Conservation Week: Saving our native orchids
Celebrate conservation week by learning about Aotearoa New Zealand’s most threatened and uncommon orchids, and meet the scientists working to save them from extinction.
Sat 6 Sep 2025, 10.00am–12.30pm
Te Taiao | Nature, Level 2
Free, with museum entry
Orchids are one of the largest groups of flowering plants in the world, but also one of the most threatened. In Aotearoa New Zealand, almost a third of our 110 orchid species are of conservation concern, with habitat destruction being the main threat to their long-term survival.
Researchers at Te Papa and Ōtari Wilton's Bush are developing methods to propagate native orchids from seed so living collections can be kept in botanic gardens as a back-up and the number of individuals in wild populations increased.
Join us to see these orchids under the microscope and meet the scientists helping to save them.
Photo by Carlos Lehnebach. Te Papa (272188)