About the key to the weed species of New Zealand

Species list

Nomenclature used in the weeds key follows the most currently accepted names and taxonomic treatments. These names match those accepted in the Landcare Research Ngā Tipu o Aotearoa – New Zealand Plants databases.

• Table 1: Full list of National Pest Plant Accord (NPPA) species in the key, notes and comparisons with the 2012 NPPA manual, and close relatives and similar species.
• Table 2: Partial list of Environmental Weeds in the key, where the names differ from Howell (2008).

Table 1: Full list of NPPA species in the key, notes and comparisons with the 2012 NPPA manual, and close relatives and similar species.

Table 2: Partial list of Environmental Weeds in the key, where the names differ from Howell (2008)

Images

More than 20,000 high resolution plant images were gathered for this project. Of these, about 11,000 were selected for the final key and file sizes were reduced for fast display.

Images were chosen with a preference for New Zealand material and to represent a range of features for each species, such as:

• Population
• Habit
• Adult plant
• Seedling
• Foliage
• Leaf (upper and lower)
• Stem
• Branch
• Inflorescence
• Flower
• Fruit
• Seed
• Specialised characters (e.g., spines, tendrils, bark)

Different stages of maturity and close-up photography is included. Most images are of live plants but herbarium specimens and line drawings are also used. The key includes captions for all features and acknowledges the source of each individual image.

All five authors of the weeds key provided images and Trevor James and Sheldon Navie made the greatest contributions. The remaining images were obtained from a wide range of sources and every effort has been made to obtain permission to use them or to ensure that they are copyright free.

However, treat all images in the Weed key as copyright to the original photographer.

Further images are welcome – please contact Murray Dawson for details.

The following is a partial list of those who have kindly contributed images:

Authors of key

• Murray Dawson and Peter Heenan (Manaaki Whanua – Landcare Research)
• Sheldon Navie (Australia)
• Trevor James (AgResearch)
• Paul Champion (NIWA)

New Zealand contributors:

• Aleki Taumoepeau, David Burnett, John Clayton, Paula Reeves, Rohan Wells, Tracey Edwards (NIWA, National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research)
• Andreas Juergens, Taina Witt and others (2006 Marsden Fund project – Manaaki Whanua – Landcare Research and HortResearch)
• Antje Wittmann
• Ben Minehan (Marlborough District Council)
• Brian T. Coffey (Brian T. Coffey and Associates Limited)
• Carolyn Lewis (Weedbusters)
• Chris Ecroyd (NZFRI National Forestry Herbarium)
• Chris Winks, Colin Muerk, Gary Houliston, Kerry Ford, Simon Fowler (Manaaki Whanua – Landcare Research); Ellex Stewart (2009 RSNZ Teacher Fellowship at Landcare Research); Helen Greenep, Jane Barton, Peter N. Johnson, Sabrina B. Malcolm (ex Manaaki Whanua – Landcare Research)
• Clayson Howell, Anna Paltridge, Chris Edkins, Dan O'Halloran, John Barkla, Tom Belton and others (Department of Conservation)
• Colin Ogle
• Dan Blanchon (Unitec Institute of Technology)
• Dave Alker (Horizons Regional Council)
• Gemma Bradfield, Rob McCaw and others (Environment Canterbury)
• Graeme Jane (Bay of Plenty)
• Heidi Pene and Philip Mabin (Environment Waikato) and Jeff Jeffrey (ex Environment Waikato)
• Ian Bell
• Jack Hobbs (Auckland Botanic Gardens)
• Jeremy Rolfe
• Jonathan Boow (Auckland Council); Alistair MacArthur and the late Rod Smart (ex Auckland Regional Council)
• Jon Sullivan
• Kate McCombs (Christchurch City Council)
• Ken Wright (Tasman District Council)
• Manaaki Whenua Press, publisher of the Flora of New Zealand series
• Melanie Newfield and others (MAF Biosecurity New Zealand)
• Naturally Native NZ Plants
• Peter O'Hara (Wellington Fuchsia Society)
• Peter Thomson (Timaru District Council)
• Phil Bendle
• Philip Garnock-Jones (Victoria University of Wellington)
• Randall Milne (Environment Southland)
• Robert Lamberts (Plant & Food Research)
• Roy Edwards (Lincoln University)
• Tony Foster (Bushmansfriend and Bushmansfriend.blogspot)
• Trevor Cheeseman (Auckland Branch of the Cactus & Succulent Society of New Zealand)
• Walter Stahel (Environment Bay of Plenty)

International contributors:

