Butterfly Creek

Today was one of those days when Wellington is hard to beat—little wind and a blue sky; the harbour was glassy and the tuis were singing.  I took a group of students on a not-for-credit field trip to Butterfly Creek, just for the fun of it.

Here are some of the photos.

Hen and chickens fern, Asplenium bulbiferum.  The "chickens" are asexual reproduction additional to the spores that form beneath the leaf, which are part of the sexual cycle.

Tawa (Beilschmiedia tawa) isn't very common, mostly occurring on the more fertile soils of the valley floor

Bracket fungi basidiomata on a fallen log

Clematis paniculata male

Clematis paniculata male

Juvenile leaves of kahikatea (Dacrycarpus dacrydioides).

Sundew (Drosera auriculata)

Fern gametophytes on a clay bank

Kiekie, Freycinettia banksii.

Kidney fern, Hymenophyllum nephrophyllum.

Rewarewa seedling (Knightia excelsa)

The view over Eastbourne and the Wellington Harbour entrance from the beech forest on the Muritai Track.

A spider orchid Nematoceras trilobum.

A spider orchid Nematoceras trilobum.

Pole stand of regenerating black beech, Nothofagus solandri.

Crown of a nikau, Rhopalostylis sapida.

Liverworts with sporophytes releasing brown spores.