Ngā Rauropi Whakaoranga

Ngati Rehua of Aotea has mana whenua over the island, and access is controlled by the Department of Conservation. The vascular flora numbers 20 indigenous species. There are just 3 plants of harakeke, whose leaves have a gold margin. "This is the same form present throughout the northern Mokohinau Islands (P. J.de Lange, pers. obs.), except for a small area within the former lighthouse settlement of Burgess (Pokohinu) Island where the lamina margin of the flax is black. The black margined variant is the form widespread throughout the adjacent Northland coast and is, we suspect, planted on Burgess. Similarly on nearby Motukino Island, both forms are present, although those with black margins were extremely local and generally confined to sites of former Māori occupation."