By Ewen Cameron, Curator Botany
The first wild vascular Flora (a comprehensive record of the plants of an area) for the Tokelau archipelago was published in 2018 by Dr Art Whistler – the information below is mainly from that Flora. It was based on a botanical literature review, herbarium collections and Whistler's four collecting trips, during 1976-2011. The term ‘vascular plant’ includes: flowering plants, conifers and ferns. Cultivated species are excluded, and in Tokelau there are no conifers recorded.
The four islands of the archipelago are atolls with a maximum elevation of 5m above sea level. The vegetation is broadly placed into four plant communities: managed land vegetation (regularly disturbed, including pulaka/giant swamp taro pits), coconut plantations, freshwater marsh (restricted to Olohega/Swains Island) and littoral strand (contains virtually all of the original vegetation of Tokelau). Most of the littoral strand species have buoyant, saltwater-resistant seeds and fruit capable of long-distance dispersal by ocean currents and consequently are mostly widespread in the tropical Pacific.
Lacking any high land, the flora is limited to only 100 wild species, only 38% of which are native. Tokelau has no unique/endemic species. Two species are quite rare, including tamatama/lau tamatama (Achyranthes velutina) which is present on the four islands. It was discovered on Macauley Island (part of the Kermadec Islands) in 2002 – making it one of the few species common to both Tokelau and New Zealand.
Image: Flora of Tokelau, by Art Whistler, 2018, published by Isle Botanica, Honoluu. 125p.
Cover features Gahu (Scaevola taccada) abundant shrub in clearings and on the margins of the littoral forest.