This hugely popular houseplant joins dozens of other plant species caught in the zone between 'present in NZ' and 'approved in NZ', under the HSNO Act 1996.
NZPPI applied for approval under HSNO's Rapid Assessment pathway in 2020, but the EPA felt it didn't meet the criteria for this pathway.
Last year we tried to get it 'denewed' through an Order in Council process which was not approved. This process is run every 2-3 years for organisms which have become established and cannot be eradicated from New Zealand, with applications to determine them as "not new" for the purposes of the HSNO Act 1996.
Now the Full Release application pathway is the only remaining option for P. peperomioides under the HSNO Act. NZPPI has been working on a Full Release application for 11 other houseplant species since June 2021, and we have now included P. peperomioides in this application. The application now spans 134 pages with hundreds of pdf references.
It's the first Full Release application since HSNO came into force over 24 years ago. We're hopeful our application will go out for public submissions before the end of September with a decision notified early next year.
We've learned a lot going through this process and we hope that it sets a precedent for more applications for non-invasive, new plant species in future.