of these tentative answers are outlined, and predictions are made about the true state of mutualisms. I also review to what extent the birds depend on the plants, as well as the plants depending on the birds. At the NEW Zoology Benham Building, 346 Great King Street, behind the Zoology car park by the Captain Cook Hotel. Use the main entrance of the Benham Building to get in and go to the Benham Seminar Room, Rm. 215, 2nd floor. Please be prompt as we have to hold the door open. The 2004 Leonard Cockayne Memorial Lecture lecture, that Dave will be giving the following day in Dunedin is entitled "Plant reproductive biology in New Zealand: masting, mutualisms and mistletoes". That talk will be on at 12 noon the 6th October, in the Hutton Theatre, Otago Museum, 419 Great King St, Dunedin

Expedition to the Sea shore

A trip lead by Dr. Lisa Russell, Teaching Fellow in Botany. The intertidal zone (region between high and low tides) is particularly stressful for for seaweed growth. Despite this however, there is a high diversity of species found within this zone on southern beaches around the Otago coast. Providing the weather is calm we will be heading to Shag Point to look at some diverse rocky platforms. Shag Point is a region of special conservation value not only in relation to marine species but also rare terrestrial species. It is also the site of one of New Zealand's few underwater coalmines. We will also look at the nearby reef at Moeraki where the intertidal seaweed community has been replaced by the invasive kelp Undaria and discuss some of the implications this species might have on our native species. If the weather is not so good we will head out closer to home to the rocky shore at Brighton, where there is a diverse seaweed community comprising of a number of species which are only found in South Australia and southern New Zealand. Including a large number of seaweeds that are made up of a single cell but display a wide range of morphological forms. You will be surprised what a single cell can do! People should bring gum boots if they want their feet to remain dry. Also lunch, hat, warm wind-proof and/or water-proof clothing. Basically we'll be doing a bit of wading bacause the tide is not a very low one. Meet at the Botany carpark at 9:30 AM. Contact Lisa Russell on 479 9061 (w) or Ian Radford as below.

Trip to Southland Community Nursery

Trip to Southland Community Nursery, Otatara, Invercargill. Chris and Brian Rance have established what they have called a "Community Nursery". The aim of this nursery is to provide facilities and materials (potting mix, pots etc) to help people to grow local endemic plants and to restore vegetation of the local areas. Brian and Chris have lots of experience in growing native plants from seed and cuttings and are willing to share their knowledge. They are restoring native forest areas on their own property, have created a variety of shelterbelts using native plants and are creating a pond habitat. The have also established a threatened plants garden to provide sanctuary to over 70 New Zealand native under threat of extinction in the wild on their property. On the trip we will have a look at the nursery itself, the Threated plant garden and one or two of their restoration works. Chris or Brian will be there to give us a background about the nursery and the associated works. Leave Botany car park at 8 AM and return mid to late afternoon. Pack lunch, water and protection from the sun, wind, rain and cold. The possibility of extra side trips and an overnight option is still being investigated. For more information about the trip contact Ian Radford on 472 7470 (ah) or 479 9065 (w).

Growing New Zealand Alpine Plants

A talk by David Lyttle. The New Zealand alpine flora contains a diverse assemblage of species many of which are desirable and challenging horticultural subjects. Unfortunately New Zealand alpines are often appreciated more overseas than in their own country. This talk will provide an introduction to the propagation of New Zealand alpine plants from seeds and cuttings and will discuss problems frequently encountered in their culture. At the NEW Zoology Benham Building, 346 Great King Street, behind the Zoology car park by the Captain Cook Hotel. Use the main entrance of the Benham Building to get in and go to the Benham Seminar Room, Rm. 215, 2nd floor. Please be prompt as we have to hold the door open.

