Plant of the Day

Sunday 25 August 2024

The salt-tolerance of the native annual plant Atriplex patula (spear saltbush, common orache, spear orach, spreading orach) means it can grow grow in coastal areas and the verges of salt-treated roads, where the soil has increased salinity. This species is a wildflower in the U.K. but can be invasive in some other parts of the world.

Another place of scientific interest that was promptly put on the To-Do list when @purrdence found out about it. The reserve was established to preserve the salt-pan habitat, which used to be much more common in Central Otago until agriculture and irrigation trashed most of them.

As a result the reserve is one of the few places in Central Otago that still has salt-loving plants like Atriplex buchananii, and two species of moth that feed on that plant - Paranotoreas fulva and an undescribed Loxostege.

Unfortunately the reserve is also overrun with introduced weeds, but at least a few were new to me. I also got a closer look at Golden scabweed than I did in Cromwell, where I had to lean over the fence.

Schmetterling im Meldestrauch