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Composition of the New Zealand Seed Plant Flora

Statistics for the New Zealand seed plant flora are presented below. The statistics are based on the information contained in the New Zealand Plant Names Database (available online at Ngā Tipu Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants). The selection of statistics is based on the most frequent enquiries we have received regarding the composition of the New Zealand flora.

The statistics represent information for validly published seed plant names that are currently in use at the Allan Herbarium (CHR), and are recognised as being wild in New Zealand on 1 September 2000. (It is estimated that there are approximately 20 000 additional seed plant species in cultivation in New Zealand.) The statistics are calculated for species, genus, and family levels. Hybrids for the exotic flora only are included in the statistics, and are those reported in Healy & Edgar (1980), Webb et al. (1988), Webb et al. (1995), Heenan et al. (1998), and Heenan et al. (1999).

The genera in the New Zealand Plant Names Database are currently arranged according to the classifications of Kramer & Green (1990) for the gymnosperms and Cronquist (1988) for the angiosperms. Other classifications (e.g., Dahlgren et al. 1985; Kubitzki 1998a, 1998b; Angiosperm Phylogeny Group 1998) will be added to the database, and will be made available on the web.

These statistics were last updated on 1 September 2000.

How to cite
These statistics should be cited as
Wilton, A.D.; Breitwieser, I. (2000) Composition of the New Zealand seed plant flora. New Zealand Journal of Botany 38(4): 537-549. Web update: 1 September 2000. Version: Cronquist.

Table 1: The number of families, genera, and species in the New Zealand seed plant flora.
	Families	Genera	Species
Gymnosperms	7	23	51
Angiosperms	184	1117	3954
Monocots	32	282	1031
Dicots	152	835	2923
Total Seed Plants	191	1140	4005

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Table 2: Number of species in the New Zealand seed plant flora.
	Total Seed Plant	Gymnosperms	Angiosperms
	Total Seed Plant	Gymnosperms	Total	Monocots	Dicots
Indigenous
Endemic	1566	20	1546	412	1134
Non-endemic	330	0	330	140	190
Total	1896	20	1876	552	1324

Exotic
Fully naturalised	1732	28	1704	433	1271
Casual	376	3	373	46	327
Total	2108	31	2077	479	1598
Biostatus uncertain	1	0	1	0	1
Grand Total	4005	51	3954	1031	2923

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Table 3: The 10 most genus-rich angiosperm families in the New Zealand flora
Family	Number of genera
Asteraceae	131
Poaceae	122
Fabaceae	47
Brassicaceae	42
Apiaceae	35
Liliaceae	33
Scrophulariaceae	31
Rosaceae	31
Lamiaceae	31
Orchidaceae	26

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Table 4: The 10 most species-rich angiosperm families in the New Zealand flora, ordered by the total number of indigenous and exotic species.
Family	Total	Indigenous			Exotic
Family	Total	Total	Endemic	Non-endemic	Total	Fully naturalised
Asteraceae	520	287	261	26	233	179
Poaceae	460	185	162	23	275	266
Scrophulariaceae	217	160	149	11	57	43
Cyperaceae	213	170	121	49	43	38
Fabaceae	142	30	28	2	112	98
Rosaceae	139	29	25	4	110	83
Apiaceae	131	98	86	12	33	30
Brassicaceae	105	29	24	5	76	66
Orchidaceae	100	99	62	37	1	0
Ranunculaceae	84	54	47	7	30	20

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Table 5: The 10 most species-rich angiosperm genera in the New Zealand flora, ordered by the total number of indigenous and exotic species.
Genus	Total	Indigenous			Exotic
Genus	Total	Total	Endemic	Non-endemic	Total	Naturalised
Carex	100	77	66	11	23	20
Hebe	89	89	87	2	0	0
Celmisia	60	60	59	1	0	0
Ranunculus	53	41	36	5	12	11
Poa	49	37	35	2	12	10
Coprosma	47	47	45	2	0	0
Juncus	47	15	2	13	32	32
Epilobium	43	38	31	7	5	5
Aciphylla	42	42	42	0	0	0
Myosotis	40	34	31	3	6	6

