Rightio

Looks like i can only post a few pics at a time (i've currently exceeded my broadband allocation and on dial up for a couple of days yet  >:().

More

Final pics.

Cheers Dave

An alien (but glorious) world for many of us, Dave ... super images of a promised land.  I personally can't wait until you reach the peaks (and those glorious buttercups)!  :D

I like forests and I have a small wood on my property as well (some small podocarps too) but your forest is strange to me. Looks more like upper forests in Amazonas  that I visited once. How easy walkable is such a forest?

Thanks Cliff

I hope to visit some of the real early Ranunculus later in November and hopefully time it right a month later to photograph in bloom ,a slope with hundreds and hundreds R. haastii ,that have appeared in the last couple of years or so....... :P :P :P .

Trond
Travel is reasonable in the fern patches --the difficulty is not being able to see where you are placing your foot as the ferns can reach waist height.
Many times i have fallen flat on my face because of some hidden root  :-[

In the heavy rainful areas of Fiordland (6 metres +p.a  :o ),and the West Coast ,travel becomes very slow because of the thick vegetation and number of lianes (vines).

In those areas you need to have experience/serious skills in route finding when travelling off track ,especially since ,(introduced), deer numbers have been reduced and with it the ability to use their worn trails around natural obstacles such as gorges ,waterfalls and bluffs !!.

Cheers Dave.

Dave, that kind of travel appeal to me! Seems I have to be stone old to achieve all my travel plans.

Wow, what a different and magical world - can't wait to see more!  How wonderful it must be to back onto a reserve, and to have what I imagine would be easy access to such a place.

How lush!  Looks like a fern-lovers paradise!

Images from a recent trip further along the coast onto open shrubland and bogs.

Because of the harsh coastal conditions here the common tree daisy ,(Olearia arborescens),only reaches about 1 meter in height.

In more sheltered spots Dracophyllum longifolium reaches higher.

I love the look of the new seasons growth of tangle fern,(Gleichenia dicarpa).

The sun orchids ,(Thelymitra pulchella), prefer sun ,however will also open their flowers on a heavily overcast warm day.

Donatia novae zelandiae forms hard dark green cushions with small flowers that sit directly on the leaves and has wide distribution from coastal to subalpine areas.

One of the earliest flowering Gentianella ,(G. lineata).While it isn't common ,in this area it blooms by the hundreds.

Growing on beach gravel just above the storm level Acaena pallida .

Finally --a little heath like plant growing amongst sedges lichen and leaf litter, Leucopogon fraseri.

Cheers Dave.

Very interesting, Dave. I have never been to New Zealand but the flora is more like South America than anything else I have seen.
I try to establish different ferns in my garden and the tangle fern looks special. Do you think it is hardy?

A myriad of interesting study subjects, right down to the white jelly bean like stones in the Leucopogon fraseri pic.
Thanks!

Dave
What a great tour you have put together!  I find it hard to wait for the next installment.
New Zealand has always been at the top of my MUST VISIT list, forever.

Hoy wrote:

I try to establish different ferns in my garden and the tangle fern looks special. Do you think it is hardy?

Not sure Trond.Although it grows in a harsh environment in terms of wind and exposure the winters here on the coast are very mild with nil snow cover.I can collect you some spores if you wish to experiment.

Thanks Rick and John
Having worked most of the weekend i'm away into a remote area of the Eyre Mtns tomorrow with another enthusiast for 3 days tramping/botanizing so hopefully i'll have something to report.

Cheers dave. 

Toole wrote:

Hoy wrote:

I try to establish different ferns in my garden and the tangle fern looks special. Do you think it is hardy?

Not sure Trond.Although it grows in a harsh environment in terms of wind and exposure the winters here on the coast are very mild with nil snow cover.I can collect you some spores if you wish to experiment.
Thanks Dave, if you do I appreciate that. Exciting to experiment with ferns!

Thanks Rick and John
Having worked most of the weekend i'm away into a remote area of the Eyre Mtns tomorrow with another enthusiast for 3 days tramping/botanizing so hopefully i'll have something to report.
Sure you have! Look forward to see!

Cheers dave. 

Sounds like a great getaway! I look forward to your report! :)

3 day visit last week to the Eyre Mtns Northern Southland (part 1 of 5  :o   ;D)

Our first day was very wet with low fog and heavy drizzle at times which affected the quality of any pics i took. :-[

After an hour or two of climbing up a side valley we came into 'fields' of the large dramatic Aciphylla aff. horrida 'Lomond'.

The males having performed their duties were beginning to droop.

Leaving the females to raise any offspring.

Celmisia densiflora flowering near the small stream.

A bit higher up on scree Hebe buchananii.

After a 3.5 hour uphill slog we reached our initial target of a small tarn ,and began searching around the steep screes for a number of specialized inhabitants--firstly, Stellaria roughii grows by the thousands here.

Myosotis glabrescens is a rare plant ,known only to live on a small number of ranges--it was great to see it for the first time in the wild.
 

NZ is famous for it's many large bright and colourful Ranunculus sps.Ranunculus pilfera was another plant i had yearned to view --while we saw good numbers ,most were individual plants here and there in bloom.

Ranunculus pilifera close up

Will post images of the rest of the trip in the next day or 3.

Cheers dave.

I know, if you are out looking for plants to picture or just walk in the mountains, foggy weather isn't the cosiest! But the pictures get a very special atmosphere if you have enough light to take them.

I very much like the scenery; familiar and unfamiliar at the same time and so are the plants. Very nice, Dave.

Thanks Trond

Continuing our search around the tarn we found the weird Ranunculus scrithalis --it always has a preference for clayish screes of thinnish depth.

We then moved onto the shaded cliffs .Home of Anisotome capillifolia and Cheesemania wallii.

Climbing higher to reach the ridgeline between the headwaters of creeks 1 and 2 ,Aciphylla spedenii, Celmisia hectorii , Abrotanella inconspicua and Ourisia sessilifolia.

Cheers dave

I like all the plants but the Ranunculus gets my vote!
Is the climate in these mountains high alpine with snow cover all winter? And what is the summer temperature? Do the plants get moisture from fog or from rain in summer? I remember from the High Atlas Mtns in Northern Africa that fog is an important source of water.

Absolutely wonderful as usual, Dave ... so many thanks for posting.

Thanks Cliff.

Trond
Yes normally under snow all winter with falls early June and melt starting in November .

NZ is a very narrow country surrounded by water ,so very much a maritime climate and although there are dryish areas inland, most ranges receive moisture from summer rains , topped up by fog ,meaning there is soil moisture available .

On a still day in the mountains temperatures can be high --i have a number of times been sunburnt ,(or even windburnt on an overcast day), however in my experience because there is a predominance of wind,temps most days are cool on the 'tops'.

Carrying on with the trip.....
Also on the ridgeline large mats of Kelleria dieffenbachii and Hectorella caespitosa and surprizingly in open positions Ourisa caespitosa

As we popped over into the next watershed a number of different Celmisias sps growing in snowgrass appeared.
Celmisia verbsacifolia

The lovely silver growth of Celmisia semicordata ssp stricta impressive even when not in flower

Same for a hybrid

Final posting tomorrow night  :D

Cheers dave.

Superb once again, Dave.  

Dave, thank you for information. Sounds not unlike western part of Norway.... (picture, without fog!)

I have grown some Celmisia a few times and also some Ourisia but they have been shortlived. Your pictures give the reasons why I want to try more!

What fantastic plants, Dave! NZ really has it all; from beautiful Celmisia to wierd Aciphylla and wonderful Ranunculus.

Thank you Jenny .

I grow a number of South African plants so have been following your 'posted' journey with interest.

On our last day we travelled an hour by vehicle to visit a couple of lower mountain ranges -- Firstly on an isolated hill we saw sheets of flowering Celmisia traversii in numerous variations of upper leaf colour and brown tomentum beneath.

On the banks of the access road, a nice daisy Anaphaloides bellidioides and in more shaded spots Ranunculus ensyii.

Then a quick visit to an area of ultrabasic rock where Celmisia spedenii grew --the normal type plant with white flowers and an exciting find ,*a rare form with yellow flowers--something i've never come across before and i believe the first time ever photographed.
*apologies for cross posting this particular pic,(which i've also shown on the SRGC Forum).

Finally ,Leptospermum scoparium can reach 4 or 5 meters in height elsewhere ,however possibly because of the nature of the type of rock it is growing on here ,plants can be very dwarf

The end........ :)

Cheers dave

Toole wrote:

On our last day we travelled an hour by vehicle to visit a couple of lower mountain ranges -- Firstly on an isolated hill we saw sheets of flowering Celmisia traversii in numerous variations of upper leaf colour and brown tomentum beneath.
On the banks of the access road, a nice daisy Anaphaloides bellidioides and in more shaded spots Ranunculus ensyii.

Then a quick visit to an area of ultrabasic rock where Celmisia spedenii grew --the normal type plant with white flowers and an exciting find ,*a rare form with yellow flowers--something i've never come across before and i believe the first time ever photgraphed.
*apologies for cross posting this particular pic,(which i've also shown on the SRGC Forum).

Finally ,Leptospermum scoparium can reach 4 or 5 metres in height elsewhere ,however possibly because of the nature of the type of rock it is growing on here ,plants can be very drawf

The end........ :)

Cheers dave

Dave, no need to excuse showing a yellow Celmisia twice! I could have looked at the pics three times as well!
It is a pity New Zealand is so far away or I had already been there. However, it's a must to visit and your pictures haven't lessened the urge to go.

Trond,
The humans in your landscape are much prettier than those we usually see displaying their lower limbs in N.Z.    ;D ;D
Have Toolie's legs appeared on these pages yet ... they have certainly featured heavily (!) on the SRGC Forum for many moons?  ;D ;D

Booker wrote:

Trond,
The humans in your landscape are much prettier than those we usually see displaying their lower limbs in N.Z.     ;D ;D
Have Toolie's legs appeared on these pages yet ... they have certainly featured heavily (!) on the SRGC Forum for many moons?   ;D ;D

you know Cliff, I couldn't compete the plants so I had to choose something else. The NZ legs were nothing!

Thanks a lot guys  :o  You two will keep!! ;D ;D

Cheers dave

Dave, I love seeing your NZ plants in either location, here on NARGS and on SRGC, thanks for bringing them here. I've been a long time fan of the weird and wondrous flora of both New Zealand and Australia, and I use the term "weird" in the most complimentary way, as the flora is so different and unique, that in many cases even the family the plants belong to are utterly unique.  But I'm a  huge fan.

A case in point, Stellaria roughii, where one must discard any notion about what a Stellaria looks like, why... because this one from New Zealand is doing a fair impression of Rosularia or an Orostachys.  Cool plant.

And there are so many awesome hard-domed cushions, like Donatia and Hectorella that you show.  I want to visit New Zealand, just so that I can try walking on one of these cushions, where supposedly the cushion will hold firm and not depress under foot!  And to be in a place where the Apiaceae have run amuk, that's a dream to be sure, with the likes of mystical hedgehog Aciphylla species, with separate sexes no less, the fluffy males being the best, and bold Anistome species show their form, not shy in the least.

Celmisia is a genus that has always attracted me, from tight hummock-forming species to the larger imposing species you show, the latter impress me the most, such as verbascifolia (yum), semicordata, and the dramatic traversii with that indumentum.

I've grown a few NZ Ranunculus in my day, and when I lived in the Seattle Washington area, the genus Hebe figured prominently among low evergreen shrubs for the area, I wish they were hardier here in New England.

Thanks Mark for your kind comments .

I know what you mean regarding different flora -- -- thinking Cacti are plants of true deserts i still have trouble getting my head around them growing in the wild in an alpine setting and recently RickR has shown Opuntia growing on the prairie land of Western Minnesota. I still have a lot to learn  :D

Saw some nice gems while out and about yesterday --seems most Genera are either in or going to bloom this season.

I came across 3 variations of Celmisia linearis, the best being this little honey  :P even my wife Hilda ,who is not a plants person at all ,raised her eyebrows upon viewing the shots  ;D

Celmisia semicordata ssp stricta taken in an 'interesting' position --my right hand was hanging onto a clump of snowgrass while i arched my body away from the slope and took ,(after many attempts),the pic with my left hand .....

Aciphylla aurea with a view.

On the lower slopes on a tor ,Dolichoglottis lyallii

and surrounded by moss ,Celmisia densiflora

Cheers dave.

I am impressed, Dave, the plants look awesome! C. linearis is something to try in the garden!
But be careful not to fall when you take your pictures.
I was wondering about the whitish mossy or lichenlike vegetation surrounding the plants. Is the ground dryish and lacking nutrients?

Another superb set of images, Dave.

Thanks Cliff.

Hoy wrote:

I was wondering about the whitish mossy or lichenlike vegetation surrounding the plants. Is the ground dryish and lacking nutrients?

Trond
While that particular area in Northern Southland is made up of ultrabasic rock ,(lacking in some nutrients),the Celmisia densiflora i 'posted' appeared to be growing well.

Not so the following pic ,which was taken in heavy fog ,early this year in Fiordland.You can see very poor stunted specimens of Celmisia verbascifolia surrounded by lichen like vegetation and yet only a short distance away Chionochloa sps ,(snow tussocks), are thriving.

Toole wrote:

Thanks Cliff.

Hoy wrote:

I was wondering about the whitish mossy or lichenlike vegetation surrounding the plants. Is the ground dryish and lacking nutrients?

Trond
While that particular area in Northern Southland is made up of ultrabasic rock ,(lacking in some nutrients),the Celmisia densiflora i 'posted' appeared to be growing well.

Not so the following pic ,which was taken in heavy fog ,early this year in Fiordland.You can see very poor stunted specimens of Celmisia verbascifolia surrounded by lichen like vegetation and yet only a short distance away Chionochloa sps ,(snow tussocks), are thriving.

Thanks! You say stunted specimens of Celmisia, I would have been happy to grow any Celmisia! So far all I have tried have succumbed to death in after a year or two.

Dave, a few years ago I was only aware of a couple of Aciphyllas and Celmisias. Now you have opened my eyes to a much richer world of plants! And also many other plants I didn't know exist.
I once grew a very nice Aciphylla for several years, I've forgotten the species' name - seed from Thompson & Morgan - but suddenly it succumbed to rot. I was very disappointed :'(
Is it possible to ask, if you come across some seeds on your wanderings in the mountains, to collect some for me?

Last lot from yesterday :)

On depleted vegetative ridges ..

A lovely small Aciphylla sps which i haven't yet identified.

Brachyglottis bellidioides can be quite variable --this one is a dark green leafed form .

Craspedia lanata ,( it's common name is most appropriate --"woolly head"  ;D), can either have yellow or white flowers.

Another snow melt plant --Ranunculus pachyrrhizus  -not the typical big colourful NZ Ranunculus sps   ;)  but a gem all the same.

Dracophyllum prostratum and Euphrasia revoluta prefer damp spongy sphagnum bogs.

Bulbinella angustifolia grows in profusion close to the bogs.

Astelia nivicola forms silvery bronze clumps some reaching over a metre in width .
Another 'good doer' in the garden here quickly bulking up , however in the wild i've never seen it in berry and my plants never set fruit .

Fields of Celmisia verbascifolia.

