- Source: New Zealand Fungarium
The New Zealand Fungarium (PDD): Te Kohinga Hekaheka o Aotearoa is the major collection of fungi from Aotearoa (New Zealand). It is one of the largest collections in the Southern Hemisphere. The Fungarium is designated a Nationally Significant Collection by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.
History
The accessioning of collections that led to the establishment of the New Zealand Fungarium (PDD): Te Kohinga Hekaheka o Aotearoa began with the appointment of G.H. Cunningham in 1919 by the Department of Agriculture. Cunningham and the collection were transferred to the Department of Science and Industrial Research's Plant Diseases Division in 1936. This is the origin of the PDD acronym. The DSIR was disestablished and reorganised into a number of Crown Research Institutes (CRI) in 1992. The Fungarium is now part of and maintained by the CRI Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research.
Collections
The Fungarium houses the collections of R.E. Beever (Agaricales, Boletales), G.H. Cunningham (Aphyllophorales, Gasteromycetes, Uredinales), J.M. Dingley (Ascomycetes), E. Horak (Agaricales), S.J. Hughes (Hyphomycetes, sooty moulds), R.F.R. McNabb (Agaricales, Boletaceae, Dacrymycetaceae, Strobilomycetaceae, Tremellaceae), R.H. Petersen (Clavariaceae), G.J. Samuels (Ascomycetes), and K. Curtis. Fungal specimens from the herbarium of the Plant Health and Diagnostic Station, Levin (LEV) have been incorporated into PDD.
The study of the New Zealand native mushrooms and other larger fungi was pioneered by Greta Stevenson, Marie Taylor, and Barbara Segedin from the late 1940s until the 1990s. Collectively they described over 250 new species of New Zealand fungi. All these are available through the Biota of New Zealand or Systematics Collections Data internet portals.
The Fungarium has over 2900 Type specimens – these are the specimens on which the species descriptions are based. These include over 17000 New Zealand primary Types.
Fungarium staff undertook an assessment in 2019 to identify native fungi that are endangered. As a result, 30 species were added to The International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List.
Staff talk about the Fungarium
Meet Maj Padamsee, curator of the New Zealand Fungarium (2022)
Meet Adrienne Stanton, collection manager at the NZ Fungarium | Te Kohinga Hekaheka o Aotearoa (2022)
Peter Buchanan introduces the New Zealand Fungarium | Te Kohinga Hekaheka o Aotearoa (2022)