I need to put it out there – I’ve never seen a mistletoe in flower before. I mean the big red native ones with really vibrant jaw dropping flowers that take your breath away. Hey but at least I’m in good company – most kiwis haven’t seen one in flower either. A long time ago when people were just starting to explore Kahurangi there were accounts of people finding entire hillsides covered in vibrant red mistletoe flowers! I can’t even imagine how awesome that would be to see.
When you boil it down long lived plants like the mistletoes, Pitpat, Coprosma obconica and the Kahurangi Pittosporum live life on a different time scale to us. Whereas a bird or gecko might get devastated by stoats and become extinct before our eyes, these plants can appear to be ok whilst diving head first towards extinction. If you find a forest full of mature flowering mistletoes you could forgiven for thinking the population is doing alright, however if there’s no or very few juvenile plants reaching flowering age (which is happening to a lot of populations right now) its not too far off being wiped right off the map (think a storm, fire or any manor of disaster destroying the host trees).
Luckily for the rare plants in the Cobb Valley there is a group of dedicated volunteers (Friends Of The Cobb) and Department of Conservation staff actively working to save and protect them. For species like the ones listed above this is absolutely essential as they’re like candy to animals such as possums, deer and hare’s. Most of the work done is plain old hard graft – maintaining 100’s of km’s of traplines, carting tons of chickenwire, plastic tubing and metal sheets into the bush to build customised protection for the various species. There is also the occasional 1080 poison drop thrown in to help out (its awesome stuff – we should be using more of it).
For a guy who specialises in protecting native plants it takes a lot to get Simon Walls excited – but finding a fruiting Coprosma obconica ( I call it the nipple Comprosma because some leaves have little nipple like tips) after having never seen one here is a pretty good reason. To him its a sign that all the hard work is paying off – it means the plants are breeding and hopefully young coprosma’s are starting to grow hidden amongst the Olearia and other shrubs that litter the river valley.
After morning tea shaded under (you guessed it) – nipple coprosma’s we’re off to see another gem of the Cobb Valley – The Cobb Valley Forget-me-not (myosotis mooreana). If I’m completely honest visually the plant is less than stunning – its never going to be garden favourite (even if it was easy to cultivate – which its not). However what the plant lacks in looks it makes up for in extreme rarity and selectivity of habitat. Currently only known from two small sites in the Cobb Valley (and only a handful of individuals at each site) its threat status is listed as nationally critical. Part of the reason its so rare is that it needs exactly the right kind of habitat – it likes to live on old glacial erratics – boulders that have been moved down the valley by glaciers in the very distant past. But its not just any boulder – it needs to be the right size, have the right kind of light (not too dark but not too bright) and the boulder needs to be devoid of plant life to stop other faster growing plants from out competing with it.
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