I need help from NZ members please

[Torsten]

There is some new legislation threatening the legality of a vast array of NZ plants. To help prevent this I urgently need to help someone with a submission. For the submission I need a list of all NZ native plants and another list of all non-native plants used in NZ horticulture [esp nursery trade]. Obviously I am not asking anyone to make these lists, but if anyone knows where I can find them then that would be very helpful.

Ideally the lists should be in an editable format [eg excel], but I can probably work with html lists too.

This is all very urgent, so please PM or post if you have any ideas. I will explain more about the legislation in the next few days, but don't have enough time right now.

thanks.

[Nemisty]

In terms of lists in editable formats I wouldn't know where to source something like that. CßL may have better idea though.

Here's the three most comprehensive lists I know of online for native plants plus other commonly used plants

NZ Plant Conservation Network

Oratia Native Plant Nursery ( most comprehensive native nursery I know of )

kingsseeds.co.nz ( NZ's main seed supplier for veges and garden plants )

[Illustro]

Source? First time I've heard anything of this sort.

Here's a series of volumes which details native and introduced plants, but not their use (ie horticulture). Navigate to the the table of contents in the volume of interest, and click the 'taxa' link located near the bottom of the page.

http://floraseries.landcareresearch.co.nz/pages/index.aspx

[Torsten]

in short, the new psychoactive substances bill prohibits everything that has CNS activity, regardless of potency, abuse potential, and regardless of what sort of item it is, ie it includes live plants. There are 'whitelists' such as the herbs and medicines listed in the therapeutics act and foods listed in the food act, but EVERYHING else with CNS activity will be captured by this bill.

This was not the intention of the people who initially pushed for the new regulatory model and it is now important to make the relevant politicians see that this is unworkable. There is little anyone can do unless you already have a good working relationship with a government member of parliament, so no point making submissions and protests etc. It is too late for that. I have a way to get this info to the relevant people where it will be taken seriously, but it needs to be done in the next few days. To have an impact I need to make a fairly complete list of all plants currently used in horticulture and all native plants that could be affected by this legislation. All they are focussing on are things like salvia and kratom without being aware just how many hundreds or thousands other plants would be affected.

I need to be able to create two lists. One that applies to the horticulture industry [esp nurseries] and one that applies to ecology [native species]. Given the size of the lists I need to start with an editable list. The flora series can be copied into excel so would work, but they are not separated into natives and exotics, which is really important.

[CβL]

Alright, regarding #2

1) Go to: http://www1.maf.govt.nz/cgi-bin/bioindex/bioindex.pl
2) Click 'Search' with nothing selected - a gigantic list of plants with their import statuses will be returned
The second column will contain data relating to the classification of each plant, with the classifications being described in here: http://www.biosecurity.govt.nz/files/ihs/155-02-06.pdf

Only nursery stock for the plant species listed in the Plants Biosecurity Index will be considered for entry into New Zealand. [http://www.biosecurity.govt.nz/regs/imports/plants/nursery]

As indicated by the Plants Biosecurity Index, certain genera and species require Special Conditions that are additional to the Basic Conditions. These are outlined in the Schedule of Special Conditions in Section 3.4 of the import health standard.

I think this will give some measure of plants that are likely to already be in New Zealand or are allowed to be. Please let me know if this list is useful, and how you would like it processed - if it is.

I'm still working on #1

[CβL]

Nemistys first link from nzpcn allows the option to download all native NZ plants as a .csv file (which in-case you didn't know, is fully excel-editable). Just select the 'Native' radio button and then 'Search', and the option to download as a .csv appears at the top of the page. This is probably a good list to start with.

What the **** - the csv file seems to only have 1000 plants, while the search query returns 4900 (there are 52~ plants per page, and about 99 pages - so the 4944 results is accurate - they actually seem to give an .xls file, rather than .csv - and I cannot find the missing plants - maybe they messed up conversion of .csv to .xls or something, or maybe I'm a tired egghead)

Edited March 30, 2013 by CβL

[CβL]

Here's a list of vascular plants in .pdf form: http://www.nzpcn.org.nz/publications/NZ%20Vascular%20Plant%20list%202006.pdf

[Nemisty]

Shot CßL, those look more like it.

Can I ask why you need lists of NZ plants Torsten?

[Torsten]

thanks guys, the lists are coming together nicely. I'll probably need more help in the enxt few days with editing them, so please check back into this thread.

nemisty, I've already done that.