Greater Wellington — Pest and Weed Central

Akebia

Akebia is a twining vine or ground cover, with leaves of five oval shaped leaflets.

Alligator weed

Alligator weed is a perennial emergent aquatic plant that can also grow in terrestrial areas.

African club moss

African club moss

African club moss is a creeping ground cover fern that spreads quickly, preventing seedling regeneration.

African feather grass

African feather grass

African feather grass is a perennial grass that forms large clumps up to two metres tall. From November to April, it produces long, thin flower heads

Agapanthus

Agapanthus grows as clumps of arching, strap-like green leaves with a watery sap. It produces purplish-blue or white flowers on top of tall stalks.

Asiatic knotweed

Asiatic knotweed

Asiatic knotweed is a thicket-forming herb that can grow to 2m tall. It has zig-zagging stems and red-purple shoots which appear early in spring. As...

Banana passionfruit

Banana passionfruit

Vigorous, evergreen, high-climbing vines grows up to 10 metres high.

Bathurst bur

Bathurst bur is a spiny plant that grows up to 1m tall.

Bat-wing passion flower

Bat-wing passion flower

Bat-wing passion flower is an invasive, shade-tolerant vine. It has distinctive bat-wing shaped leaves that have a pale green stripe along the midrib.

Blue morning glory

Blue morning glory

High climbing vine with tough, hairy, twining, running stems with tough fibrous roots without rhizomes.

Yellow flag iris

Yellow flag iris

Yellow flag iris is an aquatic plant that grows as leafy clumps up to 2m tall. The sword like leaves emerge in fans from a reddish purplish base....

Woolly nightshade

Woolly nightshade

Woolly nightshade (also known as tobacco weed) is a shrub or small tree that can rapidly grow to 10 metres tall. It has large, greyish green leaves...

Wilding conifers

Wilding conifers

Conifers are woody plants that have cones instead of flowers. Leaves are needle like and have a resinous scent when crushed. They include cedars,...

Wild ginger

Both species of wild ginger are non-woody perennials, growing up to 2m tall from thick-branching rhizomes (swollen underground stems). Their dense...

Water hyacinth

Water hyacinth is a free-floating aquatic plant that can grow in dense mats. The leaves are glossy, green, leathery and up to 8cm across. The leaf...

Velvet groundsel

Velvet groundsel

Velvet groundsel is a large shrub or bush up to 2m tall. It has round, lobed, hairy leaves that are up to 20cm across and feel soft and velvety to...

Tench

Tench were first introduced to New Zealand in 1867 as a sports fish. They grow to a large size in New Zealand, around 2kg. They are usually olive...

Taiwan cherry

Taiwan Cherry is a deciduous, spreading tree usually 3-8m tall when mature. Leaves are hairless, thin, usually 130x60mm with a long tapered tip. ...

Spartina

Spartina is an estuarine grass that grows in clumps up 1.5 metres tall.

Senegal tea

Senegal tea is a hardy, semi-aquatic, perennial herb. It grows in damp soils, usually rooted on the edge of waterways but can also survive and...

Salvinia

Salvinia is a free-floating aquatic fern that forms large, dense mats. With its hairy leaves and floating habit it can be hard to recognise as a...

Rudd

Rudd are stocky, deep bodied fish that are darker on their backs than on their bellies and have bronze highlights when the light catches their scales...

Rook

Rooks are black birds that are slightly larger than magpies. Adults are totally black except for their face, which has light-grey skin bare of...

Rat

There are two common species of rat found on mainland New Zealand; Norway rats ( Rattus norvegicus ) and ship rats ( Rattus rattus ): both have a...

Rainbow lorikeet

Rainbow lorikeet

Rainbow lorikeets are a long tailed, brightly coloured parrot of about 30cm length. They have a bright red beak and eyes, a blue head (the most...

Rabbit

Rabbits are usually grey-brown in colour, with other colour varieties occasionally occurring in the wild. They may live in communal warrens...

Purple loosestrife

Purple loosestrife

Purple loosestrife is an erect, summer-green perennial herb that grows 1-2 metres tall. The woody stems are square in cross-section, pink at the...