Finally Celmisa prorepens is very close to Celmisia densiflora,(which i've shown pictures of on previous postings ).The main differences being C.prorepens is green on both sides of it's leaves which are very sticky to the touch .Also C. prorepens tends to have quite wrinkly leaf margins.Where the two grow together all sorts of variations ? occur ,which leads to interesting discussions !! ; :D

Trond pleased you are enjoying the 'view'.

I do plan to be out in the field seed collecting time late Jan /Feb so will see what i can do.

In the meantime i have delayed my return to work for another week as the weather looks good for a 3 day visit over into Fiordland .....

Cheers dave.

Reposted as inadvertantly deleted when amending the post above.

A few more from a trip yesterday on the first day of the new year.

Celmisia lyallii is also known as the false spaniard,(false aciphylla)--you can see the similarities in the dagger like foliage.It doesn't flower reliably each season ,(seeming to have a number of continuous 'off' years),however currently the hills are full of blooming plants .

A small number of plants showed a yellow colouring to newly opened bud.

Scenery shot with a nice cloud formation.

Psychrophila obtusa numbers by the hundreds around snow banks.

Aciphylla lecomteii and visitor.
(will grow easily from cuttings and is a good performer in the garden here wedged into a rock crevice. --luckily i have only seen the Aciphylla weevel in the wild.....Later in the season, plants attacked can look very tatty.  

Cheers dave.

I never tire looking at your pics, Dave!
But am I right when I believe new Zealand has few red and blue flowered plants? Think I once read something about that.

Toole wrote:

Trond pleased you are enjoying the 'view'.

I do plan to be out in the field seed collecting time late Jan /Feb so will see what i can do.

In the meantime i have delayed my return to work for another week as the weather looks good for a 3 day visit over into Fiordland .....

Cheers dave.

That is very kind of you, thanks Dave.
So you can delay starting to work! I have to start Monday! But I prefere longer holidays in summer. (I am living in the Fjordland you know!)

Dave
Great presentation!
You Have shown us many fine alpines, I will be seeking out.
I particularly like the Euphrasia revoluta.
The gaping yellow throats all nested together is a delight to see.

Is Euphrasia revoluta classed as a member of Scrophulariaceae or Orobanchaceae? If it is in the Orobanchaceae family dose it have a specific host plant?

Thanks for the terrific postings, Dave!  Fabulous plants.  It seems such a different looking alpine terrain, as well, than what I am used to.  What sort of minimum temperature or zone rating would that area experience?  

The most amazing to me of the plants you posted is Psychrophila obtusa... incredible ratio of flower size to plant size!

Weiser wrote:

Dave
Great presentation!
You Have shown us many fine alpines, I will be seeking out.
I particularly like the Euphrasia revoluta.
The gaping yellow throats all nested together is a delight to see.

Is Euphrasia revoluta classed as a member of Scrophulariaceae or Orobanchaceae? If it is in the Orobanchaceae family dose it have a specific host plant?

Thanks John --i believe Euphrasia is now in Orobanchaceae,(although my old reference material says  Scrophulariaceae ). Damn !! :D -i have enough trouble trying to keep up with name changes at a lower level ...

There are some wonderful NZ sps with different coloured flowers and growth patterns ---i have not tried to grow them myself so can't offer you any personal experience in that regard however my observations in the wild are that most prefer wet spots --bogs ,banks of streams and tend to be in the company of small sedges,grasses and maybe are semi parasitic on those .

Interestingly i have somewhere in my photo library a pic of a plant in Fiordland growing on an exposed bank all by itself a metre or two away from any vegetation.
I suspect they could be grown/seed sown in a pot with any small grass .

Skulski wrote:

Thanks for the terrific postings, Dave!  Fabulous plants.  It seems such a different looking alpine terrain, as well, than what I am used to.  What sort of minimum temperature or zone rating would that area experience?  

The most amazing to me of the plants you posted is Psychrophila obtusa... incredible ratio of flower size to plant size!

Thanks Lori

This particular trip i've just posted was to a lower grassland mountain range .

I have managed to locate some facts and figures in relation to the mountain climate of that area --snow generally falls in early June and melts in early November.
Soil freezing may occur down to 50cm on exposed ridges where there is no snow cover.Air temp has been recorded as -18c.
Over a recorded 5 year period in summer the longest period without frost varied from 8 to 13 days....

Fiordland will be a different matter, more akin to what i see in your postings ,with a lot of rock ,screes and lofty peaks.

Cheers dave.

Thanks for the climate info, Dave.  How strange... an alpine area that is relatively warmer than ours (in terms of absolute lows), yet always so close to freezing, amazing!

After the wonderful plants and scenes in that area, we're all waiting eagerly to see Fiordland too!

Fiordland....yup!

I also thought it was interest about those climate temperatures.

Fiordland --part 1

It's been such a great year for flowering elsewhere down south here Fiordland didn't disappoint.

Although it's an early season with most snow gone ,a bit of rain the day before our arrival meant a wet start to the first valley we visited.

Parts of the valley floor had experienced recent avalanche damage--it was interesting to see how some plants had pushed up through the disturbed area.

Further along growths of Dracophyllum menziesii appeared .

As we reached the valley end and started to climb a number of Dolichoglottis sps were sighted.

As well as Haastia sinclarii var fulvida and Celmisia hectorii.

Cheers dave

Also on the lower slopes were numerous patches of Celmisia bonplandii--a side view showing it's long dark coloured flowering stalks.

In shady spots a larger Ourisia .O macrocarpa.

We climbed high to reach the bottom of the cliffs to locate Ranunculus hybrids between R buchananii and R. sericophyllus--unfortunately non were in bloom , however i sighted a nice grass ,(name forgotten for the moment :-\0.

Realizing our route over to Black Lake was a bit difficult we decided to drop down before crossing.

AT Black Lake were some gems .....

Aciphylla congesta.

Above the lake and some distance away, Anisotome capillifolia.
Luckily i was able to capture a decent pic by using the camera's 20x zoom function.

Celmisia verbascifolia.

Further on up towards the saddle in wet seepages, Ranunculus sericophyllus.

View from the top, Raoulia buchananii.

;D ;D ;D

Finally --on the way down on small rock rubble and short turf--Myosotis lyallii.

Although rain was forcast yesterday,we decided to visit the dryer east side of Fiordland .By the time moisture arrived at 5 pm my body was in automatic mode   ;) so it was a blessing in some ways to cut short our trip.

A few highlights --
In grassland a nice small Celmisia hybrid and Anisotome haastii.

Depleted vegetative areas, largish mats of Celmisia sessiliflora, Phyllachne colensii and Geum uniflorum.

Bogs have a community of their own --including the hard cushions of Donatia novae zelandiae. Yummy  :-*  how the flowers sit on the plant.

Final posting  :D

Following the stream, Aciphylla pinnatifida --in water and on slightly dryer banks.

Nearby Gentianella montana.

Around the tarns ,wonderful large clumps of Aciphylla crosby-smithii and a single plant of Ranunculus lyalli x R.buchananii.

On exposed ridges were hundreds of Brachyglottis bellidioides. This was a particularly nice form.

Our target was the extensive area of fellfield below the cliffs --here were some beauties. Including Ourisia remotifolia and Ranunculus buchananii.

I leave you with Ranunculus heaven. :-* :-* :-*

Cheers dave.

Toolie:  What gorgeous pictures of some gorgeous plants.  I have always wanted to grow Geum uniflorum - have tried several times with seed (not too easy to obtain) with no luck.  Can you give me some advice about growing them up here in Eastern Canada?  I have planted some Ranunculus lyallii in a tiny bog - it will get a lot of snow cover - and wonder if that will do the "trick".   

Frances Howey
London, Ontario, Canada
Zone 5b

Magnificent set of photographs once again, Dave ... oh that BEAUTIFUL Ranunculus buchananii ...  :D :D :D

Booker wrote:

Magnificent set of photographs once again, Dave ... oh that BEAUTIFUL Ranunculus buchananii ...  :D :D :D

Just about the perfect Ranunculi Cliff. ;)

Howey wrote:

Toolie:  What gorgeous pictures of some gorgeous plants.  I have always wanted to grow Geum uniflorum - have tried several times with seed (not too easy to obtain) with no luck.  Can you give me some advice about growing them up here in Eastern Canada?  I have planted some Ranunculus lyallii in a tiny bog - it will get a lot of snow cover - and wonder if that will do the "trick".   

Thanks Fran

Not sure what your overall climatic conditions are but would presume if you experience any summer draught that could be a problem .

Geum uniflorum has preference for shady moist banks ,although in the southern end of Fiordland where moisture is year round and totals over 6 metres p.a. it will also be found out in the open on depleted vegetative spots.I've noted my diary to collect a little seed for you soon which i'll send fresh.Will be in touch.

Ranunculus lyallii also has a liking moist areas--from streamsides to old established fellfield,(large rock rumble)---in areas not so wet ,they grow where the foliage is in shade and the flowering heads in the sun.

Cheers dave.

Hoy wrote:

But am I right when I believe new Zealand has few red and blue flowered plants? Think I once read something about that.

Sorry Trond
I just realised i haven't replied to your earlier question.

NZ alpine flowers are mostly whites and yellows, with a few blues and one or two reds like Raoulia buchananii.

I'm not sure of the reasons why ,although as i have discovered over the years ,(especially when i have been in close taking macro shots),there are many genera that are scented ---ranging from Brachyglottis,Myosotis,Leptinella and Aciphylla ,(to name just a few off the top of my head),so maybe scent is of more importance ....?

Cheers dave.

Dave
I have been reading an article about insect pollinators in New Zealand. I wonder if the predominance of flies as the primary pollinators in many areas influences flower color. Since flies (as far as I know) are more attuned to scent cues versus visual cues.

http://www.newzealandecology.org/nzje/free_issues/NZJEcol1_66.pdf

Toole wrote:

Hoy wrote:

But am I right when I believe new Zealand has few red and blue flowered plants? Think I once read something about that.

Sorry Trond
I just realised i haven't replied to your earlier question.

NZ alpine flowers are mostly whites and yellows, with a few blues and one or two reds like Raoulia buchananii.

I'm not sure of the reasons why ,although as i have discovered over the years ,(especially when i have been in close taking macro shots),there are many genera that are scented ---ranging from Brachyglottis,Myosotis,Leptinella and Aciphylla ,(to name just a few off the top of my head),so maybe scent is of more importance ....?

Cheers dave.

Thanks, Dave! I haven't had time checking till now anyway, have had a trip to England last week (Univerity of Reading by the way). I think I have read the same as John about pollinating insects. And you are probably right about scent.

Your last pictures were fabulous, dave! The landscape is a little familiar - not unlike some places in Norway - but the vegetation and flowers are all different! My body itches to walk in such places.

Spent today showing 8 Danish folk a few 'weeds'  ;D   down at sea level --while i expected that most plants would be past flowering I knew Gentianella saxosa would be just starting.

Their preferred habitat is in gravel a meter or two above the high tide mark exposed to the elements of full sun, near constant wind and the effects of salt spray.

Being a relatively calm,sunny day there was quite a bit of insect activity which i managed to capture by changing over cameras.

I initially had limited success with this sps in the garden here. However planting out in an experimental sand crevice garden has seen it's stay more permanent and while it seeds around, is never a pest, unfortunately in our shady conditions they never achieve the tight clumps as in nature.

Cheers Dave.  
 

Beautiful images as always Dave.

Dave, I wouldn't complain if such plants grew at the beach!

The NZAGS had its annual field trip a weekend back. A few images from the mountains of South Canterbury.

Celmisia angustifolia comes in green and silver leaved forms.

Wahlenbergia albomarginata is often seen as a running growth --this pic is of a nice clumping plant.

A small Anisotome sps in fellfield--- possibly a male form of A. flexuosa.

[attachthumb =3]

Anisotome flexuosa --female.

On fine scree Epilobium pycnostachyum.

The wind was so strong even the locals were grounded.

Not sure on why my pics are showing at the full size rather than thumbnails. :-\  (fixed: MMcD :D)

Anyway i'll continue.

Aciphylla montana --female.

A couple shots of Gentianella corymbifera ---plants can be quite variable in height up to 60cm--these ones were very dwarf.

Haastia sinclarii close up showing the wonderful tomentum.

Around rocks hugging the mineral Raoulia eximia .

Hebe haastii.

Lastly -- a couple of unknown Epilobiums .

Cheers Dave

Sensational images yet again Dave ... the grey rock certainly brings out the best in these magical plants.

Lovely images Dave.  You mention that your images are not thumbnails.  Mark McDonough has written a great FAQ on images in the board 'Announcements from Moderators and Administrators' on this page http://nargs.org/smf/index.php?topic=553.0.  The syntax to create thumbnails is very similar to what you're doing currently.  Thanks so much for providing your excellent posts to this forum!

Fabulous plants and scenery, Dave.  That rocky and rugged area has the feeling of the alpine areas here, but the plants are unimaginably exotic.  Many thanks for posting!

By the way, your photos will attach as enlargeable thumbnails if you use the syntax "attachthumb=#", rather than "attachment=#".

I have heard of "Canterbury Bells" and even grown some, but these bells and other gorgeous plants takes the prize!
If I hadn't decided already to visit New Zealand when I have the opportunity I certainly would now ;D

Dave, I'm just catching up and have to say, I've returned to this thread a dozen times or more, ogled the amazing plants each time, then click the "Mark Unread" button at the top to reset the topic as "new", as a reminder to come back here and respond. :)

I've having a harder and harder time upholding my "no prickly plants in the garden" rule, when seeing the wonderful hardy cacti in other topics, and the fantastic Aciphylla species here.  It's always been a genus that has intrigued me, but with A. congesta, pinnatifida, and particularly crosby-smithii, I'm aching to try growing these stunning unique plants.  Gentianella corymbifera is a glorious thing isn't it. Some of the NZ Epilobiums restore my faith in this rather weedy genus, the last two you show are special, the very last one going to seed in a fit of red pods and white fluff is a quiet spectacle. 

Thanks for sharing your photographs vividly capturing both the plants and the awesome NZ mountainous terrain.

Does anyone in North America successfully grow Aciphylla?

Thanks all.

I was out again locally in Fiordland last weekend .Still a lot of colour including a number of sps just starting to bloom.

Will post in a day or two when time allows.

Cheers Dave.   

Toole wrote:

Thanks all.

I was out again locally in Fiordland last weekend .Still a lot of colour including a number of sps just starting to bloom.

Will post in a day or two when time allows.

Cheers Dave.    

Dave,
Living in "Fjordland", Norway, I am looking forward to and prepared to enjoy many more spectacular pics from your Fiordland ;)
(Not the majestic mountains though, you have to go farther inland, north or south to experience that)

Link to my latest field trip.

http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=7434.msg204646#new

Cheers Dave

I was behind on this thread--always amazing stuff! the bright Aciphylla montana in a sea of silver rock and silver plants is wonderful! Worth emulating in the garden....
The Haastia is also fantastic! As Lori mentioned, its all so exotic for us!

