Recent Collecting in New Zealand
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Summer 2008 Vol.32, No. 2 Recent Collecting in New Zealand Collection Building in Chile Brett Hall Tom Sauceda On March 26th, Cindy Hudson and I arrived Taupo Native Nursery and his propagation/ This past winter I visited Chile, South in Auckland, New Zealand just before dawn. production manager, Juliette Curry and America with the desire to continue our After gathering our bags and routing our way Belinda Heritt for a seed collecting journey efforts of developing a temperate South through customs and immigration we picked into South Island. Philip is an extraordinary American collection at the Arboretum. up a compact Subaru station wagon, fetched plants-man and ardent conservationist, whose The visit was split between the central Mediterranean part of Chile and several supplies and headed off to Taupo. Taupo is prolific knowledge of the New Zealand flora days in the southern temperate part of a town on the shore of an immense volcanic and its cultivation is fantastic. Juliette and Chile meeting people, plant collecting, and lake (Lake Taupo) in a caldera created by huge Belinda are also very knowledgeable about gathering seed, and going to native plant volcanic eruptions beginning over 25,000 years New Zealand plants, seed treatments, and nurseries, botanical gardens and learning ago. According to geological records, “The the New Zealand landscape. All three were more about the Chilean flora. volcano has erupted 27 times. The most recent a pleasure to travel with and they were most In central Chile I worked in the coastal major eruption occurred in the last 5,000 years, helpful, funny, and kind. regions characterized by rolling hills, deep ejecting some 100 cubic kilometers of material Our first leg of the journey took us over the gullies and low growing trees and shrubs, and devastating much of the North Island.” Volcanic Plateau country below Mt Tongariro where the vegetation is reminiscent of dry Fortunately, during the two times we were enroute to Wellington to catch the ferry across chaparral. On exposed slopes and extending to inland, hotter, drier sites, the dominant aside it, the volcano was quiet and the lake the Cook Straight to Picton on South Island and was beautifully glassy. then fairly quickly down along the Kaikoura shrub know as “espino”, Acacia cavens, (Mimosoideae, Leguminosae/Fabaceae) In Taupo, we joined Philip Smith, owner of coast and on into Christchurch. grows with very small leaves on wiry stems. Our first stop climbing out of Another legume common to the area is Taupo was in a mixed Nothofagus/ “espinillo”, an Adesmia sp. (Papilionoideae, Podocarpus forest with a very Leguminosae/Fabaceae) This plant is rare hybrid between Nothofagus similar in appearance to “espino”, with solandri (Fagaceae, Black Beech) small compound leaves and yellow flowers. and Nothofagus fusca (Red Beech). The latter forms long, wavy seedpods According to Phil, the hybrid is while A. cavens produces thick, oval pods. sterile and Nothofagus cuttings Plants common to this region are “macqui”, are nearly impossible to root. Aristotelia chilensis (Elaeocarpaceae), a cultivated ornamental with edible berries, Further up into the Plateau and “madroño”, Escallonia pulverulenta country we took a short jaunt (Grossulariaceae (Escalloniaceae)) with down the Rangipo Desert Road beautiful, fragrant flowers which rise above to botanize among ancient relict the vegetation and can be seen from afar. volcanic hummocks that support Perhaps one of the most important plants a diverse rare plant community in this region is the tree, Peumus boldus, including Pittosporum annomolum or “boldo” (Monimiaceae). The aromatic (Pittosporaceae), Podocarpus leaves of this tree are dried and brewed nivalis (Podocarpaceae), Olearia as a digestive tea after meals. Growing amongst these plants is a cactus, Echinopsis nummularifolia (Asteraceae), sp. forming tall, cylindrical stems, up to 7-10 Dracophyllum subulatum feet tall. A very unusual bromeliad, Puya (Epacridaceae), various Coprosma chilensis (Bromeliaceae), also grows here (Rubiaceae) species, Celmisia with strikingly beautiful iridescent blue- (Asteraceae), among much more. green flowers. I gathered seed from most of The hummocks are surrounded these plants even though it was still early by tussock grassland and carpeted in the summer, weeks from the best time to with a beautiful rhizomatous collect seed. Another associated plant is an Carex (C. coriacea, Cyperaceae). Epilobium sp. (Onagraceae) known as the devil’s flower (flor de Diablo) perhaps continued on page 8 Cindy Hudson collecting seed in the Rob Roy Glacier, continued on page 6 Southern Alps New Zealand. news & notes The Arboretum Family is Growing The Bulletin of the Jonica Marie Wilson UCSC Arboretum