Plant Life
In the past, hillsides were clothed with native forest dominated by hard beech below about 500 m and red beech above 500 m. However, only remnants are now present (see Map). Such a remnant is present in a saddle of the main ridge line to the southwest of the Bay and can be reached from the walking track from Ngakuta to Momorangi. The hill slopes are now largely covered with regenerating scrub and bush consisting of gorse, bracken and broom which are being replaced, as part of a natural plant succession, by manuka / kanuka and broadleaf species. These will finally be replaced by larger and more slowly growing native forest species that can still be seen in some gullies and higher areas.
Exotic pine is a significant and widely spread plant pest, however, the potential looks good that wilding pine will be removed through voluntary efforts of the community and Marlborough Restoration Trust.
Exotic pine is a significant and widely spread plant pest, however, the potential looks good that wilding pine will be removed through voluntary efforts of the community and Marlborough Restoration Trust.
VEGETATION MAP KEY
1 Hard beech forest: dominated by hard beech with some silver beech and rimu. The understorey consists of five-finger, kamahi, heketara and tree ferns
2 Red beech forest: red beech dominant with some silver beech, Hall’s totara and southern rata. Understorey consists of kamahi, tree fern and stinkwood.
3. Regenerating bush on lower areas: five-finger, mahoe, wineberry, putaputaweta, (coprosma grandifolia), forest cabbage tree, rangiora, mamaku, and ponga. Tawa and pukatea can be seen in some gullies with nikau palm in in wetter areas. Manuka and kanuka may dominate ridges on drier areas.
4. Regenerating bush on higher areas: much bare rock with regenerating bush at earlier stages of sucession.
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Plant Species (Lands and Survey 1982)
About 90 terrestrial native plant species were identified in the Ngakuta Bay bush in the Lands and Survey 1982 biological survey (Geoff Walls, Biological Survey of Reserves # 13, Lands & Survey 1984). This does not include fungi, non-vascular species (plants without veins) like mosses and lichens, or those native and exotic plants grown by the community.
In its natural state, New Zealand forest is a rich community of plants starting with ground level species and then another four layers at different heights that finishes with our majestic canopy trees.
(Suggest we supply here some pics of representative plants to go with text and also ref to websites?)
Plants of the forest floor form the ground layer that has the species up to 2 m tall which we see most easily. It includes prostrate shrubs, ground astelias, ground ferns and sedges while rocks and logs have a covering of much smaller filmy ferns, mosses and lichens. Some of these will only grow in wet and darker places.
In the autumn, especially after a bout of wet weather, we get to see a profusion of mushrooms that tend to be overlooked by forest trampers. They are the spore-bearing bodies of fungi that are actually living in the soil, forest litter or living trees. Fungi are an amazing group of organisms that are neither plant nor animal, but play a critical ‘decomposer’ role in the recycling of nutrients . You can get a real insight to the fungal world in A photographic guide to mushrooms and other fungi of New Zealand, written by Marlborough author Geoff Ridley.
Low shrubs and smaller tree ferns are next in our journey to the top; these are able to grow in the low light conditions near the forest floor. (needs examples)
The third group includes our iconic silver fern, other tree ferns and nikau palm along with smaller trees. Areas of forest exposed to the light, like stream edges, forest margins and forest cleared by felled trees are quickly filled by pioneer colonising species. Many of the plants in this category are the first to appear along roads like Queen Charlotte Drive after the bush is trimmed back.
Coprosmas are easily recognised by their bright red berries that feed many birds and get the benefit of having their seed spread afar.
Other pioneer species include the tree fuschia, another bird feeder, that as well as being one of our few deciduous plants is one of the world’s tallest fuschias.
The fourth group are medium sized trees and the epiphytes they support. Examples XXXXX.
Epiphytes are plants that get their nutrients from material that settles on branches, they tend to prefer this layer as it is less exposed to wind than the canopy and less prone to being dislodged. It is a remarkable habitat, a recent study found West Coast epiphyte assemblages to contain 170 plant and 397 invertebrate species.
The top is the canopy and reached only by the tallest trees such as the beeches and pines and the climbing lianes and ratas they support.
Climbing plants are common and range from the irritatingly spiky bush lawyer, the supplejack that can make a formidable barrier, to the more elegant ratas. Southern rata can develop as a climbing vine or as a small tree, the example pictured has several stems which are now covering a large part of this mature tree. Rata flowers are an important nectar source for birds, reptiles and invertebrates, unfortunately possum find them very attractive and can remove a major food source.
Succession
Much of Ngakuta Bay bush is passing through a succession that occurs naturally once deforestation stops. This commences with rapid growth of gorse, bracken and broom that is then overgrown by pioneer trees that colonise disturbed bush and ultimately shade and replace these weed species. After a few decades these are in turn replaced by taller canopy species like beech, rimu, tawa and kamahi.
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PLANT TABLES
Note 1. Tables provide a list of native species with their scientific name and, where possible, their common name and Maori name. Scientific names are those in current use on the New Zealand Plant Conservation Network website (www.nzpcn.org.nz).
Note 2. Food value to birds: N = nectar, F = Fruit, S= Seed
However, as many invertebrates feed on plant parts, including flowers, they are an indirect food source for birds and reptiles.
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