Naturally West: Toropapa and apps for the Great Outdoors; Weather by the moon

Toropapa is arguably my favourite native shrub. Not because of it’s form which is usually quite rangy and neither for its inflorescence which, though pretty and often variable in colour, is fairly insignificant.

Alseuosmia Macrophylla, more commonly known as New Zealand Honeysuckle, is my favourite for its scent.

To me, this aroma heralds springtime in the New Zealand bush, a divine fragrance and I often wonder whether the perfumiers of the world have knowledge of it.

In early springtime I will often catch its drift on the air and try to determine where the perfume is coming from but it is an elusive shrub (in more ways than one). Nestled, hidden in the bush, the potency of its flowers can be detected from some distance away.

It is evident but not prevalent along Exhibition Drive and on the Beveridge Track, with flowers that can range from white to pink to red, another reason I like this shrub. Toropapa has not flowered well over the last few years, perhaps due to the drought conditions, but last year I was delighted to discover one had grown to flowering

size in my garden, so I now have my own special one to savour, and again this year it has gifted me flowers. Apparently Toropapa has been confusing botanists for over 100 years because the shrub shows extreme variation in leaf shape – even between plants considered to be the same species from a single location. This extreme variation in Toropapa has made it very difficult to determine the exact number of species. To add to the confusion, the leaves of some Toropapa plants show a remarkable resemblance to completely unrelated species, such as Maire, Porokaiwhiri (pigeonwood), Ramarama, and Horopito. It has been suggested that this is a case of mimicry whereby palatable plants mimic unpalatable plants to avoid being eaten by browsing animals. Te Papa scientists in conjunction with DOC are studying the genetics and morphology of Toropapa to help determine how many species there are and to understand how mimicry has evolved in the genus.

Just another reason to love this elusive heaven scent trickster.

Nature apps and websites for the Great Outdoors

There’s an app for everything these days and many have been developed to enhance our experience of New Zealand nature writes FIONA DRUMMOND.

NZ Tree was developed by AUT University School of Science in collaboration with the Centre for Learning and Teaching and The App Lab in 2018. The free app is currently being promoted by Auckland Council.

“App users can identify the native tree, shrub, fern or palm they're looking at by matching its foliage, flowers or bark with simple picture icons on a menu”, says Len Gillman, Head of AUT School of Science and a Laingholm local. "You click on icons that lead you to a range of trees that have those features – gradually refining your search. Once you've identified your tree, the app will tell you, among other things, its English, Māori and Latin names and whether or not it's poisonous,” he says.

The app is a work in progress as Len is working on extending the number of trees covered in the app to over 200 species with more detailed photos.

Another app is iNaturalist, a joint initiative of the California Academy of Sciences and the National Geographic Society. It is operated in New Zealand by the New Zealand Bio-Recording Network Trust, a charitable trust led by a team of ecologists and biodiversity IT professionals. All observations (photo or sound recordings) made on iNaturalist NZ become part of the global iNaturalist.org site. You get all the world's naturalists looking at your hard-to-identify plants and creatures and in return you'll create research-quality data for scientists working to better understand and protect nature.

You can be a part of the iNaturalist community on the web at inaturalist.nz. Or, if you have an Apple or Android smartphone or tablet, you can install the iNaturalist app and start nature watching with your camera or mobile phone.

I used this app when I wanted to identify a flowering plant that I encountered on a cemetery excursion and, having posted a picture, I received a notification with an identification in a short space of time.

Pest Detective is not an app but an interactive online field tool to help identify the presence of pest animal species. The website (https:// www.pestdetective.org.nz/) is run and hosted by Bionet, a collaborative partnership between Biosecurity New Zealand, the Department of Conservation, Land Information New Zealand and regional councils.

Many pest animals are notoriously difficult to detect. This website

weather by the moon

Ken Ring’s predictions for October

October has average rain, and although cooler, is sunnier than average.

Expect scattered showers and fine spells for the first two weeks. The third week is the driest and has the most sunny days. It is also the coolest week. The fourth week sees the heaviest rain. The best weekend is the 17th/18th. Atmospheric pressures should average about 1018mbs, with winds from the south or southwest bringing mostly dry weather on about 20 days.

For fishermen, the highest king tide may be around the 17th. The best fishing bite-times in the west are around noon on the 1st-3rd, 16th-18th, and 31st (and in the east around dusk on those days). Chances are also good in the west for dusk of the 9th-11th, and 23rd-25th, (and in the east around noon on those days).

For gardeners, the best pruning days are the 3rd-9th (waning moon descending), and the 18th-22th are the best sowing days (waxing moon ascending). For longer shelf-life for crops, harvest at neap tide days on the 10th and 25th. Allow 24 hour error for all forecasting. For future weather for any date, visit www.predictweather.com. © Ken Ring 2020.