The New Zealand Plant Conservation Network

Amongst the fields of Muehlenbeckia complexa on the dunes at Hot Water Beach, there is quite a lot of Melicytus novae-zelandiae growing, including one enormous thicket of it (20m or more diameter, pictured), several large plants and many smaller specimens. They seemed natural to me, especially the large ones, but the fact that ecological restoration has obviously been carried out here made me cautious about assuming that they are naturally occurring. Can anyone confirm that they are part of a naturally occurring population ? It is of interest to me, as I haven't seen this species in the wild before.

I don't have an answer beyond that this species is very common on the nearby offshore islands, occurs on rocky headland to the north and south of that beach and has bird dispersed fruits - so it may well be indigenous to the beach. I was last there in 1974 and so I can't remember anything much about it except the obvious - the water was hot...

Thanks Peter. I'd be very surprised if the Melicytus nz weren't indigenous to the site. There were a couple of monsters there, and it had an erratic pattern. It was interesting to see Melicytus nz growing in the dunes, where Melicytus ramiflorus also grew in compressed, sprawling masses. It's not what I was expecting.