Hi Dave:  Just received my allotment of seeds from New Zealand Alpine Garden Society (Christchurch).  Nice to know that, in spite of the quake and aftershocks (still going on I hear), they are still operating.  Am chafing at the bit to  start some of the seeds - I know the Ranunculus should be planted right away but wonder if there are others that I can "get away" with planting now up here in London, Ontario.  Don't have any asteraceae seeds but was delighted  get some special ones this time including Ranunculus lyallii, Nothothlaspi rosulatum, Pentacondra pumila and Calceolaria uniflora (S. America) and a couple of NZ clematis.  Haven't had success with these in the past.  Fran

Frances Howey
London, Ontario, Canada
Zone 5b

Howey wrote:

Hi Dave:  Just received my allotment of seeds from New Zealand Alpine Garden Society (Christchurch).  Nice to know that, in spite of the quake and aftershocks (still going on I hear), they are still operating.  Am chafing at the bit to  start some of the seeds - I know the Ranunculus should be planted right away but wonder if there are others that I can "get away" with planting now up here in London, Ontario.  Don't have any asteraceae seeds but was delighted  get some special ones this time including Ranunculus lyallii, Nothothlaspi rosulatum, Pentacondra pumila and Calceolaria uniflora (S. America) and a couple of NZ clematis.  Haven't had success with these in the past.  Fran

Frances Howey
London, Ontario, Canada
Zone 5b

Hello Fran

Sorry for the delay in replying  --I've just seen your posting :-[

Best of luck with the seed ,some of which i have never tried --Ranunculus lyalli in my experience will germinate in greater numbers the second spring after sowing .
Never been successful with Nothothlaspi rosulatum.

Here's a pic of a native Clematis currently in bloom outside our dinning room --about 2 metres in height,lovely citrus like scent.

Cheers Dave.

Kopuwai Conservation Area --Part 1 of 4  :rolleyes:

Last weekend I took the opportunity to travel a couple of hours inland and visit the Old Man Range in the province of Central Otago.

I initially visited the southern slopes of tussock grasslands at about 1300mtrs where in wet areas large numbers of Ranunculus gracilipes were in bloom, the most prolific flowering being on slightly raised hummocks.

One or two cushions of Phyllachne rubra were thereabouts as well as Psychrophila obtusa , and on the edge of the 4 wheel drive track Celmisia haastii var haastii which unfortunately was the only Celmisia sps I saw flowering. (Seems this season a number of genera/sps are having a year off ….).  :'(

However even when not in colour Celmisia semicordata ssp aurigans is a magnificent plant –a cousin to the silver leaf growth C.semicordata ssp stricta which I have shown pics of previously, this one has a wonderful golden hue to its foliage .Has a liking to cool part shady spots .

Part 2 (Rest to come tomorrow....)

I crested the ridge at about 1600 mtrs and rode along the plateau for 30 ks stopping at various spots to botanise not far from the motorbike as I had forgotten to bring the chain and padlock .Duh !.

Considered as one of the foremost places in NZ for alpine cushions, the schist rock tors are a feature as well.
The prominent vegetation here is Dracophyllum muscoides which seems to revel in the exposed windswept conditions .

In between the cushions ,Ourisia glandulosa , orange berries of Coprosma perpusiila and a large flowered form of Ranunculus enysii .

Dave
As always a wonderful presentation of plants I have long wished to see. I always look forward to your postings. :D

Oh! I have only just found this thread from the beginning and what wonderful photographs and scenery - especially the umbellifers (!) and maybe even a ranunculus or two! I was brought up on Philipson and Hearn's book and have always longed to see the alpines of New Zealand. Some occur in Tasmania, which I have visited, but the landscape is so completely different. Alan Furness in Northumberland grows many of them beautifully but they are not really for us down in the south. Many thanks again.

Pleased you are enjoying the postings John and Tim.
Philipson and Hearns publication is a beauty --although somewhat surpassed in terms of plant names i often pick it up ,(again), during the winter as it is such a good read.

On the edge of moist areas ,orange coloured growths of Hebe sps.

In the cushion fields .....
Raoulia hectorii var mollis, Chionohebe densiflora, woolly Craspedia lanata , Chionohebe thomsonii and Abrotanella inconspicua .

Near rocky bluffs Aciphylla simplex and ground hugging Ranunculus pachyrrhizus close to snow melt.

I wasn’t alone---,( Mr),  :) Kea decided to investigate my pack – very sociable ,intelligent and inquisitive birds I kept a close eye on him,(or her), as they are infamous for opening zips and emptying contents .I managed to get within a couple of feet  before it was distracted by another bird flying above us.(Look how he has his head bent to view the competition).

Finally ,the climax !!    :o--on exposed sites, numerous plants of the stunning, grey silky haired Myosotis pulvinaris so well blended into the surrounding rock that I almost stepped over them.

Cheers Dave.

Wow, Dave, your pics are super, thanks for posting the pictures, especially the Myosotis pulvinaris, it's magnificent. First saw it in flower across in the Dunstan Mts a couple of years ago when I was out with John Douglas from Alexandra, going up to the M. albosericea site. Have you ever got any seed of pulvinaris and tried it in the garden?

Are there REALLY so many lowlife riff-raff up there on the ridge that you need to padlock and chain your bike (it doesn't look that busy from your pics?)  ;)

Magnificent as always, Dave.

Thank you for a nice evening, Dave :D

Thanks Cliff and Hoy.

Doreen wrote:

Wow, Dave, your pics are super, thanks for posting the pictures, especially the Myosotis pulvinaris, it's magnificent. First saw it in flower across in the Dunstan Mts a couple of years ago when I was out with John Douglas from Alexandra, going up to the M. albosericea site. Have you ever got any seed of pulvinaris and tried it in the garden?

Are there REALLY so many lowlife riff-raff up there on the ridge that you need to padlock and chain your bike (it doesn't look that busy from your pics?)  ;)

Nope i haven't tried the Myosotis myself or collected seed Doreen....I understand it or variants grow well in the northern hemisphere --in fact i saw a really nice healthy specimen in Davie Sharps alpine house while we were in Scotland last year.

The bike isn't registered,warrented or insured so I'm always keen to make sure it doesn't go missing ;).--I even have it chained to the truck body when travelling..........

Technically i guess I'm braking the law because some of the 4 wheel roads i travel on are classed as public roads---aw well-- i like living on the edge ! :rolleyes:

Cheers Dave.

Toole wrote:

The bike isn't registered,warrented or insured so I'm always keen to make sure it doesn't go missing ;).--I even have it chained to the truck body when travelling..........

Ah, that explains it, it's not that you're worried about the lowlife nicking it, it's to stop Mr Plod impounding it! Anyway, thanks to your "living on the edge" we get to see all these plants we'd never get to see otherwise (unless we called on Davie Sharpe!)  :)

I haven't been out in the 'hills' for a few weeks however i plan to remedy that this long weekend ---(Monday is a public holiday---'Waitangi Day commemorates a significant day in the history of New Zealand. It is a public holiday held each year on 6 February to celebrate the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, New Zealand's founding document, on that date in 1840.')

In the meantime here are a few shots i took a week or two ago while visiting a botanical garden of one of the native Metsiderosis sps flowering.

Cheers Dave.

Looks much better than the grey, naked birches here ;)

Hoy wrote:

Looks much better than the grey, naked birches here ;)

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

Part 1 of 5   :rolleyes:

Spent Monday of last week and then yesterday in the mountains of Northern Southland.After the last two magnificent blooming years a number of genera are having a 'rest'.  :'(

My first visit was to West Dome ,a peak reaching about 1200 mtrs in height .

On the lower access 4 wheeled vehicular road ,an Acaena hybrid between A. novae Zelandiae and some other local species, possibly A. inermis.

I was able to ride up to the edge of an area which a few of us call the 'Moonscape' ,an area of ultrabasic rock seemingly devoid of any vegetation.I hesitate to use the word "ride" as the climb was via a very rough mountain goat sort of track and i came off the bike 3 times going up and once decending  :o (However that's another story perhaps..).

Plants do survive in this exposed spot including a nice yellow/green coloured form of Gentianella bellidifolia,(i was just a little early for flowering ).At first glance i thought it was a small seedling of Aciphylla aurea.

A Myosotis sps which i think is still unnamed --it has a number of unofficial titles such as M.sps 'Dome' or M.sps 'Mossburn' after the area in which it is found .In any case its very hairy foliage can range from green to grey.

Also there a prostrate creeping Kelleria sps ,and flowering,silver growths of Raoulia hookerii and one of the 'woolly heads' ,Craspedia uniflora .

Rest to follow when time allows.

Cheers Dave

Part 2.

Celmisia spedenii is endemic to this area .Although I found a small plant in flower you would grow it for the foliage alone. :-*.No yellow flowers this time around !. ;D

The new growths of Hebe lycopodioides give it an orange tinge .
( oops --Edit -- This should be H. hectorii ssp demissa).

Almost appearing suspended above moss the heads of Brachyglottis bellidioides --while it's just a little yellow daisy, the best leafed forms are highly desirable.    

One of the harebells .Wahlenbergia albomarginata is wide spread, here growing in amongst one of the smaller snow tussocks.

In wet depressions, Celmisia glandulosa and also in moister spots but in more depleted spots a nicely coloured Euphrasia sps , maybe E. integrifolia  :-\ .(I didn't have a hand lens available and was running out of time to switch over to a macro lense to try and aid the ID) .

Celmisia densiflora , one of the sticky leaf sps is a reliable bloomer and didn't disappoint as a number were showing colour -- makes impressive loose patches.

Final pics from West Dome.

A creeping snowberry ,Gaultheria depressa var novae zelandiae with Celmisa densiflora in the background.

Around these rocks on shaded crevices ,unexpectantly i found the South Island edelweiss, Leucogenes grandiceps.

Cheers Dave .

Rightio yesterdays adventure was to the Te Anau basin where a well groomed road leds up onto Mt Prospect a low ridge at about 900 mtrs.

It's an interesting area in that the northern slopes are covered with beech forest while the southern end is tussock grassland.

Along the road large mats of Raoulia glabra were flowering.Has quite a wide distribution as it is found near the coast not far from where i reside.

Also in close proximity a couple of bidibidis, the diminative Acaena inermis and A.caesiiglauca.

On over hangs the colourful Lycopodium fastigiatum.

In amongst the snow grass and wiry growths of a Coprosma sps, Gentianella montana with its very dark red underleaf and in this case 3 prominent veins.    

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

A number of pics of the fabulous forms of Celmisia traversii  :P :P--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.   

Last posting --I need a break  ;D ;D

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 

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.

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;...

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...

Toole wrote:

Hoy wrote:

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 ;)

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.

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

RickR wrote:

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;...

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

Jandals wrote:

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.

Jandals wrote:

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.... ;)  ;D

Cheers Dave.

Toole wrote:

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!

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.

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

Thanks Cohan

Here's a few more  :)

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.

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.

Wow, I'm so envious... to be able to walk around the preserve whenever you want!  Wonderful! 

Very interesting plants and forests, Dave! And so civilised with smooth trails and stairs and everything!  :o

Tremendous natural gardens, and especially the ferns. I am very sad that I have lost my plant of Pseudowintera colorata after having it in the garden for many years. It grew very slowly in our dry conditions but you see superb plants in the west and Ireland.

Those are the coolest mushroom I have EVER seen!  And the conifer ain't too shabby either.  :o  Living in a place so drastically different, it's all quite surreal.

cohan wrote:

And so civilised with smooth trails and stairs and everything!  :o

It's hard for me as a northerner to accept that what you show isn't a contrived design.  This a wild preserve, yet there doesn't seem to be weed in sight on the trails.  I would have thought in  situation as such that it would be a battled to keep trails open, let alone manicured.  Obviously, I know diddly about the ecology of area...

Thanks for the comments all....

I should have named more of the individual pics (the Pseudowintera is shown in reply 100 --IMGs 1365 and 1289).

I have no doubt you know your ecology Rick  :)---I'm selective in what photos i show that's all--there are numerous introduced weeds in the area especially where there has been some disturbance to the tree canopy which allows for example , blackberry ,sycamore, berberis and others to gain a foothold.... 

Ps some healthy looking seed forming on Lilium mackliniae. ;)

Cheers dave.

Toole wrote:

Ps some healthy looking seed forming on Lilium mackliniae. ;)

Cheers dave.

;D ;D ;D

Spent yesterday out in the field in the company of a couple of Americans --Sean Hogan ,co-founder of Cistus Nursery near Portland ,Oregon and his partner Nathan.

Sean is a key note speaker this coming weekend at the International Plant Propagators Society conference being held just up the road in Cromwell ,Central Otago.

He has /is giving talks to a number of garden groups throughout the South Island and is being shown the sights by fellow forumist Jandels, (aka Steve).

Boy.... i thought we Kiwis were plant 'nuts'  Wink but we are not in the same league .... Grin Grin

Just a few pics of the visit to an area of ultrabasic rock in Northern Southland.
Being so late in the season very little was in bloom.

Scenery.

The gang.

Sean grabbing a close up, with Jandels in the background.

Helichrysum intermedium on the edge.

Raoulia hookerii.

Sean and Aciphylla aurea.

Gentianella bellidifolia.

Negotiating through red tussock.

Cheers Dave.

The perfect mix of photos.  What are the spruces in the second pic, and the pines in the third photo?

The gentianella flowers are exquisite!
Not too much "bellidifolia" though... ;D

Did you find anything interesting among the tussocks?
I like the Helichrysum and Aciphylla!

Rick

The trees in question are from the USA ---Pseudotsuga menziesii ,(douglas fir), and Pinus radiata ,(Monterey Pine), both planted in NZ as plantation timber.

Hoy
A roll call back at the vehicle and all of Steves toes were present and accounted for  :D ,so nothing interesting found in the tussocks......... ;) ;)

Cheers Dave.

Great stuff as always- of course the Helichrysum and Aciphylla are favourites- something about plants on rock, and the A looks esp nice with space to hang at the front!
So jandals are what Jandals was wearing? Flip-flops we'd call them- I was thinking that a very interesting footwear choice for a hike  :o

Howdy . Bit late replying because I went walkabout for awhile . I was wearing jandals (flip-flops) because we didn't venture far from the car . The lack of opuntia seedlings also makes it slightly more practical here in NZ . A few pictures to follow

On Mt.Hutt above the Canterbury Plains (near Christchurch)

Dracophyllum uniflorum

Haastia recurva

Wind shaped manuka above Akaroa

Nikau palms (Rhopalostylis sapida) south of Westport

An urban Weka

A rural Kea adjusting my windshield wiper

Yeah yeah .... whatever

Seed on Raoulia subsericea

Beautiful photos!  Looks a bit chilly for jandals, no?  ;)  
I can understand a hungry bear (and wild animals must always be hungry - it's a rough life for them!) dismantling a camper to get at food, but what is the attraction of car windshield wipers, tires(?), etc. to keas anyway?  ???

Jandals wrote:

Howdy . Bit late replying because I went walkabout for awhile . I was wearing jandals (flip-flops) because we didn't venture far from the car . The lack of opuntia seedlings also makes it slightly more practical here in NZ . A few pictures to follow

I fixed my bad spelling above...lol The thought of bare feet and opuntias is indeed a bad combination...lol- unknowingly got a spine under my thumbnail yesterday, but luckily got it out later without too much trouble..

Lovely views! I forgot momentarily that you were heading into winter- interesting to see the chilly heights with green fields in view behind...

Those keas are fascinating, but must be a bit frustrating  ;D

I watched keas in action for nearly a decade when I lived and worked in Fiordland . They are very intelligent and just a little curious . Sometimes I think they pull things apart because they are bored and it's a fun thing to do . On occasions I could swear they were laughing at us humans . The pictures are of a kea near Mt.Cook (on a S.P.A.T. mission with Toolie and Doug) which had been ripping up a cushion plant (Phyllachne colensoi) and then telling us how clever it was .

