The Auckland Botanical Society holds regular meetings and field trips throughout the year. Meetings are usually held on the first Wednesday of the month at 7:30 pm, and field trips on the third Saturday of the month, starting at 10 am.
Meeting Venue: Unitec, School of Natural Sciences, 139 Carrington Road, Mount Albert, Auckland-Gate 4, Building 115, Room 2005 , Level 2
(Annual Lucy Cranwell lecture is held at the Auckland Museum)
Evening Meeting: Wednesday 7th October
7:30pm Unitec
Allen Mere 2026
The Presentation of the Allen Mere 2026, to Lisa
Forester, Biodiversity Manager, Northland
Regional Council.
Presented by Anthony Wright, Director
Canterbury Museum.
Talk: Inaugural Alistair MacArthur speaker
Talk: Flora of Argentina (and neighbouring
countries-Southern Cone) and the relationships with
NZ through Gondwana species, with an emphasis on Orchids.
Presented by: Marcela I. Sanchez, President (Board
of Directors) Argentine Network of Botanical
Gardens: Hurlingham, Buenos Aires.
Field trip: Saturday 17th October
Worsfold & Wright Farms
Meet at the Rural Design Limited office/nursery accessed off 300 Kaiwaka Mangawhai Road, Kaiwaka at 10am. The area is of interest as it is situated between the east and the west coast (Managwhai & Kaipara Harbour) and has a rich history of Maori and European history.
"The country lying immediately to the west of Mangawhai consists of rolling undulating downs, bounded to the north and south by wooded ranges, but the country between these forests, at the time I write of, was open and covered with stunted fern and manuka. The soil is sterile, with a little richer land in the valleys, such as at Hakoru. Formerly this country was
covered by fine kauri forests, as the natives tell us, and as is proved by the enormous quantities of kauri gum, or kapia, which have been dug out of it. The Maori, having no tools in former days to clear a path with, always accomplished this by setting fire to the country, and the result is that these fires, continued for ages, have destroyed, first the forests, then
the vegetable humus which goes to form a soil, and hence the extent of sterile country north of Auckland. Eight miles or so to the west of Mangawhai the open country comes down by gentle slopes to the head waters of the Kaiwaka, one of the branches of the noble Otamatea, the most beautiful of all the beautiful rivers—or rather inlets, for the waters are salt—of the Kaipara harbour. There is a little freshwater stream named Waimako, running
down from a wood, and at a mile from its junction with the Kaiwaka is Te Ika-a-ranga-nui, an undulating picturesque country, with a somewhat better soil than that to the east, and which is now covered with European farms (Smith 1910). "
The area is a mixture of kauri - podocarp - broadleaved forest species that has excluded livestock for some years. The pressures of past activities namely agriculture has had a significant impact on the general area. New pressures include urbanization and a potential new motorway which makes these bush areas all the more significant. The Field trip to this locatin in 2018 yeilded a northern range extension for Hymenophyllum bivalve https://bts.nzpcn.org.nz/site/assets/files/24166/ak_bot_soc_journal_73_2_dec_2018_112-114.pdf. The aim of the trip is to Identify more plants within the bush areas and help add to a comprehensive flora list of the area.
Lucy Cranwell Lecture
Auckland’s Botanical Benefactor, and
the Beautiful World of Moss
Jessica Beever
Tuesday 27th October
6.30-7.30pm
Auckland Museum
Bookings Essential, Pay What You Can
Dr Lucy Cranwell was the inaugural Curator of Botany
at Auckland War Memorial Museum, appointed in
1929 when she was only 21 years old. She was New
Zealand’s first female museum curator and became an
internationally renowned scientist. As a war-bride,
Lucy Cranwell moved permanently to the United States
in 1944, but throughout her life retained a keen interest
in Auckland Museum and our broader botanical scene,
making many generous donations.
Her pioneering research in palynology, the study of
pollen grains preserved in peat bogs, meant that her
interest in mosses centred on the bog moss Sphagnum.
In this lecture, bryologist Dr Jessica Beever will
link Sphagnum to stories from the wider world of these
beautiful and fascinating plants, the mosses.
https://aucklandmuseum.com/visit/whats-
on/members/ami-the-2026-lucy-cranwell-lecture
To book, you will be made to set up an account if you
don't already have one and use the code:
AKLBOTANICALSOCIETY
There will be a prompt to "pay what you can" with
Ticket price. If you wish to donate you are most
welcome to do so, but it is definitely not an expectation.
Booking tickets is for health and safety reasons and the
auditorium has limited seating.