Found it! One of our tiniest coastal native plants!
Recently one of our Trustees, Tim Park, along with Tony Silbery (DOC) and amateur botanist Pat Enright visited a remote raised shingle beach on the Wairarapa coast to search for a tiny and short lived plant - Myosotis pygmaea var. minutiflora. It is a notoriously difficult plant to find, being a short lived annual and almost microscopic - the flower in the photo is approximately 2mm wide, so could be painted on a pin head in its actual size. Fortunately a few tiny plants were found.
This species has a nationally endangered threat classification due to loss of habitat by over crowding by weeds and land development. It has quite specific habitat requirements, it only lives in the open on fine shingle, and while possible to propagate, it is quite fussy.
This site is home to many threatened species including a good population of sand tussock and is a breeding area for banded dotterels. Interestingly, the miniature forget-me-not appears to be finishing flowering early this year, perhaps the result of a dry spring and possibly a sign of a long summer to come!
For more information visit the NZ Plant Conservation Network site http://nzpcn.org.nz/flora_details.asp?ID=136 or the Landcare Research link http://floraseries.landcareresearch.co.nz/pages/Taxon.aspx?id=_7b37c57f-8fcc-4a21-897e-d030137a5fa2&fileName=Flora%201.xml.
Photo: Tim Park
Posted: 16 December 2012 in the Flora & Fauna category