Archives For ferns

By Jo Mead, Partnerships Ranger in Franz Josef

We can often get fixated on the grandeur of the Southern Alps and the centuries-old rimu forest in this amazing place where we live and work in Westland.

Southern Alps with big boulders in the foreground.

The grandeur of the Southern Alps

However if we stop and look down at our feet among the leaf litter and fallen branches, we can find sights that are just as incredible — funky fungi as well as some spectacular mosses and ferns to discover.

Leaf litter and broken branches.

Amongst the leaf litter and broken branches

Here are some photos I’ve recently taken of the amazing fungi, ferns and mosses I’ve come across.

Today’s photo of the week is of a native fern growing next to the Blue Pools on the West Coast of the South Island.

New Zealand is home to about 200 fern species, ranging from ten-metre-high tree ferns, to filmy ferns just 20 millimetres long. About 40% of these species occur nowhere else in the world.

Native fern growing by blue pools. Photo by Daniel Pietzsch | CC BY-NC 2.0.

Te Papa Museum is holding an online Science Live event this Friday (16 May) which will take viewers into the secret world of New Zealand’s ferns.

Botany curator, Leon Perrie, will be there to talk about our native fern species. Leon will also be answering questions during the live broadcast.

The event will be streaming live from 2—2:30 pm on the Te Papa YouTube channel.

Photo by Daniel Pietzsch | CC BY-NC 2.0