Until late 2024, nobody had seen te pua o Te Rēinga “the flower of the underworld” in the Wellington region for more than a hundred years. A chance discovery of a small struggling population has kick started a race to protect the plants and help them return.

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Learn more:

1. First Up interviewed Avi Holzapfel about Te Pua o Te Rēinga in 2024
2. In 2020, OCW looked at efforts to resurrect a transplanted population of Te Pua o Te Rēinga at Zealandia.
3. Graeme Atkins is also one of the driving forces behind an effort to help the ngutukākā plant return to the wild, plus the 1769 Garden – a living library of rare local East Coast native plant species.

Guests:

• Graeme Atkins (Ngāti Purou, Rongomawahine)
• Barrett Pistoll – Greater Wellington Regional Council
• Avi Holzapfel – Department of Conservation
• Rhys Mills - Ngā Manu Nature Reserve
• Bart Cox – Wellington City Council

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details