Thanks to those who have helped pull more pea plant seedlings from under the cave area. We are now starting to se the results of continual effort in this area.

Polygala myrtifolia - also known as Cape pea or sweet pea shrub is the pesky pea plant with pink/purple flowers which has spread all over the rock face around the cave at the bottom of Lone Kauri Road.

This plant started to establish there soon after 1982 when there was a fire, which burnt the area from the road up to the cave. Seed probably came from a garden nearby as it is a not uncommon garden plant - but having seen how it can spread, I would encourage anyone with it in their garden to remove it. It is now banned from sale and propagation - it is classified as a National Surveillance Plant Pest.

When it started to colonise the cave slope it looked quite attractive and it took a few years to realise how invasive this plant would be. It seeds readily, especially in open sunny spaces. Not only has it covered the face below and above the cave, now, plants are appearing in an ever-widening area - wherever the bush is not tall and dense. It seems to like coastal cliffs and also the sand dunes on the beach.

Why don't we want this plant? Because it is capable of rapidly colonising open spaces, dominating or crowding out the native species. There are several plants only found in this area which grow on rocky coastal cliffs which are being threatened.

The Landcare group is putting a concerted effort into clearing this plant. This is obviously a challenging and long-term task because of the steep and awkward terrain. We have asked the ARC to look at taking responsibility for clearing the plants off the steeper faces.

In recent years, we have had a number of pea-plant weeding days; and the ARC, with teams of PD workers, have done a great job of clearing a lot of the big plants in the original area.

We need your help - Come to our weeding days - or whenever you go for a walk look out for plants and remove them. The small seedlings come out easily and even the bigger bushes are not too hard to uproot.

Caroline Grove