Checklist of vascular plants recorded from Chatham Islands: conservation publications

Introduction

Find out about vascular plants recorded from the Chatham Islands since 1864. This 2011 checklist updates one produced in 1999, to include naturalised exotic plants as well as indigenous species.

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Checklist of vascular plants recorded from Chatham Island (PDF, 994K)

Summary

This checklist records 902 formally described and informally recognised entities from the Chatham Islands.

Forty-one taxa are endemic (found only on the Chatham Islands), 400 are indigenous (also found in other places) and 434 are considered naturalised on the Chatham Islands.

The checklist provides a brief history of botanical exploration on the Chatham Islands and discusses the origins and distinctive features of the indigenous Chathams flora.

The naturalised flora has increased markedly in recent years, and the potential weediness of many of these plants, and the implications for biosecurity on the Chathams, are discussed.