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Table 6: The number of genera in the New Zealand gymnosperm flora.
Family	Genera
Podocarpaceae	7
Pinaceae	5
Cupressaceae	4
Taxodiaceae	3
Araucariaceae	2
Phyllocladaceae	1
Taxaceae	1

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Table 7: Number of species in the seven gymnosperm families in the New Zealand flora, ordered by the total number of indigenous and exotic species.
Family	Total	Indigenous			Exotic
Family	Total	Total	Endemic	Non-endemic	Total	Naturalised
Pinaceae	19	0	0	0	19	19
Podocarpaceae	14	14	14	0	0	0
Cupressaceae	8	2	2	0	6	5
Araucariaceae	3	1	1	0	2	1
Phyllocladaceae	3	3	3	0	0	0
Taxodiaceae	3	0	0	0	3	2
Taxaceae	1	0	0	0	1	1

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Table 8: Number of species in the 23 gymnosperm genera in New Zealand flora, based on the total number of indigenous and exotic species.
Genus	Total	Indigenous			Exotic
Genus	Total	Total	Endemic	Non-endemic	Total	Naturalised
Pinus	13	0	0	0	13	13
Podocarpus	4	4	4	0	0	0
Cupressus	3	0	0	0	3	3
Halocarpus	3	3	3	0	0	0
Phyllocladus	3	3	3	0	0	0
Abies	2	0	0	0	2	2
Araucaria	2	0	0	0	2	1
Callitris	2	0	0	0	2	1
Lepidothamnus	2	2	2	0	0	0
Libocedrus	2	2	2	0	0	0
Picea	2	0	0	0	2	2
Prumnopitys	2	2	2	0	0	0
Agathis	1	1	1	0	0	0
Chamaecyparis	1	0	0	0	1	1
Cryptomeria	1	0	0	0	1	1
Cunninghamia	1	0	0	0	1	0
Dacrycarpus	1	1	1	0	0	0
Dacrydium	1	1	1	0	0	0
Larix	1	0	0	0	1	1
Manoao	1	1	1	0	0	0
Pseudotsuga	1	0	0	0	1	1
Sequoia	1	0	0	0	1	1
Taxus	1	0	0	0	1	1

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Table 9: The most species-rich angiosperm families in the New Zealand flora within each biostatus category (number of species).
Total	Indigenous			Exotic
Total	Total	Endemic	Non-endemic	Total	Naturalised
Asteraceae (520)	Asteraceae (287)	Asteraceae (261)	Cyperaceae (49)	Poaceae (275)	Poaceae (266)
Poaceae (460)	Poaceae (185)	Poaceae (162)	Orchidaceae (37)	Asteraceae (233)	Asteraceae (179)
Scrophulariaceae (217)	Cyperaceae (170)	Scrophulariaceae (149)	Asteraceae (26)	Fabaceae (112)	Fabaceae (98)
Cyperaceae (213)	Scrophulariaceae (160)	Cyperaceae (121)	Poaceae (23)	Rosaceae (110)	Rosaceae (83)
Fabaceae (142)	Orchidaceae (99)	Apiaceae (86)	Juncaceae (15)	Brassicaceae (76)	Brassicaceae (66)
Rosaceae (139)	Apiaceae (98)	Orchidaceae (62)	Apiaceae (12)	Lamiaceae (69)	Lamiaceae (57)
Apiaceae (131)	Rubiaceae (58)	Rubiaceae (54)	Scrophulariaceae (11)	Solanaceae (58)	Solanaceae (47)
Brassicaceae (105)	Ranunculaceae (54)	Ranunculaceae (47)	Caryophyllaceae (9)	Scrophulariaceae (57)	Caryophyllaceae (46)
Orchidaceae (100)	Epacridaceae (48)	Epacridaceae (43)	Convolvul -aceae (8)	Caryophyllaceae (55)	Scrophulariaceae (43)
Ranunculaceae (84)	Onagraceae (41)	Onagraceae (34)	Crassulaceae (7)	Liliaceae (44)	Cyperaceae (38)
			Onagraceae (7)
			Ranunculaceae (7)

