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Botany

Te Papa’s botanical collections and research encompass marine algae (seaweeds), lichens, mosses, liverworts, lycophytes, ferns, and seed plants.

  • A small flowering plant on the side of a tree. The flowers are yellow.
    Orchids in Aotearoa New Zealand

    Orchids in Aotearoa New Zealand

    There are over 100 species of orchids in Aotearoa New Zealand and come in a variety of shapes, colours, and dimensions. They thrive in diverse habitats across the country. Take a look at Te Papa's research and work with orchids as well as highlights from our collections.

  • The underside of a fern frond
    Ferns in New Zealand and the Pacific

    Ferns in New Zealand and the Pacific

    Ferns are so prominent in Aotearoa New Zealand, we even wear them on our sporting uniforms. From botany research to citizen science, pressed-fern books of the 1800s to collecting All Blacks and tourism memorabilia, our collectors and curators spend a lot of time with ferns.

  • A spiky shrub on a rocky hillside. It has clumps of white flowers that look like cauliflowers.
    Speargrasses – a spiky specimen spree

    Speargrasses – a spiky specimen spree

    In 2022-23, Te Papa Research Scientist Lara Shepherd and Botany Curator Leon Perrie embarked on a project with Manaaki Whenua’s David Glenny to re-assess the number of species of speargrass in Aotearoa New Zealand. The ferociously spiky speargrasses are some of our most distinctive plants and an iconic feature of New Zealand’s high country, especially when flowering. Read their blogs to find out about their discoveries, how to collect the pointy fauna safely, and other specimens they met along the way.

  • A patch of white flowers each with five petals
    Blogs about forget-me-nots (Myosotis)

    Blogs about forget-me-nots (Myosotis)

    Read about some of her findings and challenges our Botany Curators find while researching and collecting native New Zealand forget-me-nots.

  • Dried plants on card
    Listen: The Politics of Collecting – from Banks and Solander to Today

    Listen: The Politics of Collecting – from Banks and Solander to Today

    Hear botanists and researchers discuss the shifting politics of collecting and classifying plants, from both Māori and Pākehā perspectives.

  • A lady in a lab coat bent over a dried plant, she's holding tweezers
    Captain Cook’s 150-year-old kōwhai specimens uncover Rapa Nui (Easter Island) secrets

    Captain Cook’s 150-year-old kōwhai specimens uncover Rapa Nui (Easter Island) secrets

    A single specimen of toromiro – a close relative of our own kōwhai and extinct in the wild – has been discovered in our botany collection, where it’s been kept safe for 150 years.

  • An image of a plant under a microscope
    A new liverwort species for Wellington

    A new liverwort species for Wellington

    A new species of liverwort has just been identified in Wellington and named after local amateur botanist Rodney Lewington (1935–2018). Botanist Lara Shepherd tells us more about liverworts and Rodney’s contribution to New Zealand botany.

  • The Essential Audrey Eagle: Botanical Art of New Zealand - book cover
    Meet Audrey Eagle, botanical artist

    Meet Audrey Eagle, botanical artist

    Botanical artist Audrey Eagle, author of the Montana medal-winning ‘Eagle’s Complete Trees and Shrubs of New Zealand’, talks about her remarkable life and work.

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    Cross-pollination experiments with one of New Zealand’s rarest trees

    Cross-pollination experiments with one of New Zealand’s rarest trees

    When an incredibly rare native tree – the Bartlett’s rātā – flowered for the first time in a quarter-century, Botany curator Carlos Lehnebach was ready with his tweezers.