• Al Schneider (Southwest Colorado Wildflowers, Ferns, & Trees and USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database)
• Albert C. Perdeck, Hugh Wilson, James Manhart (Vascular Plant Image Library)
• Ann Bove (Vermont Water Quality Division, USA)
• Amy Richard, Ann Murray, Vic Ramey and others (University of Florida / IFAS Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants, USA)
• Bart Wursten (Flora of Zimbabwe website)
• Brushwood Nursery, USA
• Carole Ritchie, Clarence A. Rechenthin, J. Scott Peterson, Jennifer Anderson, Jose Hernandez, Larry Allain, Mark W. Skinner, Norman Melvin, Steve Hurst, Susan McDougall, Suzanne Foster and others (USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database)
• Caroline Brown, USA (www.carolinebrown.com)
• Christian Dietz, Germany (www.utricularia.net)
• Christopher Briand (Salisbury University Arboretum, USA)
• Forest Starr and Kim Starr (Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR), Hawaii)
• Gerald Carr (Oregon State University, USA)
• J. Katie Barndt (Landscape Plant Recognition, University of Washington, USA)
• Jackie Miles and Max Campbell (Bega Valley, NSW, Australia)
• Jan De Laet (plantsystematics.org)
• Jeff Irons (horticulturist, UK)
• Kazuo Yamasaki (Department of Pharmacognosy, Hiroshima University, Japan)
• Kenneth Walker (horticulturist, California, USA)
• Leo Michels, Germany (www.imagines-plantarum.de)
• Mary Barkworth and illustrators of the Manual of Grasses for North America and Flora of North America grass volumes (Intermountain Herbarium, Utah State University, USA)
• Patrick J. Alexander (www.polyploid.net and USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database)
• Paul Busselen (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium)
• Paul L. Redfearn (Ozarks Regional Herbarium of Missouri State University, USA)
• Richard A. Howard Image Collection, Elaine Haug, G.A. Cooper, Pedro Acevedo-Rodriguez (Plant Image Collection, Smithsonian Institution, USA)
• Robert Gibbons (APHIS Plant Protection and Quarantine, USDA). In: Kirkbride, J.H., Jr., C.R. Gunn, and M.J. Dallwitz. 2006. Family Guide for Fruits and Seeds, vers. 1.0. URL: http://nt.ars-grin.gov/sbmlweb/OnlineResources/frsdfam/Index.cfm. Accessed February 17, 2010.)
• Sandy Lloyd (Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia)
• Thomas Schöpke (Plant Image Gallery and Vascular Plant Image Library)
• Thomas G. Barnes (Department of Forestry, University of Kentucky, USA)
• Tim McCall (Timag Nursery)
• Virtual Herbarium of the Western Mediterranean (University of the Balearic Islands, Spain)
• Wayne Boucher (www.cambridge2000.com)
• Numerous contributors to Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgements

Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research acknowledges the financial assistance of the Terrestrial and Freshwater Biodiversity Information System (TFBIS) Programme towards the completion of an interactive identification key to weeds and pest plants included in the Department of Conservation consolidated list of environmental weeds in New Zealand (Howell, 2008), the National Pest Plant Accord (NPPA), and plants that are closely related or similar looking. The TFBIS Programme is funded by the Government to help to achieve the goals of the New Zealand Biodiversity Strategy, and is administered by the Department of Conservation.

The Centre for Biological Information Technology (CBIT) at The University of Queensland supplied scores and fact sheet information for some species included in the New Zealand (Lucid™) weeds key. This data was derived from the following Lucid™ keys, authored by Sheldon Navie, and developed and distributed by CBIT - Declared Plants of Australia, Environmental Weeds of Australia and Suburban and Environmental Weeds of SE Queensland - version 2.

In addition to the main authors of the Weed key, many others contributed images. We especially thank:

• Carolyn Lewis (Weedbusters)
• Clayson Howell (Department of Conservation)
• MAF Biosecurity New Zealand
• NIWA, National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research
• Jonathan Boow (Auckland Regional Council)
• Other New Zealand regional authorities, city councils and district councils
• Forest & Kim Starr (Hawaii)
• Jackie Miles and Max Campbell (NSW, Australia)
• Contributors to the USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database
• Contributors to Wikimedia

Also see our webpage on further acknowledgements and details of images used in the weeds key.

Useful links relating to weeds.

Ngā Tipu o Aotearoa – New Zealand Plants databases
http://nzflora.landcareresearch.co.nz/

MAF Biosecurity New Zealand
www.biosecurity.govt.nz

Weedbusters
www.weedbusters.co.nz

PestWebNZ
www.pestweb.co.nz

Massey University – New Zealand weeds
http://weeds.massey.ac.nz

The Gymnosperm Database
www.conifers.org

SCION – Interactive key to Cultivated Pines
www.scionresearch.com/keys/Pinus/pine-key.html