And yes, it is cooling down here and with snow forecast in the hills this week , it's time to head your way . Thanks for the Utah pictures Lori . They make my feet warm up just thinking about it and looking forward to seeing flowering plants again soon

Beautiful pictures Jandals!

I have no keas here but a pair of magpies doing some research in my beds assisted by blackbirds of course. They haven't showed interest in my car yet but the earthworms have. I do find earthworms on my windshield and roof ???

Hoy wrote:

I do find earthworms on my windshield and roof ???

OK . I give up Trond . How do you get earthworms on the windshield ? Do you have a roof garden on the garage or maybe you do  handbrake turns in the vege patch???

Jandals wrote:

Hoy wrote:

I do find earthworms on my windshield and roof ???

OK . I give up Trond . How do you get earthworms on the windshield ? Do you have a roof garden on the garage or maybe you do  handbrake turns in the vege patch???

God knows. My car is parked outside my neighbours boat shed. But when it's raining here I find worms creeping everywhere - even at the walls and windows of the greenhouse. Maybe they are looking for mates?

Spent last weekend up near the top of the South Island attending the Nelson Alpine Garden Society's annual Winter Study Weekend.
I managed to grab a lift up with Pete ,(owner of Hokonui alpines--- [email protected]), and forumist Jandals,(aka Steve).

Being a 12 hour trip we broke the journey by staying a night, just out of Christchurch, at another forumists residence ,Senecio 2 ,(aka Stuart).

Stuart grows a wide collection of wonderful healthy looking plants in numerous small ,raised covered frames --my pics unfortunately don't show his system where the lower part of the pots are suspended in a grid pattern--(I'm sure Stuart will be able to answer any questions folks may have..........).

Firstly a few scenic pics from the Lewis Pass nature walk on the main divide followed by Stuarts set up.

Cheers Dave

Cheers Dave.

That has to be the weirdest nursery and most impressive plants I've seen for a long time! These NZ Alpines are really in a class of their own - I wish I could grow some of them better in our dry garden. I'm getting better with Leucogynes leontopodium (this is the first time I've seen flowers) and I took Steve's advice from his talk at Edinburgh and have planted Raoulia australis in pure sharp grit; great success and remarkably tolerant of summer drought. Fantastic to see these pictures as ever.

Hello Tim
Stuart doesn't have a  nursery --it's his own private collection .......  :o

I'm probably biased  ;D ;D but i never tire of NZ natives that's why they were in all of my pics of Stuarts plants ;)
 

Congrats on the flowering Leucogenes leontopodium--interestingly my plant flowers regularly in a sand crevice bed at the back door where it receives no sun at this time of the year for 3 months then as the sun gets higher about 4 hours during the middle of spring into summer.

Cheers Dave.

Hi Dave,
Wonderful post as normal ... can't get enough of your incredible flora and Stuart seems to grow them so beautifully.  Does he succeed with Ranunculus as well?
Replying from our hotel in Dalyan, Turkey where the weather is gorgeous.  We are on a beach holiday with the grandchildren but still managing to see a few plants here and there. 
Steve looks as well as ever, though he didn't have a glass in his hand????
Kind regards to you all.

Dave, a beautiful landscape, and your friend Stuart has an impressive collection :o

Pleased you are having success with Raoulia australis Tim . Using the same principle here for growing Myosotis australis .

Stuart's frames are designed to withstand snow and prevent knee/back damage . The most cunning thing is that the covers can be lifted from either side . Lots of nice plants inside .

Message to Mr.Booker - Just because you are  on a beach in Turkey with a glass glued to your hand doesn't mean the rest of us have to . Actually I put my glass away for the picture because the sandflies were drinking too much of the contents and then flying away to crash into each other or damage themselves on nearby trees . They can't handle a good malt

That is why it is such a good sandfly repellent . Either you are too drunk to notice them or they are too drunk and they fall off

Steve, here's my equivalent of jandals ;D bought in South Africa 9 years ago. The soles are made of old tyres!
Picture taken now (10PM in my yard).

Way to go Trond . Wish mine would last 9 years . I guess if I took them off every now and then it might help

Jandals wrote:

Way to go Trond . Wish mine would last 9 years . I guess if I took them off every now and then it might help

Surely you have to take them off in the shower :rolleyes:

Booker wrote:

Hi Dave,
Wonderful post as normal ... can't get enough of your incredible flora and Stuart seems to grow them so beautifully.  Does he succeed with Ranunculus as well?

Thanks Cliff
Stuart has so many pots that we didn't scratch the surface in terms of viewing them all however i wouldn't be surprized if he grows a few buttercups --failing any pics from me i suggest you might need to come out here sometime and view them in the wild ;)  

Jandals wrote:

Actually I put my glass away for the picture because the sandflies were drinking too much of the contents and then flying away to crash into each other or damage themselves on nearby trees . They can't handle a good malt

That is why it is such a good sandfly repellent . Either you are too drunk to notice them or they are too drunk and they fall off

The SPCA have been contacted and are investigating !!!! ;D ;D

Hoy wrote:

Surely you have to take them off in the shower :rolleyes:

Hoy --I'll check with Mandy as i have a suspicion he wears them to bed.......  :o :o

Cheers Dave.

Interesting collection and set-up- saving knees and backs is a good idea-- I wonder are they more storm (wind) proof than they appear, or is he lucky to be in an area without many strong winds? The plants look wonderful. No bias in loving NZ plants, the native flora is quite wonderful, many I'd love to grow if I thought they had a hope of being hardy here!

A few images from last weekends trip to Mt Cook on the main divide.

Traveling up with fellow forumist Steve our first stop was near Trotters Gorge to view Celmisia hookeri,a spectacular lowland sps that grows on lime stone bluffs seemingly liking cool positions.

Gingerly working our way through dense gorse and pines we managed to find a number of plants .

Flowering plants of the common tree daisy Olearia arborescens were thereabouts as well and in pockets of native bush the blooms of Clematis paniculata were seen ,wondering at height through a number of shrubs.

Heading inland Steve showed me a spot where another Clematis sps was flowering --Clematis afoliata a leafless sps.

Then it was onto our accommodation at Ferintosh ,Lake Pukaki to meet up with the others .

Saturday it was overcast at Ferintosh but became wet as we made our way further into the mountains.

A couple of shots of Aciphylla aurea ,(and Gaultheria crassa),in the Hooker Valley before we retreated.

It was drier in the nearby Tasman Valley after lunch and almost immediately as we pulled up in the vehicle  Pimelea prostrata was sighted.The braided river bed is home also to 4 different Raoulia sps and Myosotis uniflora.

Traveling further up the Valley we decided to climb to the lookout over the Tasman Glacier Lake .

View looking downstream.

Steve with his videocam --our two American visitors --Kirk and Thomas.

Finally on the way home Steve and i stopped at a Reserve where Pimelea pulvinaris resides and as per normal ,(at least for me),our timing was just a little way off as all the flowers on the sunny side of the cushion were well past their best.

Raoulia apicinigra was more accommodating however. Edit--Now seperated out as R.beauverdii

Doug Logan another member of our group has posted some wonderful pics of other plants seen during the weekend .
Details are below.
http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=9753.msg260022#new

Cheers Dave.

A fantastic set of plants, as usual! The Celmisia hookeri has awesome foliage! Olearia arborescens is interesting too- how tree-like does it get?

Thanks Cohan
The Olearia can reach 3 to 4 metres in height.Tough as old boots . ;D

Yip Celmisia hookeri would do well in my shady lowland garden i think ---might have to look out for some seed later on in my travels.

I understand the Raoulia i posted above as R.apicinigra has now been seperated out as R.beauverdii so i'll make an edit above .

Just about to wake the Americans who stayed here overnight--hopefully the weather will hold so we can head down to the coastal bogs before they head across into Fiordland this arvo..

Cheers dave.

The tall Olearias must be very cool!
I forgot to ask- what is painting the slopes yellow in the first photo of this set?

Gorse ,(Ulex europaeus ), a spine bearing, nitrogen fixing bush.--an introduced ,terrible weed here .  :(

Cheers Dave.

:(

Wow, that gorse really is terribly invasive.  It seems to have really taken over.  Do people even try to curb its appetite at all?

Love the landscape shots even more.  They really give a feel for the area. 

Clematis afoliata, is sure an odd one, especially since I noticed a "tendril" at the lower left of the closer, second photo.  A clematis with tedrils?  Well, a web searched revealed that the species has "Lvs reduced to petioles and petiolules", so that's explainable.  Also interesting is that the species has unisexual flowers, but apparently(?) it is not dioecious.  I could only see male flowers in the pic...
Would anyone like to shed some clarification here?  Are there other clematis species like this?

Very interesting Dave, as always though! If you ever manage saving enough Celmisia hookeri seed, please ....... ;)
The Olearia is also an interesting gardenworthy plant. It's a pity all the nice plants are so hard to come by here in Norway!

Was the gorse introduced as a useful agricultural plant or is it just a garden escape?

Rick, according to Christopher Grey-Wilson (Clematis the genus) Clematis afoliata is unique although seedlings do have small ordinary laves the first years. It seems that all species in section Novae-Zeelandiae are dioecious. There are a couple other similar but a little leafier species in the same section NZ: C. marata, quadribracteolata; and the very leafy C. forsteri. The beautiful C. paniculata is in the same section.

RickR wrote:

Wow, that gorse really is terribly invasive.  It seems to have really taken over.  Do people even try to curb its appetite at all?

Hoy wrote:

Very interesting Dave, as always though! If you ever manage saving enough Celmisia hookeri seed, please ....... ;)
The Olearia is also an interesting gardenworthy plant. It's a pity all the nice plants are so hard to come by here in Norway!

Was the gorse introduced as a useful agricultural plant or is it just a garden escape?

Hello Rick/Hoy

Yes there is control taken.

Each Regional council is responsible for administering a Regional Pest Management Strategy under the Biosecurity Act and enforcing the rules pertaining to this . I'm not sure of the rules surrounding gorse ,either boundary clearance or total control.

It is seen as having some value --pollen for bees , stabilising eroding ground, fixing nitrogen in the soil and providing a nursery bed for regenerating native forests,(the shade of which eventually kills the gorse--still a real hassle though when i go pig hunting with my brother --the gorse while dead ,takes a long time to collapse to the ground so it's matter of bashing through wearing protective clothing and a good pair of gloves).

Guess this is a reminder of what can happen when a foreigner is introduced ,(originally as a hedging plant),into a favourable climate where there are a lack of biological predators.

Cheers Dave.

Went back to the Mt.Cook area last weekend to look at some upcoming work and managed to sneak off for the morning and revisit the areas from our previous trip 2 weeks earlier . I was particularly interested in finding flowers on Celmisia bellidioides ( which had been in bud ) and also having another look for Dave's hybrid ( Ranunculus tooliei )

I would appreciate any feedback on placing names on the pictures . I hope it doesn't clutter anything . Firstly , some Anisotomes from "Anisotome Valley "

The one and only flower that was open on the C.bellidioides , so I guess early December probably a better time for pictures

The new bridge across the Hooker River is nearly finished

The view from inside Stocking Creek shelter

Lots of Mt.Cook lilies were flowering . Actually thousands were but tens of thousands were not which is probably why we cannot find Dave's hybrid again . It's resting and waiting for its turn again

Mt.Sefton

Even the Pittosporums are divaricating shrubs here

(Moderator:  added plant names for forum searches; Anisotome haastii, Anisotome pilifera, Gingidia montana, Celmisia bellidioides, Ranunculus lyallii, Gaultheria crassa, Pittosporum anomalum)

Dave - interesting to read of the  problems you are having with gorse in New Zealand.  It has also been introduced to Vancouver Island, BC and is a terrible pest there too - in fact I hear groups of local volunteers periodically take forays out to try to get rid of it - hmm.  Guess, as you point out, there is a good side to it - attracts bees and helps prevent soil erosion.  Think we used to call it Broom and I thought it originated in the British Isles (Scotland)?  Fran

Frances Howey
London, Ontario, Canada
Zone 5b

Jandals - Didn't know a plant, which is not normally divericate, could become so.  At the Dunedin Botanic Garden, there is a Divericate border which highlights naturally divericate plants.  If a Pittasporum can become divericate, would that be caused by a "spartan" diet or something special either present or lacking in the soil.  Just wondering.  Fran

Frances Howey
London, Ontario, Canada
Zone 5b

Steve - I don't think I can imagine a more beautiful plant than that Ranunculus! And the view from the mountain cabin...

I've just been reading about Capt. Cook's voyages to the southern seas and get some idea of what it must have been like to first see some of those landscapes and plants. Different when you live there I suppose...

Great pics Steve.

Howey wrote:

Dave - interesting to read of the  problems you are having with gorse in New Zealand.  It has also been introduced to Vancouver Island, BC and is a terrible pest there too - in fact I hear groups of local volunteers periodically take forays out to try to get rid of it - hmm.  Guess, as you point out, there is a good side to it - attracts bees and helps prevent soil erosion.  Think we used to call it Broom and I thought it originated in the British Isles (Scotland)?  Fran

Hello Fran
Broom ,(Cytisus scoparius), unfortunately has been introduced here as well and is classed as a pest also.
Both were probably introduced from the UK by the early settlers.

I'm not a supporter of either at all.

Cheers Dave.

Nice views and plants, Steve- that Ranunculus is quite striking!

Have to agree with Cohan, the Mount Cook Lily is magic! But so are a lot of the other NZ plants too :o

Fran, I read somewhere that NZ has more divaricate plants than other countries but it is not clear why as you can find similar climate and soil other places. Divarication is not restricted to one or two genera either but exists in many plant families. Maybe it has something to do with extinct browsing megafauna?

Hi Trond - I think you are right about the megafauna browsing . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moa . As well as divarication in many genera there is juvenile foliage in others . This juvenile foliage is not as yummy as the mature foliage and generally the juvenile foliage lasts until the species reaches 4-5m and is well clear of moa browsing .

Fran - The broom we have here is a bad weed as Dave has mentioned but I have also seen it in Washington state . It is not as bad a weed there as it is here but may do so given time

Tim - As you have spotted , the Hooker Valley and Mt.Cook lilies have a lot to do with Cook . The mountain - named after Cook , Ranunculus lyallii - named after the ships botanist and the specimens were sent back to Hooker at Kew .
I never tire of our scenery , flora or fauna and I feel privileged to call it home .

Cohan - Thanks bud . I think our buttercups have the best flowers of our alpine plants but overrall NZ alpine flowers struggle to compete with the flora from the rest of the world .

Steve, I haven't focussed specifically on the flower power of NZ Alpines, but they are absolutely top notch for cool factor- and while pretty flowers are great, I'd happily grow some very cool plants with just okay flowers :) I doubt many of your alpines are hardy enough for here, though!

Visited the city's feature park ,(Queens Park),this morning .

Near the main entrance, Brachyglottis huntii was in full bloom --a highly aromatic plant ,(like a number of the Genus in NZ ),i was pleased to see a number of youngsters had been planted out as a few of the mature trees are looking a bit scraggly.

It's a great year for the NZ Cabbage Tree ,Cordyline australis ---Flowers emit a strong scent of Jasmine --lovely :-*  

My main reason for visiting was in the hope that a number of natives in the Subantarctic Garden would be in bloom.I wasn't disappointed....However i had a short stop on the way,to visit the Tuatara enclosure,where one of inhabitants was out warming his/her self ,(maybe a male because of the defined spines along it's back  :-\).

