Wellington City Council has hired a consultant to track an outbreak of a disease killing native flaxes in the region.
Yellow leaf disease has been discovered on the south coast. It occurs naturally in flax along the coasts and waterways.
The council says the consultant will begin next month to work out how widely the disease has spread, and if anything can be done about it.
Yellow leaf disease brought a rapid end to the New Zealand flax industry in the early 1900s.