Possum

Possums are furry animals of medium to stout build with thick, bushy tails. Their bodies are 38-45cm long (65-95cm long including the tail) and...

Phragmites

Phragmites is an emergent aquatic and marginal perennial grass that grows up to 3m tall. It has bamboo-like stems which carry long, wide, flat leaves...

Periwinkle

Periwinkle is a scrambling groundcover plant that resembles a vine. The trailing stems can grow more than 2m long and take root where they come in...

Old man’s beard

Old man’s beard

Old man’s beard is a deciduous climbing vine that grows up to 20 metres tall. It has woody stems with six prominent ribs and pale bark that rubs off...

Nassella tussock

Nassella tussock

Nassella tussock is a perennial tussock-forming grass with fine-bladed, tightly rolled, light green or yellowish-green leaves. Plants are erect when...

Stoat

Stoats are the most common of the three mustelids present in New Zealand and can be devastating to populations of native birds and fauna

Mile-a-minute

Mile-a-minute is an evergreen climbing vine. Each leaf is made up of three, roughly triangular to heart-shaped leaflets. Each leaflet is 3-9cm long...

Manchurian wild rice

Manchurian wild rice

Manchurian wild rice is a giant grass that grows up to 4m high. It has harsh, dull green leaves that are 1-2cm wide and grow in fans. The purplish...

Koi carp

Koi carp look a lot like goldfish except they grow to larger sizes (in New Zealand up to 10kg and 75cm long) and have two pairs of whisker-like...

Jasmine

Jasmine is an evergreen, scrambling climber that forms large, dense mats over trees and other structures. Leaves are opposite, usually with seven...

Houttuynia

Houttuynia grows as a dense groundcover that spreads rapidly. The leaves are heart-shaped and up to 7cm long. They are usually multi-coloured in...

Holly-leaved senecio

Holly-leaved senecio

Holly-leaved senecio, also known as Pink ragwort, is an erect perennial herb that grows up to 1.5m high. It has oval leaves, which are coarsely...

Himalayan honeysuckle

Himalayan honeysuckle

Himalayan honeysuckle is a shrub that grows up to 2m tall (it is not a vine, like Japanese honeysuckle).

Greater bindweed

Greater bindweed

Great bindweed is a scrambling, twining vine. From October to May it produces white, trumpet-like flowers that are up to 9cm in diameter.

Gorse

Gorse is a deep-rooted, woody perennial shrub that can grow to 4m tall. It has densely spined branches and is woody when mature. Gorse has bright...

Giant knotweed

Giant knotweed is a large, thicket-forming herb that can grow up to 4m tall. It has large (up to 30cm long), heart-shaped leaves that are smooth on...

Giant hogweed

Giant hogweed is a perennial herb that can grow up to 6m tall and has large serrated leaves up to 50cm long.

German ivy

German Ivy is a scrambling or climbing vine that can reach heights of 5m.

Feral pig

All feral pigs in New Zealand are the descendents of domestic pigs. <br/> Feral pigs are distinctively shaped with large shoulders, small rear...

Feral goat

Feral goats vary in size and colour, and have a 'blocky' appearance, with stout strong legs designed for climbing.

Evergreen buckthorn

Evergreen buckthorn

Evergreen buckthorn is a shrub or tree that can grow to 5m tall, but in exposed sites it may become a stunted shrub less than 1m tall.

English ivy

English ivy is an evergreen climber that can spread along the ground or climb trees, walls and other structures.

Elaeagnus

Elaeagnus is a dense, evergreen shrub that can scramble over supporting vegetation or structures to a height of 20m.

Eel grass

Eel grass is a submerged, bottom-rooted freshwater plant. It produces long, thick, strap-like leaves that are up to 3m long and 0.5-5cm wide.

Darwin's ant

Darwin's ant worker ants are about 2 mm long. They have a dark-brown head but the rest of the body and the legs are light brown.

Cotoneaster

Cotoneasters are long lived, evergreen shrubs up to approximately 3m tall.

Climbing spindle berry

Climbing spindle berry

Climbing spindleberry is a deciduous climber that grows up to 15m high.

Cats - feral and stray

Cats - feral and stray

Feral and stray cats are usually short-haired and slightly built, with a large head and sharp features.