A short walk through the building and out onto the path and a view of the megaherbs.Its' a small garden with a boardwalk through the middle.  

A single plant of Bulbinella rossii and a mass of Anisotome lyallii.

Cheers Dave.

Steve showed a pic about a month ago of his Anisotome latifolia's flowering --they are in bloom down here now.

The strong growths of Acaena magellanica. Edit--- Should be Acaena minor antarctica.

Creeping Lobelia angulata.

Stilbocarpa polaris ,(i think i saw one of these at Steve's place last month).

Carex trifida --i often use this when landscaping for clients---it's so tough and i love the dark flowering heads.

The highlight was Myosotis capitata ---a number were showing the effects of what i presume is their dislike of high air temp /high humidity.Stunning plants all the same.

Wasn't too sure on this Aciphylla .. looks like Aciphylla dieffenbachii to me  :-\

Hopefully i have identified all the plants correctly . :-\

I also visited the native rock garden where the various mainland Aciphylla's were in bloom and going ballistic .... :o I'll post a few pics of that garden tomorrow.

Cheers Dave.

What a lot of great plants! the trees are very impressive- Cordyline spp here are only  houseplants, usually languishing in poorly lit corners or temporary summer bedding/basket plants for a bit of texture...

The Anisotome latifolia with the lilac flowers is great!
That is an Aciphylla?? (the maybe dieffenbachii) I had no idea there were species that look like this- I expect them to look more like Yuccas! A quick google showed me there are at least a couple of these softer plants that show their family connection!

Corydalis Cordyline of course! isn't hardy outside here in winter either, however I grow 3 specimens in pots! I would love to have them in the garden all year though! I have never tried Brachyglottis huntii but B 'Sunshine' survives most winters. MY favorites in this great bouquet of pretty plants are Bulbinella rossii and Anisotome latifolia!

Nice Dave . They have a really good native section there . The Aciphylla dieffenbachii is what you think it is . The Acaena maybe A.minor antarctica . Was out at the beach today - 28C and the dog really needed a bath . She had not seen waves before but she is now a surfer dog .

Thanks all.

Steve
Yip you are correct the Acaena is A.minor antarctica  :).I'll make an edit above.

Was hot here too today.

Cheers Dave.

cohan wrote:

That is an Aciphylla?? (the maybe dieffenbachii) I had no idea there were species that look like this- I expect them to look more like Yuccas! A quick google showed me there are at least a couple of these softer plants that show their family connection!

It doesn't end there Cohan .
There's even a Celmisia ,(C.lyallii), that resembles an Aciphylla when not in bloom --it has the common name of 'false spaniard' .....

Cheers Dave.

Those Celmisias really do seem to have all the bases covered foliarly, don't they?

Many thanks Dave and Jandals, for the continuing saga of New Zealand alpine flora. I've been mostly lurking when I haven't had sufficient time to respond properly, but the alpine scenery and incredible plants shown here are truly exciting and educational, many NZ plants seem pure whimsy as they're so different and intriguing (Aciphylla, for example).

Clematis afoliata surprises me, very different than one's normal connotation of the genus.  The alpine mats and buns of Pimelia (prostrata and pulvinaris) are exquisite, as is Myosotis uniflora.  Love the trees too, Brachyglottis is a new genus to me, attractive.  

The plant on the recent batch of photos that most resonates is Bulbinella rossii, wish I could grow that beauty, but all indications are it's not reliably hardy in colder climates.  The Bulbinella has me thinking about the unusual distribution of the genus, split between South Africa and New Zealand.  The ones posted on Pacific Bulb Society wiki galleries show beautiful plants from South Africa, but these more sparse and narrow leaves species have a somewhat different look than B. rossii, the latter with foliage that is broad and as much of the show as the flowers.
http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/Bulbinella

Thanks for the kind comments Mark
It's educational for me as well as i don't know everything and it's been terrific going out in the field with other folk having a lot of fun and learning from them.

To visit the Subantartic Islands is on my bucket list --just gotta get over my fear of water and convince Hilda she should come as well as i think it will be cheaper in the long run than her flying to Sydney on a shopping frenzy.... ;) ;D ;D

Cheers Dave.

How far/long to travel is it to get to those islands from main population centres in NZ?

cohan wrote:

How far/long to travel is it to get to those islands from main population centres in NZ?

Sorry for the delay in replying Cohan .....Xmas rush and all that,as well as sorting out my gear for the next couple of days botanising in the 'hills'.

The subantartic Islands are well spread out --the middle land mass which are the Auckland Islands are about 460 Ks south from here, so i understand over a days travel by boat .  

Cheers Dave.

Toole wrote:

cohan wrote:

How far/long to travel is it to get to those islands from main population centres in NZ?

Sorry for the delay in replying Cohan .....Xmas rush and all that,as well as sorting out my gear for the next couple of days botanising in the 'hills'.

The subantartic Islands are well spread out --the middle land mass which are the Auckland Islands are about 460 Ks south from here, so i understand over a days travel by boat .  

Cheers Dave.

Oh, that's a long time in a boat! for a landlubber like me at least ;)

Hope you have all had a good time with family and friends over the Christmas break .

Managed to get away for a few days before Christmas with Doug Logan and his son Jack (12) . Our main mission was to get to the top of Hoary Head , a limestone mountain near the top of the south island . It's a little hard to get to so we thought we would cheat and go in a helicopter . Unfortunately this requires the mountain to be free of cloud and although it was a nice day in the lowlands the clouds remained about the hills . So at 2pm it was called off for the day and we set off for some sightseeing after a refreshing swim in the outdoor pool at the camping ground .

On Takaka Hill we found Kanuka (Kunzea ericoides) and Manuka ( Leptospermum scoparium) both flowering in the same area . It was a good chance for Doug to show off skills and teach me how to tell them apart properly . It's easy when someone shows you and much better than my method of telling them apart "They are spelt slightly differently"
So Manuka on the top and the smaller flowers of Kanuka underneath

After visiting a couple of gardens it was off to Pupu springs , the largest cold water springs in the southern hemisphere . 14000 litres/sec . The water is very clear after its slow journey through the marble mountains and horizontal visibility is 63 metres . We saw some nice fish but the water was so clear I ended up taking pictures of a fish's shadow thinking it was a fish . I have tried to show both below

A drive to Collingwood followed and at the beach there were plants of Spinifex sericeus and Desmoschoenus spiralis , 2 native species of sand binders .
The one below is Desmoschoenus spiralis

The day finished with tea in Takaka and a call from the wife . The former was  very enjoyable but there technical problems with the latter when she found out we were having a good time and I wasn't getting any work done . Fortunately Doug and I came up with a very cunning plan to calm my most illustrious leader down but it required an itinerary change later

The next day dawned beautifully clear and at 7am we headed off to the helipad and were soon on our way up the hill . Jack had a great view from the front seat . Hoary Head is all limestone and is the only home of the world's smallest clematis , C.marmoraria . We found lots of plants in flower

There was also Pimelea nitens

and Poranthera alpina

I headed off down the hill to visit a large sinkhole where I used to camp when I walked to Hoary Head in years gone by . Older and wiser(?) now . Saw a lovely white Astelia nervosa . Unfortunately with some leaf damage due to browsing goats

White pellicles on the leaf

There were also plants of Astelia graminea

Craspedia lanata

Anisotome aromatica (?)

Notothlaspi australe

Anaphalioides bellidioides

and a Brachyscome sp

A highlight of the day was Myosotis arnoldii and its unusual flower colours . Sometimes the flowers are almost black . Doug and Jack found a yellow one

The city of Nelson is on the other side of the bay

The last part of our journey involved Doug driving a road he swore he was never going to drive again , but it was going to keep my most illustrious leader off my back . His sacrifice was greatly appreciated . Soooo , instead of going up the Cobb Valley we went to Mt.Stokes in the Marlborough Sounds . We also left our flash camping ground behind for a night under the stars . Well it would have been if the clouds had gone away . So we were a little damp in the morning which reminded us of a previous trip where we had left a perfectly good camping ground behind for a night under the rain clouds (see NZAGS journal) .

However , on the bright side , the big snails ( Powelliphanta spp ) were out in the rain on the Mt.Stokes track . These guys/gals (apparently they can choose) live for 20 years and their shells can reach 90mm in diameter . They hatch from eggs and there is one below

The weather was awful on top of Mt.Stokes and Jack and Doug sheltered underneath the solar panels to stay dry

It was a tantalising glimpse of what was on offer and I would love to go back on a nice day . I don't get to see many new species of Celmisia these days so it was nice to see Celmisia rutlandii for the first time

Bulbinella hookeri I have seen before

...and we saw a lot of the mountain cabbage tree - Cordyline indivisa . And this was what I was supposed to be looking for , to see if there were any flowers . Which , sadly , there were none . However I could tell the wife I tried

It was nice to change into dry clothes back at the car then it was 6 hours driving to Doug's house ( part of that on the sweary sweary road ) and then another 6 hours drive to my place . Arrived home early Christmas morning and waved at Santa whenever I saw him

Jandals, fascinating trip and equally fascinating plants, thanks for posting these.  I've never seen the likes of Myosotis arnoldii, what unusual colors.  As a long time fan of New Zealand flora, I was curious about Proanthera alpina, couldn't find it at first, then with the magic of google where it suggests likely matches it came up with Poranthera alpina; I think that's it... the "r" and "o" position was transposed  :)  Aparently it was once named Oreoporanthera, and can be found under that name too when doing a search.
http://www.nzpcn.org.nz/c/flora/factsheets/NZPCN_Species_610.pdf

The plant labeled as Euphrasia species looks like Notothlaspi rosulatum to me, what do you think?

Thanks Mark . I should have picked up on the Notothlaspi australe when I saw it and also when I processed the picture . Well spotted . The Poranthera alpina was a new find for me ( with help from Rebecca Bowater) and a genus I was unfamiliar with . As luck would have it there is a new book out on NZ Alpines (Above the Treeline) and it's in there

Although the weather has been reasonable today I have spent most of the time indoors looking through old documents and pictures to decide what to take care of and what to throw away. Not the most exciting way to spend a day though!

Jandals, had to take a look at this site for cheering up myself a little ;D  Wouldn't mind taking a walk among plants and mountains :-\
How much cold does the mountain cabbage tree take?

The mulled wine and Christmas pudding is only just wearing off! Fantastic plant of Astelia nervosa, the equal of any of the whitest celmisias like 'David Shackleton'. And the habitat shot of the Myosotis is really fine. Nice to see these plants as the rain keeps pouring down outside.

Really interesting stuff, Steve.  I thought you must have been kidding about the snail egg, but I was wrong!

Even more interesting, as I was reading, is that Powelliphanta spp. are carnivorous snails.
(And Trond, apparently they can eat slugs, too.) :o

RickR wrote:

Really interesting stuff, Steve.  I thought you must have been kidding about the snail egg, but I was wrong!

Even more interesting, as I was reading, is that Powelliphanta spp. are carnivorous snails.
(And Trond, apparently they can eat slugs, too.) :o

Rick, I do consider it ;) However it isn't easy to smuggle neither snails nor eggs - they are too big!

Hoy wrote:

How much cold does the mountain cabbage tree take?

Not a lot Trond . They are a plant that likes to live halfway up the hill . Too cold on the tops and too cold on the valley floor . They also like a lot of moisture . There are some in cultivation here in the south but I don't know about further north .
I'm sure the slugs have nightmares about Powelliphanta snails as apparently they take a long time to munch them

Tim wrote:

The mulled wine and Christmas pudding is only just wearing off!

Sounds like you had a good time Tim . I had my first alcohol free Christmas . Mainly because I fell asleep under a cherry tree after lunch

RickR wrote:

Really interesting stuff, Steve.  I thought you must have been kidding about the snail egg, but I was wrong!

Pleased about that Rick . Doug must have been telling the truth . He's a regular font of knowledge

Superb stuff (as always), Steve ... are helicopter lifts very expensive?

That one was cheaper than normal Cliff only $85 . Rebecca Bowater knew somebody and the pilot was happy to stay up there with us (which really helps with the price) . Next December we will be going someone further away from base and it will cost between $300 and $400 each and we are going to make sure Mr.Toole is there as well . There is also a helicopter base near Mt.Cook should you wish to try this most excellent way of ascending a hill

Jandals wrote:

There is also a helicopter base near Mt.Cook should you wish to try this most excellent way of ascending a hill

A bit difficult to spot plants from a helicopter?  ;)

Seeing Dougs wonderful pics on the SRGC and yours here brings me to tears Steve  :'( :'(  ;)

I so wish now that i had traveled up with guys ....

Anyway i managed a visit recently ,a couple hours up the road to the Rastus Burn Conservation Area –Remarkables Range near Lake Wakatipu ,Central Otago.

I was surprised on how much snow was still about however I managed to spend a number of hours searching around on the lower slopes, although I was bit early for a number of genera .

The forecast for the next few days is for this warm spell to end and snow is expected down to about 1000 mtrs so it looks like it will be a later visit to view gems higher up on the shady slopes…..

Apologies on the clarity of some of the pics –I was ‘playing around ‘with different shooting modes and lenses.

Aciphylla simplex on fellfield near Lake Alta.

Hard grey growths of Chionohebe thomsonii in cushion field , along with Myosotis pulvinaris in full bloom and Hectorella caespitosa needing a day or two….. .

In wet areas Ranunculus ensyii  --a smaller species by NZ standards but a mass of yellow everywhere. The plants that had leaves with red margins being the most attractive.

The predominate cushion here is Dracophyllum muscoides that form large moss like
 mats .

In amongst the snow tussock grassland the vivid colouring of Aciphylla kirkii.

In a cool spot the creeping caterpillar like growths of one of the smaller mountain foxgloves, Ourisia glandulosa .

Acaena saccaticupula with a nice colour combination of red lichen on the base of the rock.

Further down the access road Aciphylla aurea.

Final view back up the road to the Remarkables .

Cheers Dave.

Not a bad trip Dave! What altitude is it?
Cushion plants are remarkable - we have none here, the nearest would probably be the moss campion Silene acaulis.
Aciphylla is an interesting genus and so is Ourisia ;) In fact, they're all interesting. Even the familiar genera look very exotic!

Dave, what is that blue thing with the white fluffy stuff behind the hill in the last picture? We don't have anything like that here  ;D ;D ;D

Michael wrote:

Dave, what is that blue thing with the white fluffy stuff behind the hill in the last picture? We don't have anything like that here  ;D ;D ;D

Michael, don't boast! I'm sure that you have more of it than I have ;)

Another magnificent report, Dave ... many thanks once again.

Hoy wrote:

Not a bad trip Dave! What altitude is it?

Hello Hoy --I park my motorbike at the carpark at 1600m and it's a gradual climb up to Lake Alta at about 1800m.

Michael wrote:

Dave, what is that blue thing with the white fluffy stuff behind the hill in the last picture? We don't have anything like that here  ;D ;D ;D

Didn't see any of that this morning as i spent 2 hours on the mountain bike.Actually i found pedaling in the rain today quite exhilarating ......(I know I'm not well ! ;D ;D).

Booker wrote:

Another magnificent report, Dave ... many thanks once again.

Thanks Cliff
Looking forward to your visit out here next year Bud. (See comment to Michael just above --I've started training already  ;D ;) ).

Cheers Dave.

