Even as we stare, globally, down the barrel of a sixth mass extinction, be heartened by local conservation efforts that have not only led to the recovery of several critically endangered species, but the discovery of many new endemics. Even a brand new genus of insect, hiding in plain sight on the fruits of our luxurious palms, and a new fern thriving on the forest floor.
PLANTS
Mountain Rush, Freycinetia baueriana
Macropiper excelsum subsp. psittacorum, Pepper Tree
The leaves of Ipomoea pes-caprae subsp. brasiliensis, or Goat's Foot.
White Oak, Lagunaria patersonia
Niau Palm, Rhopalostylis baueri
Bolete, order Boletales
Scaly Oysterlings,Crepidotus calolpis, with lichen, pseudocyphellari sp
Morning Glory, Ipomoea cairica
Kangaroo Apple, Solanum laciniatum
Norfolk Pine, Arucaria Hetrophylla
Popwood, Myoporum obscurum
Phillip Island Hibiscus, Hibiscus insularis
Fungi, Genus stereum
Anemone Stinkhoen, Aseroe rubra
Devil's Guts, Capparis nobilis
Ghost Fungi, Omphalotus nidiformis
Orange Pore Fungi, Favolaschia calocera
Shelf fungi, Laetiporus versisporus
Two-frond Fern, Asplenium dimophum
Tylophora biglandulosa, Hoya, (not to scale - but wrapped around an old-school magnifying glass)
An introduced water weed, Eichhornia crassipes, Water Hyacinth
Coprosma baueri, an endemic, with Endlicher's scientific description based on the type specimen Ferdinand Bauer collected in 1804/05