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Table 10: Number of angiosperm families and species per family in the New Zealand flora grouped by biostatus.
Families grouped by biostatus	Number of families	Species
Families grouped by biostatus	Number of families		Mean ± 1 SD	Median	Max.
All families	184		21.5 ± 59.1	4.5	520
Families containing indigenous species	105	All species Indigenous species	34.9 ± 75.6 17.9 ± 41.4	8 4	520 287
Families containing indigenous species only	32		3.0 ± 2.5	2	11
Families containing endemic species	88	All species Endemic species	40.1 ± 81.3 17.6 ± 38.9	12 4	520 261
Families containing endemic species only	15		2.4 ± 1.6	2	6
Families containing non-endemic species	68	All species Non-endemic species	48.9 ± 90.3 4.9 ± 8.2	18.5 2	520 49
Families containing non-endemic species only	9		1.4 ± 0.5	1	2
Families containing exotic species	152	All species Exotic species	25.4 ± 64.4 13.7 ± 33.3	5 4	520 275
Families containing exotic species only	79		3.7 ± 4.2	2	25
Families containing fully naturalised species	135	All species Fully naturalised species	27.6 ± 67.5 12.6 ± 30.6	6 3	520 266
Families containing fully naturalised species only	34		2.7 ± 4.3	1	25

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Table 11: The most species-rich angiosperm genera in the New Zealand flora within each biostatus category (number of species).
Total	Indigenous			Exotic
Total	Total	Endemic	Non-endemic	Total	Naturalised
Carex (100)	Hebe (89)	Hebe (87)	Juncus (13)	Juncus (32)	Juncus (32)
Hebe (89)	Carex (77)	Carex (66)	Carex (11)	Rubus (26)	Trifolium (24)
Celmisia (60)	Celmisia (60)	Celmisia (59)	Isolepis (10)	Eucalyptus (26)	Rubus (23)
Ranunculus (53)	Coprosma (47)	Coprosma (45)	Thelymitra (10)	Trifolium (25)	Carex (20)
Poa (49)	Aciphylla (42)	Aciphylla (42)	Epilobium (7)	Carex (23)	Eucalyptus (19)
Coprosma (47)	Ranunculus (41)	Olearia (38)	Euchiton (7)	Solanum (23)	Solanum (20)
Juncus (47)	Olearia (38)	Ranunculus (36)	Pterostylis (7)	Bromus (20)	Salix (16)
Epilobium (43)	Epilobium (38)	Poa (35)	Crassula (6)	Euphorbia (16)	Veronica (15)
Aciphylla (42)	Poa (37)	Dracophyllum (34)	Schoenus (6)	Oxalis (16)	Bromus (15)
Myosotis (40)	Dracophyllum (34)	Epilobium (31)	Senecio (6)	Senecio (16)	Euphorbia (14)
	Myosotis (34)	Myosotis (31)		Salix (16)	Oxalis (13)
				Veronica (16)	Senecio (13)
					Silene (13)

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Table 12: Number of angiosperm species per genus in the New Zealand flora grouped by biostatus category
Genera grouped by biostatus	Number of genera	Species
Genera grouped by biostatus	Number of genera		Mean ± 1 SD	Median	Max.
All Genera	1117		3.5 ± 7.0	1	100
Genera containing indigenous species	360	All species Indigenous species	6.6 ± 11.2 5.2 ± 9.8	3 2	100 89
Genera containing indigenous species only	259		4.7 ± 9.4	2	89
Genera containing endemic species	273	Allspecies Endemic species	7.9 ± 12.5 5.7 ± 10.3	3 2	100 87
Genera containing endemic species only	146		4.2 ± 7.3	1	42
Genera containing non-endemic species	173	All species Non-endemic species	8.5 ± 14.3 1.9 ± 1.9	3 1	100 13
Genera containing non-endemic species only	64		1.2 ± 0.6	1	3
Genera containing exotic species	858	All species Exotic species	3.2 ± 6.1 2.4 ± 3.2	1 1	100 32
Genera containing exotic species only	756		2.1 ± 2.5	1	26
Genera containing fully naturalised	717	All species Fully naturalised species	3.6 ± 6.6 2.4 ± 3.0	2 1	100 32
Genera containing fully naturalised species only	507		1.7 ± 1.5	1	16