Wow as always :)
Steve- So many great whites--Astelia graminea, Craspedia lanata, , Anaphalioides bellidioides and the Myosotis!!
I always assume NZ plants would not be hardy here, but have recently seen a couple of alpines listed as z4, which starts to get within the realm of possibility, at least  ;D

Dave- love the Acaena's overall red, and more great Aciphyllas- would love to grow one of those :)

cohan wrote:

I always assume NZ plants would not be hardy here, but have recently seen a couple of alpines listed as z4, which starts to get within the realm of possibility, at least

I remember reading about a woman growing Raoulia australis in Ontario where it survived -35C . In continental Europe I saw some expats growing outside happily and like the Raoulia australis , they were all riverbed plants .

Raoulia australis , R.haastii , Muehlenbeckia axillaris , Geranium sessiliflorum nigricans and Acaena inermis are some that I remember . They all like to be in the mountains but on the valley floor . Summer temps are hot - high 30's and winter temps are cold - -15 to -20 , with minimal snow cover . They have to cope with dry periods whilst growing in gravel and it can be very windy so they have to be tough .If you want to try some from seed let me know and I will pick some for you and send it fresh .

The original seed collection for the Celmisia Inshriach hybrids was the Gertrude Valley , where there are also weather extremes with unreliable snow cover , and these hybrids have done very well in Scotland .

Although I have been often asked to collect seed at the highest altitudes to optimise hardiness I think anything that grows on the valley floor will be hardier than something high on the hill that is buried under snow all winter and where the temperature is always near 0C at ground level . 

Our buttercups would probably survive your winter (they go dormant ) but your summers would be too hot and dry

Wrightman's Alpines in Ontario sells Raoulia glabra, for one.

Jandals wrote:

Our buttercups would probably survive your winter (they go dormant ) but your summers would be too hot and dry

Well, dry-ish, yes.  Hot, no.  If you ever visit, be sure to bring your woolies!  ;D

cohan wrote:

Wow as always :)
Steve- So many great whites--Astelia graminea, Craspedia lanata, , Anaphalioides bellidioides and the Myosotis!!
I always assume NZ plants would not be hardy here, but have recently seen a couple of alpines listed as z4, which starts to get within the realm of possibility, at least   ;D

Dave- love the Acaena's overall red, and more great Aciphyllas- would love to grow one of those :)

Thanks Cohan
Yes i thought Steve's white Astelia to be a beauty too .

Here's some pics of a trip i made just over a week ago, down to the coastal area of Omaui ,a few kilometres south of where i live.

I wasn't alone --i took 'Monty' ,(12 months old),along for his first real field trip .I was bit concerned on what would happen if he came face to face with a NZ sea lion as i had seen some tell tale tracks last year ,however the only 'incident' was the hound trying to catch up with a rabbit.

Anyway onto the plants ....

Raoulia hookeri var hookeri with the still waters of Foveaux Strait in the background.(It has a nice silver look to it Lori).

Coastal bind weed Calystegia soldanella poking out from it's house. :)

It's a great year for flowering of the ground covering Samolus repens--- a lovely little thing when you get up close --- 2 pics of close ups.

Worked all weekend as we have a UK visitor ,Norman Thomas, staying with us from tomorrow for the next few days---- so if the weather holds ,moisture wise,we hope to head away looking at Celmisia's and a few other weeds ;).
Thankfully the temps are forecast to be at least 10c cooler than the 30c plus conditions we had yesterday. :P :P :P

Cheers Dave.

Samolus repens is quite nice! And completely unknown to me . . . . At my summerhouse Calystegia sepium is the coastal bindweed and have spread to gardens as the ultimate weed! Raoulia is also a decorative plant to my liking!

Nice Dave . Pleased Monty behaved himself and I bet he had a great time . I see that the horizontal rain that usually accompanies me to Omaui was missing

Lori wrote:

Well, dry-ish, yes.  Hot, no.  If you ever visit, be sure to bring your woolies!  ;D

Wil take my woolie hat with me just in case I head north across the border .
Maybe Ranunculus crithmifolius might grow at your place

Samolus repens is really beautiful!

Jandals wrote:

Wil take my woolie hat with me just in case I head north across the border .

Well, a hat is good...  For our hikes here, even though we usually pick fair weather and go out in shorts and T-shirts, we have never regretted carrying packs filled with all-weather gear (rain jacket, fleece jacket, insulated pants, gloves, warm hat, light wind pants and jacket) - we quite often use it all!   ;D  

This thread is very helpful for getting some kind of a grasp on which New Zealand natives might be possible to grow here.  Thanks!

Oops --just realized i hadn't included a pic of the Raoulia hookeri
var hookeri in my last posting ---Duh !!  ;D

Cheers Dave.

Very nice Dave, we always think of Raoulias as high mountain plants, not as beach-goers; very interesting.  Great scenic shot.

Toole wrote:

Oops --just realized i hadn't included a pic of the Raoulia hookeri
var hookeri in my last posting ---Duh !!  ;D

Cheers Dave.

Easier to see it here, I admit that. Was sure you talked about some of the whitish heaps in the first picture ;D

Toole wrote:

Oops --just realized i hadn't included a pic of the Raoulia hookeri
var hookeri in my last posting ---Duh !!  ;D

Cheers Dave.

Well worth waiting for, Dave!!!

Dave-I agree about Samolus- very cute :)
Steve, what gear you'd need across the border would really depend on where you cross- interior southern  British Columbia would be more of a continuation of some of the places you visited this year in the U.S. with hot dry summers, and parts of southern Alberta, away from the mountains, can also be quite warm, though Alberta generally has more of its rainfall in summer than B.C.. Lori and I are nearer the foothills, so our summers can be pleasantly warm and sunny with chilly nights, or we can have some wet and chilly days thrown in through the summer (with nights not far above frost or even frost, possible at almost any time), and being a bit farther north,and just barely outside the foothills biome in boreal mixed forest,  my climate is a fair bit wetter than Lori's, year, round. This past summer, while we had more warm days than the couple of previous years, I still had to water outdoor seed pots only a small handful of times between May and August, and actually germinated some winter growing South African plants outdoors over summer! (they had to come indoors in early fall).. so, hot and dry are not big concerns in my garden  ;D -  dry years are not unknown here, just not recently!
Any seed you think might have a chance would be welcome indeed :) Thanks!

Lori wrote:

  For our hikes here, even though we usually pick fair weather and go out in shorts and T-shirts, we have never regretted carrying packs filled with all-weather gear (rain jacket, fleece jacket, insulated pants, gloves, warm hat, light wind pants and jacket) - we quite often use it all!  ;D 

Lori - This is exactly what we do in NZ
Cohan - Thanks for the climate info . The problem with NZ plants in most of the USA is the double hit of extreme cold and extreme heat ( and humidity ) . Plants that could take the heat can't take the heat and vice versa . The West coast is an obvious exception . If your summers are not too hot then it may be possible to grow some interesting stuff like Ranunculus crithmifolius , R.haastii and R.piliferus ( in order below ) outside . Maybe some covering of the dormant plant might help . I will try to find seed for you and Lori as it would be very interesting to see how you get on .

Thanks, Steve- any of those would be interesting to try. Heat really is no big issue here- even on the (usually very few) days when we hit 30C, it's only for a couple of hours in the afternoon..
That's a distant memory at this time of year, of course...lol

The Southern Rata ,Metrosideros umbellata ,is in full bloom currently here on the coast ,(you can see the wind shear in the first pic).

Another Metrosideros, M.excelsia grows in the North island and is commonly known as the 'NZ Christmas tree'.

I think that 'title' could easily apply to our local species as well.

Cheers Dave. 

You are lucky to have such gems growing wild! Wikipedia says you have 12 endemic species in NZ  :o And not one is hardy? I mean hardy enough to grow here!

Traveled up country to join members of the Otago Alpine Garden Club ,fellow forumist Steve and Harry Jans and his wife Hannie.
(Harry is out in NZ speaking at the NZAGS Discussion weekend in 6 days).

I headed up on Friday and decided to visit Northern Southland for a look around before meeting up with the others in Fiordland at night.

Masses of Craspedia uniflora ,(woollyheads), were in bloom.

Melicytus alpinus ,(porcupine shrub) on a rock.

A small very hairy Myosotis sps growing out in the open .( Not sure where it ‘sits’ in the new publication "Above The Treeline").

Pentachondra pumila in fruit ,creeping around.

In a bog ,Gentianella amabilis .

One of the locals sun bathing.

The ever reliable Celmisia densiflora in flower.

Unfortunately I had a little hiccup coming down the hill and came off the bike in loose gravel so yesterday I was unable to climb right to the saddle with the others and to be honest my mind wasn't really on plants  .... so just a couple of pics .

Gentainella divisa .
Fiordland.

Hopefully Steve will post some of the goodies i missed.

Cheers Dave.
 

Some nice goodies there Dave (well, except for the skink ;)), I'm particularly drawn to Craspedia.  I hadn't realized that Gentiana divisa is currently classified as a Gentianella, it's a lovely thing. I tried growing it from seed once, I didn't fair too well :P

Sorry to hear about the spill, Dave :(
Some great plants there- awesome foliage/form. Esp love the Melicytus- very cool looking! and great leaves on the Myosotis..

How do you do Dave? Nothing broken? Are you able to get on your two-wheeled vehicle?

I have tried to sow the shrubby violet Melicytus twice but never achieved germination. Any advice?

I looked at Melicytus a bit on google, not enough apparently- I didn't get the connection to violets! That being said, if its hard to germinate, maybe GA3?

Hi Dave,
Wonderful images and plants (as usual), especially that tremendous Myosotis (worth three 'Wows').  Look after Harry and Hannie and Bob and Rannveig for us, enjoy the conference ... and you know the saying; "Keep on posting, please"?

We will look after them Cliff . Just tried ringing Dave but couldn't contact him . Last I heard he was on the improve and should be right for this weekend . I am going to miss Harry's opening lecture tomorrow night but I saw it on his computer and it was very impressive . I'm going to post the Gertrude Saddle pictures now and Mt.Burns tomorrow .

Morning tea break part way up the hill . Dave did very well to make it this far but had to turn back from here

Ranunculus sericophyllus

Ranunculus buchananii x sericophyllus . I have seen the lemon coloured version before but this is the first cream coloured hybrid I have seen

Celmisia bonplandii

Celmisia hectori

Celmisia verbascifolia

Harry Jans

Raoulia grandiflora growing in R.buchananii

Celmisia durietzii

Aciphylla congesta

Aciphylla multisecta

Dolichoglottis lyalli x scorzonerioides

Polystichum cystotegia

Body is still a bit sore --bad  burn on the inside of the right calf where my leg lay against the motorbike's exhaust ,(I was wearing shorts  :-[)--some damage to the inside of the left knee that was trapped under the bike.
Slowly coming right.Thanks for asking.

Mark -- NZ Gentian were reclassified as Gentianella.I'm not sure when.

As an aside I'll show a photo or two of the new alpine book 'Above the Tree Line ' which has just been published when i get time next week --it's a beauty   :-* ,as I'm away early tomorrow to travel all day up to Christchurch to attend the NZAGS Discussion Weekend.

Hoy ,Cohan I have a friend registering on the Forum in the next day or two.
He has successfully raised Melicytus from seed ,(I've never bothered ), so he will be able to answer your questions.
He also gets around in the hills down here so hopefully he'll show pics as well. :D

Now just going to view Steve's photo's and see what i missed  :'( :'( :'(

Cheers Dave.

Magnificent photos, Steve ... you always find such stunning drool-inducing buttercups.  (By the way, did the book arrive safe and sound)?

Glad to hear you are on the mend, Dave ... enjoy the study weekend and give our kindest regards to all our assembled buddies please.

Steve- great stuff- love the two Raoulias- such awesome foliage- how big would that view be?
Cool to see the fern standing proudly in the sun too.

Dave- good to hear you are getting better...

Book arrived today Cliff . Thanks heaps . Yours is in the return post .
Sunday was a trip up Mt.Burns in beautiful weather . I think all of New Zealand has been enjoying sunny , settled weather for a week now . In fact the Southland Times had a front page headline about the 7 days ( at least ) of fine weather forecast so everyone has been getting a little excited . I reckon it's all down to Murphy's Law - school goes back and the sun comes out .

Celmisia holosericea

Celmisia coriacea

Drosera arcturi

Leucogenes grandiceps

Dolichoglottis lyalli x scorzonerioides

Aciphylla pinnatifida

Aciphylla crosby-smithii . Although it is a good flowering year for all the Aciphylla species I've seen , we only saw 2 plants of this species flowering

Hebe hectori

Hi Cohan - as you have correctly guessed the Raoulia grandiflora is on a small plant . Leaves are about half and inch across .

The last pictures are the buttercups , which were the main reason for going to Mt.Burns and the timing was perfect

Ranunculus lyallii

and Ranunculus buchananii

Great photos! I've been growing more interested in the genus Hebe (it would have to happen now that I'm in Nova Scotia, and not southwestern British Columbia!). Two plants have been growing quite well in the garden, though this winter will really put them to the test: Hebe odora (syn Hebe buxifolia), and Hebe pinguifolia var. pagei, have been in the ground for a couple of years now, and both bloomed for the first time last summer. Fondly remember Hebe 'Amy', H. 'Quicksilver', and some of the other whipcord form plants from my days out west. Would love to test a few of the whipcord species here, but have no idea which ones to hunt for (almost none are available in the local nursery trade). Any suggestions of plants to try for cold tolerance would be welcome.

Thanks, Steve.
More great foliage- C coriacea is interesting- is it as stiff as it looks?

Glorious buttercups yet again ... many thanks, Steve.  Glad the book arrived safely and many thanks for sending the other.  Speak soon no doubt?  Enjoy the Study Weekend.

Hoy wrote:

I have tried to sow the shrubby violet Melicytus twice but never achieved germination. Any advice?

Dave Toole requested that I answer this question so I have just gone through the process of signing up to this forum. Melicytus alpinus is quite a complex entity comprising up to about 20 different forms All forms can be grown from cuttings or from seed. However seed takes a year to germinate, (virtually to the day!) For anyone who is interested here is a link to a presentation on some of the work done by myself and my colleagues from the University of Otago on the Melicytus alpinus complex given at the Southern Connections Confernce here in Dunedin last week. It may be too much information for some!

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/79474488/Orlovich_Southern_Radiations_NEW.pptx

(Moderator: to help gauge download time, the PPTX file is 30.7 MB in size)

Magical pictures! There just has to be a Natural History programme made about these plants sometime. I wonder how many gardeners have any idea how beautiful these mountain buttercups are?

David wrote:

Hoy wrote:

I have tried to sow the shrubby violet Melicytus twice but never achieved germination. Any advice?

Dave Toole requested that I answer this question so I have just gone through the process of signing up to this forum. Melicytus alpinus is quite a complex entity comprising up to about 20 different forms All forms can be grown from cuttings or from seed. However seed takes a year to germinate, (virtually to the day!) For anyone who is interested here is a link to a presentation on some of the work done by myself and my colleagues from the University of Otago on the Melicytus alpinus complex given at the Southern Connections Confernce here in Dunedin last week. It may be too much information for some!

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/79474488/Orlovich_Southern_Radiations_NEW.pptx

Thank you David! I read through your presentation with great interest! Didn't know that this genus consisted of so many forms.
Had been interesting to try cuttings but that isn't easy to get hold of!

Dave and Steve, thank you for the photos. They are great!

Welcome to the NARGS Forum, David ... your contributions will be eagerly and regularly sought.

