Species
Plants
Forest trees, megaherbs, seaweeds, shrubs, and other plants have evolved in their own way on the Chathams. More colourful than many plants on mainland Aotearoa, flowers in blue and purple and yellow grace the islands in the right season. Several species are larger than their mainland variants and about an eighth are unique to the Chathams. There are 26 threatened vascular plant species and 91 at risk.
Chatham button daisy
Chatham Island button daisy
Also known as the mutton bird plant or Leptinella featherstonii, the button daisy is found in peaty ground near the coast. It usually grows near seabird colonies where the soil has been enriched by seabird droppings. This means they are a good indicator of seabird population health, and therefore wider ecosystem health.
They grow to a maximum height of 1m, making them quite different from most button daisies in Aotearoa, which are typically creeping plants and stay quite small. They're very vulnerable to grazing and trampling as well as predation from possums.
You can read more about the uniqueness of this plant in this blog about the anomalous button daisy.
Rautini
Rautini on Tuku road (c.Katherine Holt)
A case of island gigantism in action, the rautini is also known as the daisy tree - it can grow up to 10 m high in some cases. It has bright yellow clusters of flowers in the summertime, usually around the end of the year, which brings its English name: the Chatham Island Christmas tree. It grows in shrublands, forest, and drier swamp areas. They are a good indicator of ecosystem health but are vulnerable from predation and grazing.