Evening meeting - Trees on tap

Biology and conservation of the parasitic plant Dactylanthus taylorii

Speaker: Avi Holzapfel, Operations Manager, DOC Hauraki District, Coromandel.

Avi will summarise our current understanding of the biology and ecology of dactylanthus (Pua o te reinga/Dactylanthus taylorii), New Zealand’s only native, fully parasitic, flowering plant. Growing underground as a perennial tuber attached to the root of native host trees and shrubs, its nectar-rich inflorescences break through the forest floor, where they are pollinated by a ground-foraging endemic bat. Browsing of inflorescences by introduced mammals is limiting the species’ recruitment and has led to its disappearance over 96% of its pre-human distribution range.

The talk will cover the biology and ecology of dactylanthus and the efforts taken to protect the species, including recent translocations to Ōtari Native Botanic Garden and Zealandia. Avi will present recent research on the establishment of populations, and stunning time-lapse images that confirm that dactylanthus should be regarded not as a rare oddity, but an ecosystem driver and a critical element within the forest food web.

Join via Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89547154619?pwd=bE0zRXRWSXBBUkVoUjdPcElJNXlJUT09

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