Thanks Cliff, I have several hundred photos taken over the past couple of months to catalogue before I consider posting  but in the meantime Steve and Dave seem to be doing an admirable job showing the NZ flora on the forum.

Hello David, welcome to NARGS Forum, I recognized your name instantly from SRGC Forum when I saw the registration request awaiting approval :-)

I'll second the endorsement of what a fine job Steve and Dave are doing posting so many images of remarkable NZ native flora and scenery. I keep revisiting these pages to get my fill of astounding Ranunculus species, Celmisias, Raoulias, Aciphylla, and other diverse (even strange, in the case of Melicytus) genera.

Hello Mark, Thanks for the welcome; I will try an experimental posting.

Here are some pictures of Myosotis pulvinaris taken on the Old Man Range in December. This a small cushion species that grows on bare, very exposed sites on the crest of the range.

Some plants flower so profusely the foliage is entirely hiddden.

A close up shows the detail of the flowers and the hairs on the leaves. Note the anthers are  more or less below the level of the corolla scales in this species.

Beautiful - and very different from all Myosotis here!

A true jewel that Myosotis is, the quintessential alpine cushion. This topic has shown quite a variety of stunning Myosotis species, it seems NZ is a hub of diversity for the genus (particularly thinking back on Myosotis arnoldii).
http://nargs.org/smf/index.php?topic=374.msg21134#msg21134).

Another NZ native with awesome foliage!

Just arrived from New Zealand (many thanks Steve), a copy of the WONDERFUL 'Above the Treeline' (A nature guide to alpine New Zealand) by Alan F. Mark.

This magnificent field guide to New Zealand's rich and diverse alpine environment features 472 pages, more than 1150 colour photographs, two maps and includes detailed descriptions of more than 675 species of flowering plants.

The ISBN is 978-1-877517-76-1 and it is published by Craig Potton Publishing.  The superb images include contributions by forum members, Steve Newall, David Lyttle, Doug Logan, Dave Toole and many others.

Thoroughly recommended (even if the recommendation happens to come from a New Zealand plant devotee).

Another NZ native with awesome folios ;)

Hello Cliff,

As one of the 68 photographers who contributed to the book I am pleased you liked it. It was certainly a dedicated effort fom Alan and from Jane Conner the publishing editor as well as many other people who assisted in the production of the book. There are a few errors as would be expected in a project of this size and complexity.  Poor Doug has become Dave Logan so I hope he can reclaim his name at some stage.

The aim of the book was to update Mark and Adams New Zealand Alpine Plants. This has been done with the text more or less following rhe original but including chapters on lichens (David Galloway), birds (Rod Morris), fungi (David Orlovich), invertebrates (Brian Patrick), mosses (John Steel) and lizards (Mandy Tocher). The aim of the book is to be comprehensive with respect to the vascular plants that grow above the treeline. It excludes taxa that have not been formally described and a few others that seem to have fallen off the list.

I am interested to see what the response to the book will be and am awaiting publication of the reviews: Alan has been interviewed by the Otago Daily Times and by National Radio
http://www.odt.co.nz/lifestyle/magazine/244398/elevating-alpine http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/20130207

Hi David,
The book is, quite simply, excellent.  An alpine friend of mine from the U.K. is touring South Island at the time of writing and e-mailed me specifically to recommend the book to me (he was suitably impressed that a copy was on it's way to me as we 'spoke'). LOL.

My apologies to poor Doug ... I should have noticed.

Congratulations to everyone involved on such a tremendous achievement.

I consider the book is a very reasonable price too ,at NZ $49.95 and as this thread has been viewed just over 10,000 times....Hope the publishers have a few copies available .
;D ;)

Welcome to the Forum Mr Lyttle.

Cheers Dave.

Hoy wrote:

Another NZ native with awesome folios ;)

lol

Seems like a great book- I could only wish for something similar locally!

cohan wrote:

Hoy wrote:

Another NZ native with awesome folios ;)

lol

Seems like a great book- I could only wish for something similar locally!

I have ordered one today ;D
We have many books in Norwegian covering different aspects of mountain life - both flora and fauna - but it is always interesting to read about other parts of the world too!

Hoy wrote:

cohan wrote:

Hoy wrote:

Another NZ native with awesome folios ;)

lol

Seems like a great book- I could only wish for something similar locally!

I have ordered one today ;D
We have many books in Norwegian covering different aspects of mountain life - both flora and fauna - but it is always interesting to read about other parts of the world too!

You won't regret it, Trond ... it really is an excellent book.

David wrote:

Here are some pictures of Myosotis pulvinaris taken on the Old Man Range in December. This a small cushion species that grows on bare, very exposed sites on the crest of the range.
 
Some plants flower so profusely the foliage is entirely hiddden.

A close up shows the detail of the flowers and the hairs on the leaves. Note the anthers are  more or less below the level of the corolla scales in this species.

At the risk of fury from my Dionysia-growing friends I must say that Myosotis pulvinaris seems to me to be just the perfect cushion plant.

IMYoung wrote:

At the risk of fury from my Dionysia-growing friends I must say that Myosotis pulvinaris seems to me to be just the perfect cushion plant.

I can second that motion, except to my eyes, those exquisite M. pulvinaris cushions are more reminiscent of Androsace than Dionysia.

A link that I hope will be of great interest to a number of you:-

New Zealand orchids

http://www.nativeorchids.co.nz/Gallery_LR.html

McDonough wrote:

IMYoung wrote:

At the risk of fury from my Dionysia-growing friends I must say that Myosotis pulvinaris seems to me to be just the perfect cushion plant.

I can second that motion, except to my eyes, those exquisite M. pulvinaris cushions are more reminiscent of Androsace than Dionysia.

... but the guys who exhibit cushion plants in the UK are most crazy for dionsyias !

and then you have someone who crossed Myosotis pulvinaris with M.capitata to produce a New Zealand cushion plant with blue flowers . I think she listed it in her catalogue as M. Tiny Tot  but I'm not sure . Might still be around on the Hokonui Alpines website

Jandals wrote:

and then you have someone who crossed Myosotis pulvinaris with M.capitata to produce a New Zealand cushion plant with blue flowers . I think she listed it in her catalogue as M. Tiny Tot  but I'm not sure . Might still be around on the Hokonui Alpines website

Peter and Louise list :

Quote:

MYOSOTIS Hokonui
This unique plant is a hybrid of our own raising and we are very proud of it. It makes a nice tight cushion with a succession of cool to warm lavender stemless flowers over summer and tolerates frosts and summer heat very well. Sun and a gritty soil. H5cm x W20cm.

photo here:
http://users.actrix.co.nz/hokpines/myohok.jpg

Pretty little thing - but not a patch on the white beauty shown by  David L!

Maggi, the photo link to Myosotis 'Hokonui' isn't working. I looked high and low for an alternate image, but it appears to have been pulled from the Hokonui Alpines site.

But I did find the following:
Leslie Cox on SRGC reports "Myosotis 'Hokonui,' a hybrid between M. capitata and M. uniflora, a tiny, yellow-flowered bun-like mat."
(not sure about the "yellow-flowered" part, photo shows blue-flowered plant)
http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=6322.msg174665#msg174665

Thumbnail image:
https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSz0dpmy22WgKoykiG0...

Mark, Maggi's link works perfect for me and has done so all the time.

Catching up on a some recent outings .
A couple of Scottish visitors stayed with us for a few days and one morning we managed to travel a short distance down to the coast .Here’s Jean focusing in on ……..Gentianella saxosa.

Mark,

A few comments on NZ Myosotis - We have a lot of undescribed species especially here in the south where each mountain seems to have a least two undescribed species! Perhaps a slight exaggeration but I could post 6 or 7 undescribed species.
However for those who like yellow Myosotis here are two;

Myosotis brevis a tiny annual species with lemon or white flowers and Myosotis uniflora- here we have a cushion within a cushion ( Raoulia)

Late last week  Steve ,Doug and I searched an area up in the Mt Cook region hoping to locate Ranunculus godleyanus.(Doug has posted a few pics of our trip on the SRGC Forum).

My only experience of this plant is when back in 2008 I managed to flower a purchased plant—if memory serves me right it set good seed which promptly germinated .Unfortunately I never looked after the youngsters and I have only one small plant left although I can't be certain as the foliage doesn't seem quite right…….

My pics are as follows …

View of the Hermitage village and surrounding mountains.

Waterfall draining into the main stream .

Initially travel was easy then the route became very narrow and we had to continually ford the stream and scramble over very wet unstable rock faces.

Eventually our progress was blocked by snow so it was time for a stop to admire the view downstream and plan our next movement….and that was to scoot high up a step side gully . .(At this stage I felt I was on a mountaineering expedition rather than a plant hunting trip !!.). :)

Higher up we found on a moist rocky site ,Schizeilema haastii.
Steve interested in Brachyglottis haasti .

Having no luck in finding the Ranunculus we gingerly retraced our tracks with Mr Newall reassuring Doug and I that having gone up the gully we would be able to get down . :-\

The day was still young when we reached the car so off we went for a look up the Ball Pass road .You can only get part of the way before washouts make foot travel the only option.
Steve and Doug and view down the valley.
Raoulia australis in bloom along the way.

Interesting access to gain a view of the Tasman Glacier.

Cheers Dave.

Wonderful stuff, Dave ... I can almost smell the liniment from here!!!  Looks an exhausting, but profitable hike!!  I too have just one small plant of R. godleyanus that I have potted up today. I will compare the foliage to both your images and let you know. R. insignis is in bud at the moment (seven or eight plants), but other buttercups are still resting.
Regards to you all.

Dave and David, I second Cliff's declaration "wonderful stuff", certainly some rough terrain there, thanks for bringing the experience to us on NARGS Forum. Love the netted leaves on Ranunculus godleyanus.
 
I had no idea that Gentianella saxosa was a coastal plant, growing among sea shells!  Is it always a lowland plant?

Myosotis uniflora is heavenly!  How fascinating, and perhaps vexing too when trying to put names to things, that there are so many undescribed Myosotis species in the NZ mountains.

Trond, the image link to Myosotis 'Hokonui' still doesn't work here, tried it on two computers, in both Firefox 9.x and Internet Explorer 9.x, gives error: "Not Found,  the requested URL /hokpines/myohok.jpg was not found on this server".  I suspect the image was removed but that your browser might have it cached. If others in North America can try the original link above and let us know if it works or not, I would appreciate it.

Stuart Murray has since sent me the image, and I post it here to overcome any difficulties with the link. It's a really nice mat-forming Myosotis.

Myosotis 'Hokonui', courtesy of Stuart Murray:

By the way, check out the 1-page list of New Zealand rock garden plants (many with image links), some very choice items there.
Hokonui Alpines Plant Catalogue
New Zealand Alpines and Rock Garden Plants
http://users.actrix.co.nz/hokpines/catalogue-3.html#1

McDonough wrote:

Trond, the image link to Myosotis 'Hokonui' still doesn't work here, tried it on two computers, in both Firefox 9.x and Internet Explorer 9.x, gives error: "Not Found,  the requested URL /hokpines/myohok.jpg was not found on this server".  I suspect the image was removed but that your browser might have it cached. If others in North America can try the original link above and let us know if it works or not, I would appreciate it.

Doesn't work for me either using Safari on a Mac.

Wonderful scenes and plants!  Thank you for posting!  Those glacial lateral moraines look pretty recent (at least in geological terms)... was there much plant life growing there?

Very interesting list - when Graham Hutchins of County Park Nursery was collecting and distributing NZ plants, this was a wonderful source of plants in the UK and I remember growing a lot of the smaller choice hebes. They are the most intriguing and fascinating plants (all NZers) and the new book that has just been published a 'must have'.

Hello Lori,

When I was a student ( some time ago) you could drive to Ball Hut on the road built on lateral moraine that has now collapsed due to the Tasman Glacier retreating. The road was built on the moraine shelf and now the ice has gone (or lowered significantly in parts) the morainic debris just falls down into the void. There is now a big lake at the terminus of the Tasman Glacier and they take tourists out on it in boats. If you are (un)lucky and are close enough you can get a bit of a thrill when the ice collapses into the lake making a big wave. The collapsing moraine is very raw but it is rapidly colonised by a number of plants: nitrogen fixers Coriaria and Carmichaelia. Other species that are common are Muehlenbeckia axillaris, Stellaria gracilenta, Geranium brevicaule, Parahebe decora and various species of Epilobium.

I have located a photo taken in September last year that shows the moraines below the terminal lake of the Mueller Glacier at Mt Cook: it shows a series of moraines of different ages with the successional vegetation. Prominent in the foreground on an old stable moraine  ate Podocarpus nivalis, Griselinia littoralis and Aciphylla aurea.

Hoy wrote:

Mark, Maggi's link works perfect for me and has done so all the time.

Didn't work for me, but I subtracted the picture info and just went to the homepage- interesting site- I was esp interested to see they offer seeds, though currently the list is offline for updating..
http://users.actrix.co.nz/hokpines/

McDonough wrote:

Dave and David, I second Cliff's declaration "wonderful stuff"
 
I had no idea that Gentianella saxosa was a coastal plant, growing among sea shells!  Is it always a lowland plant

Thanks Mark and Cliff.

Yes G.saxosa is a lowland plant found around the southern coastal regions and i believe on Stewart Island .Habitat can be just above the high tide mark to sand dunes and rocky places.

Lori wrote:

Wonderful scenes and plants!  Thank you for posting!  Those glacial lateral moraines look pretty recent (at least in geological terms)... was there much plant life growing there?

Thanks Lori

David Lyttle has mentioned colonisers --others are the Raoulia's and in the Epilobium genus E.melanocaulon is prolific.I've sometimes thought that in it's best forms it might warrant cultivation in a pot with careful attention to removing seed heads. :-\ .I'd certainly not risk it in the garden proper here.

Travel up towards the Ball Pass area is what i call interesting as on your right side is the lateral moraine, however on your left side .close to hand ,is a steep mountain range from where frequent avalanches sweep down and across the defunct road and sometimes up the lower part of the moraine wall.

In fact last week the 3 of us were discussing the differences in the colour of the rock .Hopefully the following pic will show what i mean.

Cheers Dave.

McDonough wrote:

Trond, the image link to Myosotis 'Hokonui' still doesn't work here, tried it on two computers, in both Firefox 9.x and Internet Explorer 9.x, gives error: "Not Found,  the requested URL /hokpines/myohok.jpg was not found on this server".  I suspect the image was removed but that your browser might have it cached. If others in North America can try the original link above and let us know if it works or not, I would appreciate it.

Mark, you probably are right! I still have it on my computer but can't open it on others.

Dave & David, both plants and places are lovely!

Some great and interesting landscapes and plants, guys!
David L- all the Myosotis shown are lovely- the little annual is quite appealing, even if it needs macro to be so!
Dave- the Brachyglottis seems to have very nice foliage...

Have just finished catalouging several batches of pictures.  Here is a bit of a random selection mainly from the St Marys Range in North Otago.

The first is Kelleria villosa var villosa showing the plant and a close up view of the flowers and foliage.

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Pimelea oreophila subsp lepta which is  commonly found in the eastern tussock grasslands of the South Island.

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Pimelea notia a recently described species. differs from the preceeding in that the leaves are sparsely hairy

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Raoulia tenuicaulis a mat forming daisy very common on gravel riverbeds - here it is growing on a road margin.