Cathedral bells

Cathedral bells

Cathedral bells is a fast-growing evergreen climbing vine and can grow to 6m tall.

Cape tulip

Cape tulip is a perennial herb in the iris family. It produces shoots in winter, and dies back to an underground corm in early summer.

Cape ivy

Cape ivy is a hairless, scrambling, perennial plant which often forms a dense, tangled shrub growing 2-3m tall.

Cape honey flower

Cape honey flower

Cape honey flower is a clump-forming shrub, with stout, rough, hollow stems and a suckering root system.

Buddleia

Buddleia is a woody and deciduous ornamental shrub that grows up to 3m tall.

Brush wattle

Brush wattle is a short-lived tree, usually 5-10m tall. It has densely hairy twigs and bronze, hairy young shoots.

Brown bullhead catfish

Brown bullhead catfish

Brown bullhead catfish are a dark brown to olive green colour with paler sides and bellies.

Broom

Broom is an upright, many-branched, almost leafless woody shrub, up to 3m tall.

Parrots feather

Parrots feather

Parrot's feather is a submerged, bottom-rooted perennial aquatic herb. The top 10cm of foliage can be emergent, standing above the water. Sprawling...

Hare

Hares are easily distinguished from rabbits. They are much larger, with long, black-tipped ears and large muscular hindquarters.

Argentine ant

Argentine ant: worker ants are only 2–3 mm long and are a uniform honey-brown colour.

Moth plant

Moth plant is a fast-growing vine that can reach 10m tall. The twining stems release a milky sap when broken. The leaves are arranged in opposite...

Giant reed

Giant reed is a bamboo-like grass that can grow to 8m tall. It has a very strong, dense root structure that spreads outwards and downwards. Leaves...

Pampas grass

Pampas is a perennial, tussock-like grass. The two species ( Cortaderia jubata and Cortaderia selloana ) both have coarse abrasive leaves that are...

Nodding thistle

Nodding thistle

Nodding thistle is a biennial plant that grows from over-wintering rosettes and has a long, fleshy taproot. The flowering stems grow up to 1.5m tall...

Ragwort

Ragwort (also known as Senecio jacobaea ) is a member of the daisy family. It is an erect, annual to perennial herb and usually grows to 45-70cm...

Lagarosiphon (Oxygen Weed)

Lagarosiphon (Oxygen Weed)

Submerged, bottom-rooting aquatic perennial up to 5 m. Leaves (16 x 2 mm) have minute serrations along the edges, are arranged spirally around the...

Hydrilla

Submerged, bottom-rooting perennial growing to 9m, with slender, brittle and branched stems (1 mm diameter). Translucent, dark green leaves (6-12 x 2...

Magpie

Magpies are a large black and white bird, with a distinctive warbling call. The black-backed magpie and the more predominant white-backed magpie...

Boneseed

Bushy, semi-woody, many branched shrub or small tree to 2-3 m with ribbed and woolly young stems that become smooth as they mature.

Climbing asparagus

Climbing asparagus

Slender scrambling or climbing perennial with tuberous roots, and long green, thin, wiry stems (2-4 m long) that are much branched at the top.

Climbing dock

Scrambling or low-climbing perennial with brown kumara or beetroot-like tubers (5-20 cm long) with yellow flesh as well as extensive long weak rhizome

Japanese honeysuckle

Japanese honeysuckle

Vigorous evergreen (semi-evergreen in cold districts) climber with long, tough, wiry stems that twine clockwise, are purplish and hairy when young,...

Mignonette vine

Mignonette vine

Also known as Madeira vine, this is a perennial, climbing, hairless, woody vine with fleshy rhizomes and slender, usually reddish stems with small...

Green goddess arum

Green goddess arum

Green goddess arum lily is a clump-forming perennial often found in damp areas and around waterways

Mexican devil

Erect, many-stemmed herb subshrub to 1-2 m with a perennial fibrous rootstock. Stems often die back in winter, are densely covered in stalked sticky...

Tuber ladder fern

Tuber ladder fern

Terrestrial or epiphytic fern which grows to 1m, with small, erect, scaly rhizomes which produce many long runners and round, 1-3 cm hairy...

