New Zealand Alpine Flora

[Toole]

Just about getting there  .(the end that is !).

A number of pics of the fabulous forms of Celmisia traversii    --another mountain daisy you would be tempted to grow for the foliage alone.

View from summit over the forested northern slopes.

Another plant from the road side that benefits from the lack of competition.Geranium sessiliflorum.

Very similar to Raoulia glabra i showed earlier is Raoulia subsericea --from which it differs by having tighter mats,(although my pics doesn't show that in this instance ), and silver blunt tips.     

 

[Toole]

Last posting --I need a break  

At the summit i worked my through the tussocks and shrubs and onto the edge of the beech trees.

Here i found in sphagnum moss, enjoying the cool shady moist position, numerous plants of another eyebright ,Euphrasia zelandica and an Orchid ,(I've a query away to a local expert for a name).

Finally a view out across the basin towards the imposing peaks of Fiordland.

Cheers Dave.

EDIT--- Orchid has been ID'd as Chiloglottis cornuta 

[Lori S.]

Wow, it's fantastic to see the sights of New Zealand!  Thanks for posting, Dave!
The Meterosideros is amazing... it boggles the mind to see massive trees with such floral displays.
Your photos give us an excellent peek into the alpine environment of New Zealand.  So many exotic forms!
I love the first very colourful Acaena and Raoulia subsericea, especially.

[RickR]

Wow!  What a wonderful excursion!  Thanks for bringing it all to us, Dave.

It looks as if those black crag rocks are not the normal bedrock there... like they jutted through the surroundings?  Very cool!

Every photo is interesting, flowering or not.  Near the beginning, the Acaena hybrid, especially, is superb!  Am I looking at red pistils?

What is that ubiquitous hairy plant I see in so many of the pics, that reminds me of Hieracium villosum/lanatum? I am expecting it to be yet again something I've never heard of...  See it here, for instance:
http://nargs.org/smf/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=374.0;attach=28107;image

[cohan]

So many great things! I especially love the Celmisia spedenii and traversii! Such unexpected foliage for 'daisies'!
The first Celmisia and the Brachyglottis also show fantastic 'staging' rising out of plants that set them off so brilliantly- well worth attempted emulation...

[Hoy]

Looks much better than the grey, naked birches here

Here's a few pics to cheer up your day Hoy. Wink

Cheers Dave
 

Thanks, Dave! You are cheering me up. It's amazing! The landscape isn't very different from what I'm used to but the flora is! Even the genera I know, like Euphrasia for instance, is very different from our local species. And moreover you have a lot of genera that don't exist here!

Dave, how come those low mountains aren't all covered by trees?
I remember the first time I germinated some Acaena seeds! I also remember the first time I did see it live - in the highlands of Ecuador. Very exiting.

The common Euphrasia in the mountains here is E wettsteinii. The common Acaena in my garden is this one - don't know whether it is a NZ species though

   

[Toole]

Thanks everyone.
Glad you are all enjoying the 'trip'.

Sorry to disappoint you Rick  
You are correct,the hairy plant is an introduced Hieracum sps classed as a noxious weed because it has spread all over the place...........

As to your query regarding pistils ---i don't think so --Here's a cropped pic of the minute flowers and the white coloured hooks on the end of each spine.

Cohan
 I'm mindful i might have shown pics of some sps previously so I'm always keeping an eye out for 'staging' .

Hoy
NZ is primarily a farming country so large areas of the lower 'hill' country are cleared.
Interestingly I'm a member of our local landcare group ,which recently as part of a community work day ,planted out over 5500 small native plants to help bridge the gap between two remanent forest blocks ..I'll never live to see the result however it's heartening to think I might be making a difference.
 
 Cheers Dave.

[Jandals]

Nice work as always Dave . Impressed you made it up the track . Wish I'd been there

What is that ubiquitous hairy plant I see in so many of the pics, that reminds me of Hieracium villosum/lanatum? I am expecting it to be yet again something I've never heard of...  See it here, for instance:
http://nargs.org/smf/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=374.0;attach=28107;image

Hieracium pilosella Rick and have attached a picture taken up the road a bit in November last year

[Toole]

Nice work as always Dave . Impressed you made it up the track . Wish I'd been there

Wish you had been there as well Steve --between us we might have been able to sort out a couple of plant IDs.

Hieracium pilosella Rick and have attached a picture taken up the road a bit in November last year

I remember your eyes lighting up at the thought of harvesting another wild weed sps --it's  just waiting for you to pick mate, when you have finished the 900 odd clean sacks of Sedum of course....  

Cheers Dave.

[RickR]

As to your query regarding pistils ---i don't think so --Here's a cropped pic of the minute flowers and the white coloured hooks on the end of each spine.
 
 Cheers Dave.

Clearly, you are right Dave.  Prior to seeing the close up you provided, they reminded me of Phyteuma pistils.

Thanks!

[Toole]

Way back in August 2010 when i started this thread i mentioned our bush property backed onto a larger reserve.
As the weather wasn't suitable for botanising in the 'hills' this weekend i walked around the public track that winds through the reserve.

[cohan]

Very nice! nothing dares grow epiphytically here apart from very low moss and lichens..

[Toole]

Thanks Cohan

Here's a few more 

[Toole]

This afternoon i travelled just a short distance ,(about 5 ks from home), to the western edge of the New River Estuary .

Here there are extensive stands of Totara growing on ancient sandhills, where in a couple of places you can gain a view out over the tree tops.

Cheers Dave.

[Hoy]

Truly exotic, Dave!
Although we have some kinds of temperate "rainforests" here they are totally different (mostly consisting of spruce). The nearest I've been to anything similar is mountain forests in Africa and South America.