The New Zealand Plant Conservation Network

I have identified 5 white rata plants out on the cliffs at Titahi Bay, Porirua. Is it common for rata to be right out on the coast? How comment are they on our coastline?

Hi John, when I lived in Wellington I once walked the coastline between Titahi Bay and Cale Te Rawhiti. Metrosideros perforata is locally common along parts of that coastline, as indeed it is elsewhere along the South Wellington coast. This species is very tolerant of a range of conditions, and it is not unusual to see it in the places you describe elsewhere in New Zealand. Remember too that at one time there was forest in these Wellington areas extending to the coast - what you are seeing with the rata is merely the final expressions of that once extensive forest.

I hauled myself to the top of the cannon creek valley to look at the view out over Petone. What greeted me at the top? On the Petone side, all the rock bluffs where covered in Rata. We saw none on the way up.