Tradescantia

This perennial groundcover has fleshy, dark green, shiny oval shaped leaves (3-6cm long), with pointed tips on succulent, creeping stems that root at...

Common wasp

Common wasps, Vespula vulgaris, are very similar in appearance to German wasps.

German wasp

The German Wasp, Vespula germanica, ranges in length from 12 – 17 mm, with a blackish brown abdomen and bright yellow stripes

Asian paper wasp

Asian paper wasp

Paper wasps are distinguished by their body shape, which is slender and 13-25mm long. They have reddish-brown to black bodies with yellow rings and...

Ferret

Ferrets are the largest of the three Mustelidae species present in New Zealand and are about 48-56cm long, including the tail.

Weasel

Weasels are the smallest and least common of the three mustelids in New Zealand.

Egeria

Bottom-rooted submerged perennial aquatic herb. Stems can be more than 3m in length.

Myrtle rust

Myrtle rust (Austropuccinia psidii) is a serious fungal disease that affects plants in the myrtle family (family Myrtaceae). The myrtle family...

Hornwort

Hornwort can grow from a single cell, making it particually invasive as it can be easily transferred between water bodies.

Blackberry

Blackberry is a scrambling, very thorny, semi-erect shrub that is usually deciduous, with large root crowns and long suckers. Stems are usually...

Sea spurge

Sea spurge is a long-lived herbaceous coastal plant native to Africa, temperate Asia, and many parts of Europe and is invasive in Australia. The...

Field horsetail

Field horsetail

Field horsetail is an erect, colony-forming, primitive fern-ally that grows up to 80cm high and dies back in winter. <br/> Plants produce two types...

Sycamore

Sycamore is a large deciduous tree up to 20m tall, with a smooth trunk. Leaves are five-lobed, up to 20cm long, green but with reddish petioles up...

Velvetleaf

Velvetleaf is a summer-growing annual plant that can grow up to 1.5m tall or more. It has large, heart-shaped leaves, which are soft and velvety

Noogoora bur

Noogoora bur is a fast-growing summer annual that can reach heights of 2m - 2.5m. Its is named for the clusters of distinctive, egg-shaped burs that...

Smilax

Scrambling or twining perennial with dense clusters of white, fleshy, tuberous roots and twisted, thin, wiry, branched green stems to 3m.

Feral deer

There are three main species of deer present in the Wellington region: Red deer, Sika deer and Fallow deer. <br/> Red deer are the largest of the...

Chilean rhubarb

Chilean rhubarb

Chilean rhubarb is a large, clump forming, rhubarb-like herb with large prickly leaves that can reach up to 2.5m tall. In winter, it dies back to...

Wallaby

Wallabies are small marsupial animals that look like miniature kangaroos. They are silver-grey to dark brown in colour. Wallabies live in scrub,...

Plague skink

Plague skinks (also known as rainbow skinks) are 3-4cm long from the tip of the nose to the hind legs, excluding the long thin tail. They are brown...

Ferny azolla

Azolla species are aquatic ferns that form free-floating reddish carpets over the surface of slow moving water and ponds. Ferny azolla has a very...

Canada geese

Canada Geese damage waterways and pasture and have no legal protection status. With landowner permission, anyone can humanely control them.

Gambusia (mosquito fish)

Gambusia (mosquito fish)

Gambusia are commonly called Mosquito fish due to the mistaken belief that they can help control Mosquito populations

House mouse

House mice are small, omnivorous generalists that reach approximately 30 g in weight and measure around 115 mm in length (without tail). They have a...

Hedgehog

Hedgehogs are grey-brown in colour with their backs and sides entirely covered with spines. Most common in lowland and coastal areas; prefers dry...

Aluminium plant

Aluminium plant

Aluminium plant has square, purplish stems which creep along the ground (runners) and are densely hairy. Pleasant smelling, mint-like oval leaves (30...

Bomarea

Bomarea is a shade tolerant, multi-stemmed vine that arises from short underground rhizomes, which bear numerous tubers.

Chilean needle grass

Chilean needle grass

Chilean needle grass is an invasive weed that takes over large areas if left uncontrolled.

