A new species of tree fern has recently been named after Te Papa botany curator and fern expert Leon Perrie.
The fern, Dicksonia perriei, occurs only in New Caledonia mostly on acidic soils at altitudes above 1000m, in areas of high rainfall. The new species is related to the three other New Caledonia Dicksonia species and to the New Zealand tree ferns whekī (D. squarrosa) and prostrate tree fern (D. lanata).
Dicksonia perriei was described in the scientific journal Phytotaxa and Leon’s observations and photographs from a 2012 fieldtrip to New Caledonia aided its authors, Sarah Noben and Marcus Lehnert, in describing this new species.
Several other Te Papa scientists have had taxa named after them, including mollusc researcher Bruce Marshall, who has over 20 species and 5 genera named in his honour, and bird lice expert Ricardo Palma.