Looking for native plants that are not often recognised as such, may be weedy in behaviour and/or appearance, and so likely to be in decline through weed control by humans, whether manually or by herbicide.

eg Having recognised an insignificant grass in a neighbouring urban driveway border as having a flower similar to the native Microlaena avenacea "Bush Rice-grass" found in the forest, it was thrilling to find it was Microlaena stipoides, a native grass still common (at that time) in local hedges and other untended areas, though not strong enough to compete with the lawn grasses en masse.

I can only find one occurrence of M. stipoides in my neighbourhood currently. The one in the neighbouring driveway has died out, possibly replaced by the exotic grass Ehrharta erecta. Ehrharta erecta (somewhat similar in appearance to the native Microlaena stipoides at first glance) has become increasingly common as an invasive weed throughout this neighbourhood's gardens,streets, parks and native forest margins.

Lately I've "discovered" a few more native species among the plants I had previously thopught were weeds, and hope to preserve their existence. All suitable contributions to this Project appreciated. People can contribute to the Project by adding to their observation the Field "Often Overlooked Native Plants of NZ". menos ↑