Boxthorn

Boxthorn is a densely branched, erect, evergreen shrub that grows to to 6 m tall. It has tough, woody stems alternately branched at square angles,...

Montbretia

Stiff, leafy, clump-forming evergreen or summergreen perennial with underground rhizomes.

Darwin's barberry

Darwin's barberry

Darwin's barberry is a woody evergreen shrub that grows up to 5 metres tall.

Tutsan

Originally from South and Western Europe, Tutsan it is a small, perennial shrub growing to 1.5m with fibrous roots and no rhizomes.

Rough horsetail

Rough horsetail

Erect, colony-forming, summer-green perennial, primitive fern-ally to 2m tall with extensive, deep, freely branching rhizomes. Ridged, hollow stems...

Hawthorn

Hawthorn is a deciduous shrub or small tree that grows up to 10m tall with much-branched stems that are hairless, reddish-brown when young, but...

Spanish heath

Spanish heath is a brittle and erect woody perennial shrub growing up to two metres high, establishing in habitats from near sea level up to 1,000...

Crack willow

Crack Willow is a deciduous tree growing to 25m tall. It has a spreading crown and multiple trunks. Bright red rootlets are present when the plant is...

Grey willow

Grey willow is a small deciduous shrub or tree growing up to 7m high. The leaves (20-70 x 15-35 m) are oval and serrated. Topsides of leaves are...

Holly

Holly is an evergreen, shrub or small tree (to 12 m tall). Glossy dark green leaves (3-10 cm long) alternate along the stem, are paler below, and...

Hemlock

The leaf is made up of sub-divided leaflets makes it look like a fern in the vegetative state. The stems of hemlock leaves have no hairs and also...

Spindle tree

Japanese spindle tree is a deciduous shrub or small tree to 6m tall with smooth, grey bark and young branches that are square, green and smooth....

Barberry

Common barberry is an evergreen or semi-deciduous, spiny, yellow-wooded shrub to 4-5 m (occasionally 7m) tall. Stems are tough and woody, with...

Chilean flame creeper

Chilean flame creeper

Chilean flame creeper is a perennial vine with vibrant red flowers from November onwards, followed by deep blue fruits that are eaten by birds.

Apple of sodom

Apple of Sodom is a strong, spiny, woody, perennial shrub growing up to a metre or more tall.

Goat's rue

Goat's rue is a woody upright herbaceous perennial. Small oval shaped leaves are arranged in 4-9 pairs along the stem. Small pea like flowers appear...

Purple/Pink ragwort

Purple/Pink ragwort

Upright perennial (reaching 1m tall) with oval, coarsely toothed light green leaves and clusters of bright pink, purple, or mauve, daisy-like flowers...

Variegated thistle

Variegated thistle

Variegated thistle is a biennial thistle. It can grow up to 2.5 metres tall and more than 1 metre wide. Rosette leaves alternate on the stem, and can...

White-edged nightshade

White-edged nightshade

White edged nightshade is a spiney, heavily branched perennial shrub, growing up to 5m tall forming dense thickets. It has woody stems, prickly...

Yellow bristle grass

Yellow bristle grass

Yellow bristle grass is an annual, upright growing grass 25 to 45cm tall. In open pasture its first leaves often grow parallel to the ground. Leaves...

Saffron thistle

Saffron thistle

Saffron thistle is an annual thistle. It has woody stems, prominent spines and small yellow flower heads. The flower heads have a downy texture, but...

Australian sedge

Australian sedge

Australian sedge is a deep rooted, densely tufted sedge with harsh leaf edges that will cut fingers when pulled. Plants will form tussocks 30-90cm...

Blue Passionflower

Blue Passionflower

Vigorous evergreen, high-climbing vine

Australian paper wasp

Australian paper wasp

Australian paper wasps are slender with long thin wings. They are 10-15mm long (smaller than the Asian paper wasp) and reddish-brown. This species...

African fountain grass

African fountain grass

The flowering stems (i.e. culms) are upright and either unbranched or sparsely branched. These stems arise from the base of the plant (i.e. the...

Low, much branched perennial shrub, with silvery-white leaves present year round. Flowers are yellow and daisy like. Scattered throughout New Zealand...

