Thursday, June 05, 2008

Get Consolidated

How would you like to own a copy of the "Consolidated list of environmental weeds in New Zealand"? You now can, as it's a free download from the NZ Department of Conservation. Maybe, though, the right question to be asking is instead "How can New Zealand consolidate a list of weeds when more that half of their flora is introduced?" They manage to do a good job of it, narrowing down the list to 328 plants, and displaying the whole thing in a nice set of tables in the Appendices that are just begging to be mined for data :-). Some notable entries:

  • Prunus persica (Peach!) as an island invader
  • Spartina alterniflora (smooth cord grass) - is there anywhere we haven't introduced that plant, including our own West Coast?
  • The knotweeds listed under genus Reynoutria - I thought the battle of genera was narrowed down to Fallopia vs. Polygonum long ago, but then here comes Reynoutria bouncing back!

A pretty interesting read, and one many of us outside of New Zealand would never have seen had the government not released this doc to the internet. Thanks to Andrew B. for sending in a link!

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