New Zealand and Pacific ferns: taxonomy and relationships

Te Papa researchers: Leon Perrie and Lara Shepherd

Over half of Aotearoa New Zealand’s ferns and lycophytes are also indigenous elsewhere in the south-west Pacific region. Improving the understanding of the floras in adjacent areas provides better context for research on ferns in Aotearoa. This research involves investigating the delimitation, naming, distributions, and relationships of species.

Alongside Aotearoa, New Caledonia receives particular focus because of its shared Zealandian heritage, but the research has also covered Australian, Solomon Islands, Fijian and Tongan ferns.

A dark pink fern frond with green bush in the background

Blechnum milnei, Fiji. Photo by Leon Perrie. Te Papa

A small, pale green frond growing up from the earth

Pneumatopteris glandulifera, Solomon Islands. Photo by Leon Perrie. Te Papa

Looking up from the bush at a talk palm tree with blue sky and clouds in the distance

Cyathea intermedia, New Caledonia. Photo by Leon Perrie. Te Papa

Main collaborators: Daniel Ohlsen, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, Australia; Rémy Amice, Nouméa.

Representative publications

Perrie LR, Amice R, Shepherd LD, Brownsey PJ. 2025. Tmesipteris alticola (Psilotaceae), a new fern species endemic to New Caledonia. New Zealand Journal of Botany 63: 53-65.
Perrie LR, Brownsey PJ. 2024. Identification Guide to the Ferns and Lycophytes of Aotearoa New Zealand. Te Papa Press, Wellington.
Perrie LR, Amice R, Shepherd LD, Laudereau C, Bruy D, Tuiwawa M, Ohlsen DJ, Brownsey PJ. 2023. New records of fern species from New Caledonia in the genera Davallia, Dicranopteris, Dryopteris, Pteris, and Trichomanes. New Zealand Journal of Botany 61: 232-258.

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