Californian arrowhead

Californian arrowhead

Californian arrowhead is an upright, perennial aquatic herb that grows up to 1m tall on the margins of waterways in both salt and fresh water. The...

Californian bulrush

Californian bulrush

This is a large aquatic perennial sedge that grows up to 3m tall from dense woody rhizomes buried in bottom sediments, usually in tidal reaches of...

Chinese pennisetum

Chinese pennisetum

Chinese pennisetum is an erect, tufted, unpalatable grass which grows up to 1m high. Leaves are erect, light green on top and dark green underneath....

Delta arrowhead

Delta arrowhead

Delta arrowhead is an emergent aquatic plant that grows up to 80 cm in height, and is found in flowing or still fresh water and in marshes and swamps...

Didymo

Didymosphenia geminata (didymo), also known as "rock snot" is a freshwater diatom (a type of alga) and was first reported in New Zealand in the Lower...

Hawaiian arrowhead

Hawaiian arrowhead

Hawaiian arrowhead is a herbaceous aquatic perennial that is very similar to S. montevidensis, the difference being its production of rhizomes and...

Johnson grass

Johnson grass, native to the Mediterranean, is a perennial summer grass. Seedlings like young maize plants both in habit and growth pattern. Mature...

Marram grass

Coarse perennial grass forming stiff, hardy, dull grey clumps of erect stems ( <br/> Reproduces vegetatively and from seed. Rhizomes take root when...

Mexican daisy

Sprawling perennial daisy ( <br/> Forms dense mats and produces huge amounts of seed that travel for long distances. Wide ecological versatility,...

Mist flower

Mist flower is an erect or sprawling many-stemmed herb or subshrub ( <br/> It grows very densely and overtops groundcovers, is long-lived,...

Monkey apple

Monkey apple is a tree ( <br/> It is a long-lived species (100 yrs +) and produces a lot of seed that is well dispersed. Birds (especially pigeons)...

Nasturtium

Scrambling or trailing, hairless, aromatic, annual or short-lived perennial, occasionally climbing to 2 m high, with succulent stems (to 10 m long)...

Perennial nettle

Perennial nettle

Perennial nettle stems are slightly branched at the top, slender, rigid, square, and covered with numerous stinging hairs. Leaves are opposite (7.5...

Plectranthus

Trailing or straggling herb (occasionally subshrub) with stems covered in purple hairs that form runners and root at nodes. Hairy oval, textured...

Common polypody

Common polypody

Polypody is a low growing (up to 25cm tall) evergreen fern with fronds that grow from horizontal rhizomes. Triangular leathery leaflets are light...

Pyp grass

Pyp grass is a strongly rhizomatous perennial grass ( <br/>

Silver poplar

Medium sized deciduous tree. Young shoots are covered in down, including the buds. Leaves are 4-15cm long, 5-lobed and fuzzy - although this wears...

Stinking iris

Clump-forming perennial ( <br/> Birds spread the seeds, and rhizome fragments are spread by water. Both are spread by contaminated machinery, soil...

Sweet pea shrub

Sweet pea shrub

Evergreen legume-like shrub ( <br/> Fast growing, shades out low-growing coastal shrubs, and produces many, very long-lived seeds. Tolerates salt,...

White bryony

Soft, summer-green, cucumber-like vine ( <br/> Tuber fragments are spread by water and soil movement. Seed is spread by birds.

Onion weed

Grass-like perennial ( <br/> Seed and bulbs are spread via water and soil movement, dumped vegetation, contaminated machinery and nursery plants....

African olive

Dense bushy shrub or small tree ( <br/> Birds, possibly possums and livestock eat the fruit and spread the seeds. Common sources are gardens, hedges...

Medium-sized, clump-forming perennial bamboo ( <br/> Spread is vegetative by growth of rhizome, viable seed is uncommon. <br/> <br/>

Ferny asparagus

Ferny asparagus

Scrambling or climbing evergreen fern-like perennial with feathery flattened stems that look like leaves, in bunches of 7-20 from each stem node....

Brush cherry

Large shrub or small tree ( <br/> Prefers moderate to highly fertile, well-drained soils, but tolerates frost, salt, dry, wind, shade, and damage....

