Identify New Zealand’s common tree ferns: ponga, mamaku, kātote, whekī, and whekī ponga

Ponga, mamaku, kātote, whekī, and whekī ponga are the most common tree ferns you’d encounter in New Zealand’s bush. Fern expert Leon Perrie tells us how to tell the difference.

What is the silver fern?

The silver fern is one of the favoured symbols for a new flag. Aside from being one of New Zealand’s icons, the silver fern is a real plant. But being on a nation’s flag deserves a background check – what is the silver fern?

King Tawhiao’s fern collection

King Tāwhiao commissioned botanist Charles Jeffs to make a collection of ferns highly valued for their medicinal properties and used as rongoā – for medicinal healing.

Want to learn the scaly tree ferns?

You’ll find scaly tree ferns almost everywhere in New Zealand where there are forests, although you might be surprised that the silver fern is not as widespread as you might think for such a popular icon.

The significance of the silver fern

The ‘silver fern’ (Cyathea dealbata) – ponga in te reo Māori – is a species of tree fern only found in New Zealand, and as such has become a potent symbol.

A new scientific name for one of Aotearoa’s most common ferns, kōwaowao – again

Botany Curator Leon Perrie writes about why kōwaowao, hound’s tongue fern has had a scientific name change from Microsorum pustulatum to Lecanopteris pustulata.

Guides to the ferns and lycophytes of New Zealand

Curator Botany Leon Perrie and Research Fellow Patrick Brownsey are compiling photographic guides to the ferns and lycophytes in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Banks’ Florilegium

Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander were responsible for gathering wildlife specimens from the many countries they visited during the Endeavour's round-the-world voyage. Two hundred years later, Banks’ collection of coloured botanical engravings was painstakingly printed in a limited edition of 110 sets, called Banks’ Florilegium.

Captain Cook’s silver ferns

Silver Ferns collected on Cook’s first voyage to New Zealand tell stories of science and exploration, and of the Māori concept of time. Historian Dame Anne Salmond and Botany Curator Leon Perrie bring their perspectives to these fragile symbols of Aotearoa.

A fern connection between New Zealand offshore islands and mountains of Borneo and New Guinea

Botany Curator Leon Perrie describes how a New Zealand fern’s closest relative has turned up in an unexpected place.

A new species of fern for New Zealand, Asplenium lepidotum

Finding and naming new species is a core part of the job for Te Papa’s scientists. More than 2500 animal and plant species have been named by museum staff since 1865, including the fern Asplenium lepidotum, as Botany Curator Leon Perrie explains.

Silver fern, Cyathea dealbata

Cyathea dealbata. From the album: New Zealand ferns. 148 varieties, 1880, Auckland, by Herbert Dobbie. Te Papa (O.042900)

Fern “Blue books”

We have several copies of the so-called “blue books” of New Zealand ferns. These were produced by Herbert Dobbie and Eric Craig in the late nineteenth century and were made by a process akin to blueprinting, described by Dobbie himself as “a simple form of photography or nature printing” employing light-sensitive iron salts, most commonly on paper.

Tuhinga 27: Re-evaluation of the taxonomic status of Christella dentata (Thelypteridaceae) supports recognition of one species in New Zealand

Research project: Pacific ferns: taxonomy and relationships

Improving the understanding of the floras adjacent to New Zealand in the south-west Pacific region, involving the delimitation, naming, distributions, and relationships of species.

Research project: Electronic Flora of New Zealand: ferns and lycophytes

Producing an online resource documenting and illustrating the indigenous and naturalised plants of the New Zealand Botanical Region.