KEY POINTS:
Botanists are elated with the discovery of a fern in the Hawke's Bay that had been believed to be extinct.
Te Papa museum's botany curator Leon Perrie said the last time the maidenhair spleenwort fern (Asplenium trichomanes) was seen was in the 1950s, but its exact location was never recorded.
The current population of ferns comprises just nine plants in a single area of about 15 square metres.
The Department of Conservation (DOC) had been notified, but the exact locality was not being released more widely because of the plant's rarity.
Dr Perrie said he was elated when the population was discovered during a field trip he made with the Manawatu Botanical Society specifically to hunt for the fern.
"I didn't think our chances of finding it were very high, if at all, and was rapt when a team member called me over to positively identify it - I couldn't stop smiling!" Dr Perrie said.
Any other discoveries of the species would be "very significant", and DOC should be contacted, he said.
- NZPA