Trip to Tavora Reserve (Bobby's Head), with Pat Mark

Trip to Tavora Reserve (Bobby's Head), with Pat Mark. Tavora Reserve is the site of a restoration project undertaken by the Yellow Eyed Penguin Trust, to return former grazing land, pine forest and patches of remnant vegetation back to native bush. This is both to provide nesting habitat for the Yellow Eyed Penguin, and to restore vegetation for its own sake. The Trust is keen that this is a working BSO field trip: they want us to test a trail guide that they have been developing for the Reserve, in addition to the normal compilation of species lists and any advice we can provide on restoration works. The Reserve provides a diverse array of botanical habitats, and can be divided into hillside, dune and wetland/riparian vegetation types. Of special interest are remnant Poa cita, Bulbinella augustifolia and a local speargrass Aciphylla glaucescens in the hillside zone; the cushion plant Scleranthus biflorus and sand convolvulus Calystegia soldanella associated with sand dunes; and stream edge plants including the salt tolerant Apium prostratum - native celery, Azolla filiculoides - red water fern, Cotula coronopifolia - bachelor's buttons, Leptinella dioica, Mimulus repens - saltmarsh musk, Shoenoplectus pungens - three square sedge, Sarcocornia quinqueflora - glasswort, Samolus repens - sea primrose, Selliera radicans and Puccinellia sp. - salt grass. The Trust has undertaken extensive plantings to try to reintroduce plants formally endemic to coastal hillsides, sand dunes and wetlands and welcomes feedback from the BSO on the restoration job they have done so far. Leave Botany car park at 9 AM Sunday and return mid to late afternoon. Pack lunch, water and protection from the sun, wind, rain and cold.

Pachymenia - a question of species

A talk by Lisa Russell. The taxonomy of the New Zealand members of red algal genus Pachymenia J.Agardh (Halymeniaceae, Rhodophyta) has been contentious. Three New Zealand endemic species of are currently recognized: one prostrate species P. crassa and two foliose species P. laciniata and P. lusoria. As part of my PhD I have explored relationships between these New Zealand species, in particular between the intertidal species P. lusoria and P. laciniata in order to develop a clearer understanding of species boundaries. A multidisciplinary approach was undertaken combining molecular systematics and cell wall chemistry with more traditional approaches based on gross morphological characters. I will discuss here the results of these three approaches, firstly in relation to the New Zealand species of Pachymenia and secondly in relation to the generic boundaries between Pachymenia and a sister genus Aeodes. At the NEW Zoology Benham Building, 346 Great King Street, behind the Zoology car park by the Captain Cook Hotel. Use the main entrance of the Benham Building to get in and go to the Benham Seminar Room, Rm. 215, 2nd floor. Please be prompt as we have to hold the door open.

Oregon, Europe & Dunedin: Plants, Gardens & Seed

A talk by Tom Myers, Botanical Services Officer, Dunedin Botanic Garden. Tom recently spent a year in Newport, Oregon where he did some work both gardening and as a marine science contractor, also taking time to visit State Parks and local Botanic Gardens, attending the American Association of Botanic Garden and Arboreta (AABGA) combined mid-west and Pacific region conference. In August-September he travelled to Europe with his partner, visiting Botanic Gardens at the Universities of Coimbra and Porto in Portugal, Bonn in Germany and additionally visiting the island of Texel in the Netherlands. In January this year Tom returned to his job in Dunedin. At the NEW Zoology Benham Building, 346 Great King Street, behind the Zoology car park by the Captain Cook Hotel. Use the main entrance of the Benham Building to get in and go to the Benham Seminar Room, Rm. 215, 2nd floor. Please be prompt as we have to hold the door open.

Moores Bush and cryptogam ID workshop

Morning Field Trip to Moores Bush, followed by afternoon cryptogam identification workshop. Moores Bush, in the upper Leith Valley, is the site of an on-going Forest and Bird restoration project, returning what was once dairy pasture to native forest. Their main emphasis now is in creating a mammal-free 'mini-mainland island' to aid the regeneration of podocarps. Miro, matai, totara, kahikatea and mountain cedar are all present, with some magnificent specimens towering above the vigorously regenerating under-story. Our main aim will be to help update the lichen, bryophyte and fern lists. Cryptogam (non-flowering plants) specimens needing identification will be brought back to the laboratory for the afternoon workshop in the Botany Dept. Lichen leaders Allison Knight and Jennifer Bannister, mosses - Maia Mistral. Leave Botany car park at 9:30 AM. Bring hand lens and lunch.