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Table 13: The seed plant families with genera endemic to New Zealand, showing the number of genera and species in each family, and number of species in each genus.
Family	Number of genera	Number of species	Endemic genus	No. species
Alseuosmiaceae	1	5	Alseuosmia	5
Apiaceae	2	4	Lignocarpa Scandia	2 2
Araliaceae	1	3	Raukaua	3
Asteraceae	11	43	Damnamenia Dolichoglottis Embergeria Haastia Kirkianella Leucogenes Pachystegia Pleurophyllum Rachelia Raoulia Traversii	1 2 1 3 1 4 3 3 1 23 1
Balanophoraceae	1	1	Dactylanthus	1
Boraginaceae	1	1	Myosotidium	1
Brassicaceae	4	7	Ischnocarpus Iti Notothlaspi Pachycladon	2 1 2 2
Cyperaceae	1	1	Desmoschoenus	1
Fabaceae	2	2	Clianthus Montigena	1 1
Gesneriaceae	1	1	Rhabdothamnus	1
Grossulariaceae	1	1	Ixerba	1
Loranthaceae	5	6	Alepis Ileostylus Peraxilla Trilepidea Tupeia	1 1 2 1 1
Malvaceae	1	2	Plagianthus	2
Myrtaceae	2	3	Lophomyrtus Neomyrtus	2 1
Orchidaceae	1	1	Aporostylis	1
Poaceae	3	6	Pyrrhanthera Simplicia Zotovia	1 2 3
Podocarpaceae	2	2	Halocarpus Manoao	1 1
Portulacaceae	1	1	Hectorella	1
Proteaceae	1	1	Toronia	1
Ranunculaceae	1	2	Psychrophila	2
Scrophulariaceae	1	5	Heliohebe	5
Stylidiaceae	1	1	Oreostylidium	1
Tiliaceae	1	1	Entelea	1
Verbenaceae	1	1	Teucridium	1
Winteraceae	1	3	Pseudowintera	3

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Table 14: Distribution of the number of wild angiosperm species per family in the New Zealand flora overall and for each biostatus category. (See explanation below.)
Number of species per family	All	Indi- genous	Indi- genous only	Endemic	Endemic only	Non- endemic	Non- endemic only	Exotic	Exotic only	Fully Natural- ised	Fully Natural- ised only
1	43	20	11	14	6	26	5	46	32	39	20
2	20	14	9	13	4	14	4	12	9	18	3
3	13	10	1	13	1	5	0	16	10	15	6
4	16	12	4	6	2	6	0	12	7	9	0
5	13	6	2	6	1	4	0	9	7	6	2
6	10	3	2	4	1	1	0	8	5	4	1
7	7	0	0	4	0	3	0	5	3	4	1
8	5	7	2	1	0	1	0	4	1	1	0
9	2	3	0	2	0	1	0	0	0	1	0
10	0	3	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	3	0
11 to 12	3	2	1	1	0	2	0	4	0	6	0
13 to 14	6	2	0	2	0	0	0	3	0	4	0
15 to 16	7	0	0	0	0	1	0	6	4	0	0
17 to 18	1	0	0	2	0	0	0	1	0	1	0
19 to 20	1	3	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	4	0
21 to 25	6	3	0	4	0	1	0	6	1	4	1
26 to 30	5	6	0	3	0	1	0	2	0	3	0
31 to 35	1	1	0	2	0	0	0	2	0	2	0
36 to 40	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	4	0	2	0
41 to 45	2	1	0	1	0	0	0	2	0	1	0
46 to 50	2	1	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	2	0
51 to 60	2	2	0	1	0	0	0	3	0	1	0
61 to 70	5	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	1	0
71 to 80	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
81 to 90	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
91 to 100	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
101 to 150	4	0	0	2	0	0	0	2	0	0	0
151 to 200	0	3	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
201 to 250	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
251 to 300	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	1	0
301 to 350	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
351 to 400	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
401 to 450	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
450 to 500	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
501 to 550	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
>550	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