Curled pondweed

Curled pondweed

Submerged leaves alternate along a thin stem rooted in bottom sediments. Leaves are stalkless, oblong, grow up to 8cm long and are olive green to...

Elephant ear

Large perennial ( <br/> Limited distribution through seed drop near to parent plants, and occasionally through water. Clumps expand slowly through...

Italian arum

Clump-forming, winter-green perennial ( <br/> Seed is spread by birds and water, and tuber fragments form new plants. <br/>

Pigs ear

Pigs ear is a fast-growing succulent often found invading coastal slopes and beaches, outcompeting natives

Queensland poplar

Queensland poplar

Shrub or small tree ( <br/> Seed is spread by birds, water, and machinery, especially roadside mowers. <br/> <br/> <br/>

Rice paper plant

Rice paper plant

Rice paper plant is a fast-growing shrub with large, tropical-looking, palmate leaves and clusters of white flowers

Japanese aralia

Japanese aralia

An evergreen shrub growing to 1–5 m tall, with stout, sparsely branched stems. Large, leathery, spirally-arranged leaves 20–40 cm in width and on a...

Bushy asparagus

Bushy asparagus

Two growth forms are known: (1) cultivar 'Sprengeri' is a trailing scrambler with stems to 2 m that are branched towards tips, and with sparse...

Horehound

Erect, much branched, downy, perennial about 50 cm tall. Flowers are small with white petals and grow in dense clusters at regular intervals around...

Australian subterranean termite

Australian subterranean termite

About 4-7 millimetres in size but without the typical small ant 'waist'. These termites are found in trees and timber including landscape structures,...

Freshwater gold clam

Freshwater gold clam

The freshwater gold clam is quite distinctive and easily identifiable as there are no similar looking New Zealand species. <br/> An adult clam...

Portuguese millipede

Portuguese millipede

What does it look like? This millipede has a many-segmented, smooth cylindrical body ranging in colour from black/grey to light brown. When mature...

Horned poppy

Horned poppy is an annual or perennial herb. <br/> It starts as a tufted rosette, then produces stout, erect, hairless, bluish-green stems (20 cm to...

Delta maidenhair fern

Delta maidenhair fern

The delta maidenhair fern is an exotic maidenhair fern - New Zealand has a number of native maidenhair fern species, and telling them apart can take...

Golden male fern

Golden male fern

Golden male fern is an exotic fern species that has naturalised in New Zealand. Almost a dozen other exotic Dryopteris species are present, three...

Male fern

Male fern is an exotic fern species that has naturalised in New Zealand. Almost a dozen other exotic Dryopteris species are present, three of which...

cretan brake

Cretan brake is one of two naturalised exotic brake ferns in New Zealand, the other being Pteris vittata , ladder brake. We have a small number of...

Bear's breeches

Bear's breeches

This plant is a leafy, erect perennial herb growing up to 1.2m tall. <br/> It has thick roots and large, glossy, strongly lobed, dark green leaves...

Licorice plant

Licorice plant, sometimes called Helichrysum, is a scrambling, evergreen perennial shrub. <br/> The New Zealand Plant Conservation Network describes...

Tree lomatia

Tree lomatia is a tall shrub or small tree growing up to 11m tall in its native Australian habitat. <br/> Leaves are typically 6.5-15 cm long by...

Hops

The New Zealand Plant Conservation Network describes hops as a perennial climber with hairy stems up to 10m long and extensive roots. <br/> Leaves...

Pride of Madeira

Pride of Madeira

Echium candicans , also known as Echium fastuosum is a large exotic herbaceous perennial shrub that forms a rosette in its first year of growth,...

Lady's slipper flower

Lady's slipper flower

Lady's slipper flower is an annual, herbaceous plant that naturalised in New Zealand in 1958 (NZPCN). <br/> It can grow to half a metre tall and a...

Golden dodder

Golden dodder is a parasitic twining vine with little or no chlorophyll ( NZPCN). <br/> The Department of Conservation describe the plant as ...

Phragmites karka

Phragmites karka

Phragmites karka is a perennial rhizomatous grass that can grow to heights of 4m tall in the open, or over 8m tall when supported by other...