This article was first published in the Tararua Tramper Volume 88, no 8, September 2016
Wednesday trampers attack the horned poppies at Baring Head
19th August, 2016
10 August was scheduled as one of the Club's conservation efforts. At 10 a.m., 40 trampers from across almost all of the Wednesday groups, many armed with grubbers, marched down the Wainuiomata Valley to the sea and the climbing rocks at Baring Head. We were there to help the Friends of Baring Head with ongoing work in the East Harbour Park. In this instance, we attacked the horned poppies which, left unchecked, form a dense cover that will impede other dune plants getting established. In beautiful weather, we solidly grubbed over a gratifyingly large area, enjoyed the tea, coffee, chocolate, nuts and peeled and cut-up oranges provided by the Friends; those that got sick of grubbing picked up a lot of rubbish. We were back at the cars at 3.15 or thereabouts after a very satisfying outing.
From Wikipedia: Glaucium flavum (yellow horned poppy) is a summer flowering plant in the Papaveraceae family, which is native to Northern Africa, Macronesia, temperate zones in Western Asia and the Caucasus, as well as Europe. Habitat: the plant grows on the seashore and is never found inland. All parts of the plant, including the seeds, are toxic and can produce a range of symptoms up to and including respiratory failure resulting in death (FDA poisonous plants database). It is a noxious weed in some areas of North America, where it is an introduced species. The thick, leathery deeply segmented, wavy, bluish-grey leaves are coated in a layer of water retaining wax. The sepal, petals and stamen have a similar structure and form to the Red Poppy (Papaver rhoeas) except the sepals are not hairy. Prolific quantities of seeds are held in a distinctive horn shaped fruit some 15 to 30cm in length, which is divided into two chambers
- Party members
- Helen Beaglehole (scribe).