For each of the biostatus categories two columns of data are provided. The first column represents the number of species per family for the species in that biostatus category only. For example, the column 'indigenous' provides the number of indigenous species per family in families containing indigenous species. These families may also contain species in other categories.

The second column in each pair provides the number of species per family in the families only represented by that biostatus category in the New Zealand flora. For example, the column 'indigenous only' provides the number of species per family for the families that contain indigenous species only.

For example, the Asteraceae contain both indigenous and exotic species. The number of indigenous species in the Asteraceae is therefore included in the column 'indigenous', but not in the 'indigenous only' column. The exotic speices of Asteraceae will, similarly, be included in the 'exotic' column, but not the 'exotic only' column. However, the Acanthaceae are only represented by exotic species in the New Zealand flora. The number of species in the Acanthaceae is therefore included in the columns 'exotic' and 'exotic only'.

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Table 15: Distribution of the number of wild angiosperm species per genus in the New Zealand flora overall and for each biostatus category. (See explanation above.)
Number of species per genus	All	Indi- genous	Indi- genous only	Endemic	Endemic only	Non- endemic	Non- endemic only	Exotic	Exotic only	Fully Natural- ised	Fully Natural- ised only
1	596	159	128	108	74	110	54	498	468	421	340
2	199	52	39	50	26	34	6	170	151	141	99
3	81	44	30	29	17	12	4	51	40	32	20
4	51	13	9	7	2	2	0	40	31	38	21
5	36	17	8	15	4	5	0	23	20	25	12
6	27	9	6	11	3	3	0	20	14	12	6
7	18	7	4	5	1	3	0	7	5	6	1
8	16	7	3	4	0	0	0	7	5	9	3
9	8	4	2	5	1	0	0	9	4	5	1
10	11	6	2	4	2	2	0	5	5	8	2
11 to 12	11	6	5	6	3	1	0	8	3	7	1
13 to 14	18	6	5	4	2	1	0	7	4	4	0
15 to 16	9	6	3	4	1	0	0	6	3	3	1
17 to 18	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
19 to 20	5	2	1	1	1	0	0	1	1	3	0
21 to 25	7	5	4	6	4	0	0	3	1	2	0
26 to 30	7	3	3	3	2	0	0	2	1	0	0
31 to 35	3	3	2	4	1	0	0	1	0	1	0
36 to 40	3	3	1	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
41 to 45	2	2	1	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
46 to 50	3	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
51 to 55	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
56 to 60	1	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
61 to 65	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
66 to 70	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
71 to 75	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
76 to 80	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
81 to 85	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
86 to 90	1	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
91 to 95	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
96 to 100	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
> 100	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

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References

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Angiosperm Phylogeny Group 1998: An ordinal classification for the families of flowering plants. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 85: 531-553.

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Kubitzki, K. ed. 1998a: The families and genera of vascular plants. Vol. II. Flowering plants. Monocotyledons: Alismatanae and Commelinanae (except Gramineae). Berlin, Springer-Verlag.

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Webb, C. J.; Sykes, W. R.; Garnock-Jones, P. J.; Brownsey, P. J. 1995: Checklist of dicotyledons, gymnosperms, and pteridophytes naturalised or casual in New Zealand: additional records 1988-1993. New Zealand Journal of Botany 33: 151-182.