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Alan made a prodigious contribution to New Zealand botany, identifying plants and describing their roles in plant communities and botanical regions, including naturalised plants in urban landscapes. He was a prolific author and beautiful draftsman.

Alan encouraged our practice to re-introduce Microlaena stipoides, a native grass, on Puketapapa Mt Roskill Volcano. Microlaena used to be the dominant and most effective pasture cover on Auckland’s volcanic cones. From the 1950’s onwards, however, mismanagement of cattle grazing significantly diminished microlaena. Alan describes this ecological disaster in his remarkable book Wild Plants of Auckland (2004).