The vascular flora of Aorangi Island, Poor Knights Islands, northern New Zealand

Abstract

An annotated vascular flora of 282 taxa for Aorangi Island, Poor Knights Islands, is presented. Additional records (20 taxa) from Tawhiti Rahi Island, the other major island in the archipelago, are listed separately, resulting in a combined Poor Knights vascular flora of 302 taxa. Two new combinations, Wahlenbergia littoricola subsp. vernicosa and Xeronema callistemon f bracteosa, are made for plants previously treated as W. vernicosa and X. callistemon var. bracteosa, respectively. Only one taxon, Xeronema callistemon f. bracteosa, is provisionally accepted as endemic to the Poor Knights Islands. The control of the more serious weed species on the island is discussed. A case is made for including the Mokohinau Islands within the Poor Knights Ecological Region.

Keywords:

• Poor Knights Islands
• annotated vascular plant list
• taxonomy
• endemic plants
• ecological region
• ecological district
• environmental weeds
• threatened plants