Associates Assistant nursery manager, Stephanie Hudson, and her husband, Andy, accepted responsibilities as new parents on May 3rd with the birth of their daughter, Jonica Marie. Volume 32, No.2 Weighing in at a smidge short of 8 pounds, Jonica is healthy, and mother and daughter are Summer 2008 enjoying getting acquainted. Delivery was two weeks early and came on Stephanie’s first day of maternity leave. Congratulations Stephanie and Andy! We hope to see Stephanie The Bulletin is published quarterly by the back at the Arboretum at the end of July. UCSC Arboretum Associates, a non-profit organization that provides support for the Katie Starr Cordes Arboretum at UCSC. Help in the office is on its way! May 20th Katie Cordes Please send requests or questions to: began work as the Administrative Operations Assistant Bulletin Editor working in the office with Susie Bower. Katie was selected UCSC Arboretum as the top candidate among more than fifty applicants 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 for this position. Katie brings much needed assistance email: [email protected] to our sometimes-hectic office and will help to provide service to campus, staff, members, volunteers, students Arboretum Associates Officers and visitors. In her application materials Katie felt the Peggy Williams, President Arboretum would put her skills to good use and that the conservation mission of the Matthew Thompson, Vice President Arboretum was closely aligned with her personal values. Katie has a BA in biology from Paula Cole, Secretary UCSC and has a keen interest in native plants in California. Katie and her husband, Pete Gustafson of Gustafson Construction, have a 4 1/2 year old daughter, Greta. Please join Board Members us in welcoming Katie to the Arboretum family. Those above and the following: John Bost Lynda Haworth Joni Janecki American Conservation Experience Carole Kelley (ACE) Volunteers Mary Ann Leer Janet Lever-Wood Since February, the Arboretum has benefited from the dedicated volunteers of the American Lincoln Taiz Conservation Experience or ACE program. These young, international volunteers work through ACE on a variety of projects within state and national parks and receive on-the- Ex-Officio job training in trail establishment and maintenance, stonework, vegetation restoration, Daniel Harder, Executive Director and a variety of conservation-related projects. ACE volunteers helped erect a temporary Ray Collett, Director Emeritus deer fence enclosure around the California Natives garden within the Arboretum and the Jeff Rosendale, Past President jointly-managed area, helped clear the Eucalyptus Grove and California Native garden, Alison Galloway, Vice Provost, and with the State Parks and Recreation native plant growing project. We hope to develop Academic Affairs a more formal arrangement with ACE to continue their excellent service to the Arboretum and to the state. Arboretum Staff Daniel Harder, Executive Director Ray Collett, Director Emeritus Native Plant Ethnobotanical Interpretation Brett Hall, Director of Horticulture in a New Brochure Stephen McCabe, Director of Education A UCSC student intern and Arboretum student worker, Sara Reid, recently produced an Tad Sterling, Development Director undergraduate thesis titled, Ethnobotany of California: The value of traditional knowledge Helen Englesberg, Nursery Manager and our relationship to the land. Sara used the knowledge gained researching the topic Tom Sauceda, Curator N.Z. Collection to produce a new Arboretum brochure, Ethnobotanical Guide to the California Native Melinda Kralj, Curator Aust. Coll. Entrance Garden. Van Wishingrad, fellow Arboretum student worker, assisted her in this Ron Arruda, Curator S.A. Collection work. Van is co-author of the brochure that will be out in the garden this summer. Sara Susie Bower, Administrator has since graduated, but we hope to build on her work as we create three ethnobotanical Katie Cordes, Assistant Administrator tours at the Arboretum, supported by the Christensen Foundation. Rick Flores, Curator Calif. Collection When we can, we like to put out temporary versions of our educational materials to have Francis Campbell, Facilities Manager, Curator the public try them out. We welcome your feedback about the Ethnobotanical Trail, so Stephanie Hudson, Assistant Nursery that we can make the finished products for the three trails easy to use, compelling, and informative. One of the advantages of Sara’s thesis is that the ethnobotanical uses are Manager documented in the thesis, so if there are further questions about plant uses, the original Sara Reid, Education Assistant sources can be consulted. A copy of her thesis is in our library. Arboretum Phone: (831) 427-2998 New’s & Notes continued on page 7 Arboretum Fax: (831) 427-1524 Norrie’s Gifts: (831) 423-4977 Comments