Free museum entry for New Zealanders and people living in New Zealand

Botany

Te Papa’s botanical collections and research encompass marine algae (seaweeds), lichens, mosses, liverworts, lycophytes, ferns, and seed plants.

  • A black and white photo of a woman in a white coat sitting at a desk and looking at the camera.

    Nancy Adams: Botanist and artist

    Nancy Adams (1926–2007) was one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s most notable botanists and a talented artist. One of Te Papa’s most prolific botany collectors of all time, she also painted and drew an incredible number of botanical illustrations. She used her artwork to produce important books about Aotearoa New Zealand’s flora, including seaweeds, flowers, trees, and alpine plants.

  • A small flowering plant on the side of a tree. The flowers are yellow.

    Orchids in Aotearoa New Zealand

    There are over 100 species of orchids in Aotearoa New Zealand and come in a variety of shapes, colours, and dimensions. They thrive in diverse habitats across the country. Take a look at Te Papa's research and work with orchids as well as highlights from our collections.

  • The underside of a fern frond

    Ferns in Aotearoa New Zealand and the Pacific

    Ferns are so prominent in Aotearoa New Zealand, we even wear them on our sporting uniforms. From botany research to citizen science, pressed-fern books of the 1800s to collecting All Blacks and tourism memorabilia, our collectors and curators spend a lot of time with ferns.

  • A watercolour of three views of a plant.

    A watery wonderland

    As a group of plants, macro-algae (or seaweeds) are little known and are often disregarded, but not by Nancy Adams.

    Of the 3322 specimens she collected for Te Papa’s herbarium, over two thirds – 2285 – are algae.

  • watercolour of red-pink two-dimensional algae

    Seaweed sisters

    Aotearoa New Zealand’s extensive coastline is home to hugely diverse and luxuriant seaweed flora. Over the last 100 years, a significant number of women have contributed to the study of our macro-algae and showed a passion for the botanical world from an early age.

  • Te Papa’s botanical specimen data now on GBIF

    Where can you find harakeke outside Aotearoa New Zealand? What species of forget-me-not live on Banks Peninsula? Answering these questions is now a lot easier because our herbarium’s botanical specimen data have been released on the world’s biggest database of living things, GBIF.

  • A spiky shrub on a rocky hillside. It has clumps of white flowers that look like cauliflowers.

    Speargrasses – a spiky specimen spree

    In 2022-23, Te Papa Research Scientist Lara Shepherd and Botany Curator Leon Perrie embarked on a project with Manaaki Whenua’s David Glenny to re-assess the number of species of speargrass in Aotearoa New Zealand. The ferociously spiky speargrasses are some of our most distinctive plants and an iconic feature of New Zealand’s high country, especially when flowering. Read their blogs to find out about their discoveries, how to collect the pointy fauna safely, and other specimens they met along the way.

  • cheilolejeunea_rodneyi-790x557.jpg

    A new liverwort species for Wellington

    A new species of liverwort has just been identified in Wellington and named after local amateur botanist Rodney Lewington (1935–2018). Botanist Lara Shepherd tells us more about liverworts and Rodney’s contribution to New Zealand botany.