Threatened plants of Canterbury including a revised species list

Abstract

The most recent assessment of New Zealand's threatened plants is published in volume 37 of New Zealand Journal of Botany (de Lange et al. 1999). This reappraisal lists 511 uncommon taxa (22% of the New Zealand flora). Of this list, 5 taxa are thought to be extinct and 107 considered threatened. These threatened taxa are listed in categories that reflect their proneness to extinction (24 taxa Critically Endangered, 33 taxa Endangered, 50 taxa Vulnerable). A further 60 species are considered to be declining. Of this national list 132 species are found in the Canterbury Region. This can be broken down into the following categories, 1 taxa Presumed Extinct, 10 taxa Critically Endangered (includes 2 presumed extinct in Canterbury but found elsewhere), 13 taxa Endangered, 19 taxa Vulnerable, and 25 taxa Declining (includes 2 presumed extinct in Canterbury but found elsewhere). A further 3 taxa are classified as insufficiently known and 19 as taxonomically indeterminate. Species in the latter category are likely to be threatened but require further information. The remaining 42 species are found in other categories of Conservation Dependent (3 species including one presumed extinct in Canterbury), Naturally Uncommon/Sparse (22), Vagrant (1) and Range Restricted (16).