What seedling is that?
At the Nursery or on field inspections we are often asked “what is that seedling”? “Is it a native”? “Does it belong here”?
It is often a matter of practice to identify seedlings – here are a few pointers (with photos below).
Many seedlings look just like a miniature version of the adult plant – eg Pittosporum, wineberry, broadleaf, see below. If you know what the adult leaf looks like, the seedling will look very similar.
Often there is confusion between seedlings of black mapou, (Pittosporum tenuifolium), red mapou (Myrsine australis) and pepperwood (Pseudowintera colorata) as they can all look quite similar but with practice you will be able to tell them apart.
A few are a bit more cryptic and challenging because they change their leaf shape from a seedling to an adult plant – examples are native clematis, lancewood, pokaka, see below
The big tree seedlings – totara, miro, matai and kahikatea can look quite similar to each other when young and rimu can take a bit of identifying (but it is also so rare to see it).
Posted: 23 April 2023