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One of my most recent preoccupations has been trying to figure out various Celmisia species. Here is Celmisia angustifolia which can sometimes be confused with Celmisia brevifolia.

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It can also be confused with Celmisia densifolia so here are the two growing together. (Celmisia densifolia is top specimen note broader leaves)

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Dracophyllum rosmarinifolium with Gaultheria crassa growing in front. The tussock is the narrow-leaved snow tussock Chionocloa rigida with a patch of the clubmoss Lycopodium fastigiatum in the left foreground.

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A flowering plant of Gaultheria crassa.

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David L, for those unfamiliar with these plants, might it not be useful to include something to give an idea of scale in the photos, or descriptions ?  :)

IMYoung wrote:

David L, for those unfamiliar with these plants, might it not be useful to include something to give an idea of scale in the photos, or descriptions ?  :)

Yes, the Kelleria Pimelea and Raoulia pictures are = or > life size.

Especially interesting to see the groupings of various plants growing together..

Yes, I too especially like the multiple plant photos, and it's a treat having more than just the "main attraction" identified!

In that last pic, it looks as though the Gaultheria produces a dry compartmentalizes fruit, rather than a berry?

Brilliant images, David.  Many thanks for posting.

Cohan,
Very happy to show the plant goupings to give ecological context to the different species.

Rick,
NZ Gaultherias have diverse fruits; the fruit is a capsule ( dry in the case of G. crassa) or may  surrounded by an enlarged fleshy calyx ( G. depressa var novae-zelandiae - the snowberry which is edible) Pernettya was originally distinguished from Gaultheria by the fruit being baccate (according to the glossary this has a fleshy mesocarp) Pernettya is now included in Gaultheria ( Pernettya macrostigma = Gaultheria marostigma) as bigeneric hybrids between various species are common so the fruit characteristics were not a particularly good character to divide the species into different genera.

Cliff,
I hope the S.P.A.T consortium treats you gently when you visit and you are able to see the plants in the field for yourself!

To continue on the Ericaceae theme here is a picture of Leucopogon fraseri which acommon widespread plant but very difficult to get the detail in the flower.

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Next Myrsine nummularia with its very small flowers It has an attractive blue berry

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Nertera scapanioides (or I think it is this species rather than the more common Nertera depressa)

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Anisotome aromatica - there are innumerable forms of this species

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A small cress Cardamine bilobata

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Growing on the same outcrop two small ferns Grammitis poepiggiana and a Hymenophyllum I have not been able to identify.

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Coriaria plumosa which is a primary coloniser and nitrogen fixer (symbiont is Frankia rather than Rhizobium)

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In the beech forest at lower altitudes the mistletoe Peraxilla tetrapetala was flowering profusely. Thie species is very sensitive to possum browsing and was almost wiped out until the pests were brought under control by the Department of Conservation. In both cases the plants are growing on mountain beech Nothofagus solandri var cliffortioides but we also found plants growing on two alternative hosts, Coprosme propinqua and Aristotelia fruticosa.

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David, I never tire of admiring the flora of NZ! Interesting ferns too (any chance of spores?) and an extraordinary mistletoe!

Thanks for answering my query in detail, David.  I ate it up. ;D
Interesting how a genus can encompass both fleshy fruit and dry capsules, isn't it, Mark... ;)

I marvel when I look at so many genera I am familiar with in my region, only to find so much more diversity in the same genera in other places.  So often I say to myself, I never would have guessed it belonged to such and such genus...

All the lithophytes are very nice!
The mistletoe is quite splendid- nothing grows on trees here except lichens and moss!

Trond,

I think the ferns would be challenging horticultural subjects especially the Hymenophyllum - I have never heard of anyone successfully growing it.

Rick,

It certainly was an interesting question you raised about the fruits if the Gaultheria - I went back and took a careful look at some of my photographs and found examples of the variations. Gaultheria crassa as you have noted has a dry capsule.

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In Gaultheria depressa var novae-zelandiae the calyx is enlarged and surrounds the capsule.

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In Gaultheria macrostigma and Gaultheria parvula (diagnostic for the former genus Pernyetta) the calyx is fleshy but the mesocarp is enlarged and forms the bulk of the fruit.

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[attach thumb=4]

Cohan,

The mistletoe has evolved for bird pollination hence the bright red colour and flower structure - none of our alpine flora is brightly coloured or is specifically designed for bird pollination. see the close ups

Thanks, David.  Next time I get an opportunity, I am going to have to look more closely at our native Gaultheria procumbens and G. hispidula edible fruits.  I don't remember ever feeling in my mouth any capsule/calyx "separation".  The seemed very homogeneous on my palate, but I've never examined a cut berry.

----------------------------------
That mistletoe is much more interesting in close up!  :o

Very showy mistletoe indeed! It's a category of plant I know very little about- having never seen any in person! But I would have thought they were in general inconspicuous plants- shows how much I knew  ;D

Here is a link that goes into detail  about bird pollination of Peraxilla. The plant needs the birds to physically open the flower to gain access to the nectar. The structure of the flower has evolved to favour birds as pollinators. The link has video footage of bellbirds and tuis opening the flowers.

http://www.biol.canterbury.ac.nz/mistletoes/pollination.shtml

I will put in a close up showing an opened flower (there are actually 2) with a group of unopened flowers lower down

David wrote:

Trond,

I think the ferns would be challenging horticultural subjects especially the Hymenophyllum - I have never heard of anyone successfully growing it.

David, Hymenophyllum wilsonii is rather common around here but I don't have it in my garden though. However I have planned to try it as I have some suitable habitats I think.
Though I did think of some of the other ferns in your pictures too  ;)

The berry/capsule "problem" in Gaultheria/Pernettya is similar to Actaea/Cimicifuga. Actaea has berries but Cimicifuga has capsules. It is not a great genetic difference between a berry and a capsule though.

Does the mistletoe spread by berries eaten by birds like the European Viscum album? (I have Nothofagus in my garden ;) )

Trond,

Several species of Hymenophyllum extend into the alpine zone in New Zealand. They are found in rock clefts and similar sites habitats very similar to Hymeophyllum wilsonii in Europe. The most frequently encountered is Hymenophyllum multifidum which is also common in Nothofagus forest but is dwarfed in the alpine environment.

Peraxilla is spread in the same manner as European mistletoes by birds eating the berries as are our other mistletoes Alepis, Ileostylus and Tupeia. The remaining group Korthalsella are also dispersed by birds apparently the fruits are weakly explosive and become attached to birds that brush up against the plants.

I have never actuallyseen the berries of Peraxilla except in pictures but I have not made a point of looking for them. They are red and look attractive (to a bird any way).

Thanks David. Although mistletoe (Viscum album) is native in Norway it is very rare. I've only seen it a couple times but I try to establish it on my property (and exotic ones too if I get the chance!).

Spent yesterday up on the ‘hills’ of Northern Southland with a couple of friends, John Fitzgerald and fellow forumist David Lyttle.

I was most interested to see how the Celmisia’s were coping with the big ‘dry' and while most seemed to be okay we found very few plants in seed.

Some of the C.verbascifolia’s had pronounced leaf roll however no more in numbers than what I’ve seen previously on this Range.

I think we ticked off well over a dozen species/hybrids ---David kept on mentioning we should have started a list ………

Just a few pics

Fellow enthusiasts.

The silvery growths of Celmisia linearis .
Close up.

John on a well vegetative Celmisia slope.

Two pics of Celmisia verbascifolia showing the pale white tomentum.

Large silver grows of Celmisia semicordata ssp stricta.

Acaena saccaticupula on one of the snow banks.

Cheers Dave.

Oh boy- love the foliage of every one of those (including Acaena), but maybe especially C linearis!

I agree the Celmisia species are fantastic, particularly C. linearis... wow!  The Aceana surprises me, this one has such oversized stocky, almost muscular stems; intriguing.

I was in contact with Lou at Hokonui Alpines today and was informed their seedlist had been updated and was now on line , so I just had to have a peek. :)

Fresh seed of some of the wonderful small Celmisia sps are listed as well as a number of other NZ alpines including the yummy Aciphylla simplex  :P :P ---- and other gems from regions around the world.

The link is below for those that are interested.

users.actrix.co.nz/hokpines/seedlist.html

Cheers Dave.

For the record I recorded 14 species of Celmisia and 6 hybrids. There are two additional species that I am fairly sure are there but did not see and then there are a couple of entities that are are not formally described which may or may not be there. I was busy photographing and documenting the hybrids.

I will post a few Celmisia pictures to add to what Dave has already posted.

A cushion of Celmisia sessiliflora growing in Chionochloa rigida tussock grassland - the site is quite damp with the moisture loving habe Hebe pauciramosa present as well.

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Every one photographs the same plant; Celmisia sessiliflora x lyallii (C. linearis). (Dave has PVR rights over this plant so we will henceforth call it Celmisia x linearis  ' Toolei ' )

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A colony of Celmisia semicordata subsp. stricta with a large Celmisia verbascifolia centre right.

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Here is a hybrid between the two species (bottom right) growing with its parents Celmisia semicordata susp.stricta and Celmisia verbascifolia (rear)

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Celmisia verbascifolia and Celmisia lyallii behind it

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and the hybrid between the two

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A hybrid between Celmisia verbascifolia and another species which I am guessing is Celmisia brevifolia growing at the bottom right of the photo. It is not a pretty plant

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Celmisia densiflora showing the tomentose white undersides of the leaves. The leave are turned up in response to the dry conditions. This is a widespread species that forms extensive mats. The stems are quite woody.

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Last a hybrid between Celmisia lyallii and Celmisia densiflora.  The plant on the bottom right is the hybrid. The plant beside it is a small specimen of Celmisia lyallii and Celmisia densiflora is growing at the top left.

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Finally another example of the Celmisia densiflora x lyallii hybrid.

Really love those pics with the hybrid celmisia and the parents.

In this pic, is all the white on the center background knoll celmisia, too?
   
    [attach thumb=1]

David wrote:

Dave has PVR rights over this plant so we will henceforth call it Celmisia x linearis  ' Toolei '

Now where have I heard that before ?

Nice pics Daves

RickR wrote:

Really love those pics with the hybrid celmisia and the parents.

In this pic, is all the white on the center background knoll celmisia, too?
   

The top of the knoll is schist rock and most of the white colour is due to lichens

I have always regarded Celmisia as a rather tender genus but I have come to look at it (or some species at least) as very hardy and possible to grow at my mountain cabin!

Hi Trond,

Celmisias are very diverse in terms of their growth form and habitat requirements. There are a number of snowbank species that may perhaps grow in Norway as in general NZ plants do not tolerate hard frosts. I would suggest that the snowbank species, Celmisia hectorii, Celmisia haastii and Celmisia prorepens might be worth trying. I  tend to avoid growing snowbank plants as I cannot satisfy their winter dormancy requirements. I find some of the the species with woody stems (eg Celmisia densiflora, Celmisia brevifolia, Celmisia walkeri) can be propagated easily from cuttings and do well for me if grown in pots. The larger Celmisias such as C.  semicordata are a bit problematic as they can collapse very rapidly if stressed though there is a coastal species called Celmisia mackaui that seems to thrive here. Celmisia hookeri from East Otago is another species that can be successfully cultivated though the plant I have in my crevice garden seems to have turned up its toes in our current drought.

Wonderful pictures and really interesting to see all those hybrids. There will be AGS members queuing up to grow C. x linearis 'Toolei'!! I am having a bit more success with some of the small alpine species growing in deep moist sharp sand on the cool end of a raised bed - but we did have a wet summer last year! David Sampson used to grow some species well in the garden in the south, but nothing like Alan Furness in Northumberland. I don't think the climate there can be too different to parts of Norway, so you could do well with them Trond.

And thanks for the seedlist website! Some nice things there...

Thanks David, a long list to start with! Plants are never for sale here so I have to try seed or import from abroad  :-\
I have 3 different places with different climate where I can try plants so hopefully a couple will make it - if I get any!

Tim, I have to try some! And I can provide both a coastal mild and humid (well, it used to be) climate and a climate with warmer summers and slightly colder winters and a low alpine climate ;D

Celmisia x linearis not just a good foliage plant. Certainly a good subject for a potted show plant. Flowering here early November, and a closeup.

Senecio wrote:

Celmisia is not just a good foliage plant. Certainly a good subject for a potted show plant. Flowering here early November, and a closeup.

This is the best form of C x linearis I have seen. The epithet C. x linearis has been applied to a diverse range of Celmisia sessiliflora hybrids. Knowing the origin of this one I have suggested it is a hybrid between C.sessiliflora and C. insignis. Of course some TLC shows the plant to its best advantage.

Here are some pictures of the now famous (or infamous depending on your point of view) Hebejeebie trifida ( syn Veronica trifida) growing at a snowbank site at about 1500 m on the South Hector Mountains. The plants are of remarkable size and vigour for this species flourishing because of a liberal dressing of sheep manure supplied liberally by the sheep that for some reason camp there.
        1. A small plant - there are some larger ones
        2. flower - there were still a few late flowers around
        3. shoot showing the very distinctive glandular hairs of this species. It is not always easy to distinguish Hebejeebie trifida from some forms of Hebejeebie densifolia but these hairs are diagnostic.

Super close-up in your last pic, David.
Some clarification needed please from your post  - which is correct : Hebejebie -  Hebejeebe - Hebejeebie  ?

M

David wrote:

Senecio wrote:

Celmisia is not just a good foliage plant. Certainly a good subject for a potted show plant. Flowering here early November, and a closeup.

This is the best form of C x linearis I have seen. The epithet C. x linearis has been applied to a diverse range of Celmisia sessiliflora hybrids. Knowing the origin of this one I have suggested it is a hybrid between C.sessiliflora and C. insignis. Of course some TLC shows the plant to its best advantage.

It is fine indeed for foliage and flowers- hard to beat such a smart show plant, I would imagine.

IMYoung wrote:

Super close-up in your last pic, David.
Some clarification needed please from your post  - which is correct : Hebejebie -  Hebejeebe - Hebejeebie  ?

Hello Ian,

I covered all options didn't I - It is Hebejeebie

David wrote:

IMYoung wrote:

Super close-up in your last pic, David.
Some clarification needed please from your post  - which is correct : Hebejebie -  Hebejeebe - Hebejeebie  ?

I covered all options didn't I - It is Hebejeebie

Thanks David - lets us see just how the use of these names  can give folks the heebiejeebies, eh?!  ;) ;D

M

Senecio wrote:

Celmisia is not just a good foliage plant. Certainly a good subject for a potted show plant. Flowering here early November, and a closeup.

Senecio, that's one fine looking pot-grown Celmisia, the foliage is amazing.

It seems that Mr. Michael J. Heads, the person who coined genus name Hebejeebie in 2003, has a sense of humor.

Googling around, I see in a 2012 publication, that none of the Hebe-related genera stand (Hebe, Parahebe, Chionohebe, Leonohebe, Heliohebe, and Hebejeebie), all have been sunk into Veronica.  At the bottom of the following web page, is a link to a PDF listing of all NZ Hebe relations, for a total of 141 Veronica species. :o
http://nzprn.otago.ac.nz/wiki/bin/view/NZPRN/TaxaVeronica

McDonough wrote:

Senecio wrote:

Celmisia is not just a good foliage plant. Certainly a good subject for a potted show plant. Flowering here early November, and a closeup.

It seems that Mr. Michael J. Heads, the person who coined genus name Hebejeebie in 2003, has a sense of humor.

Googling around, I see in a 2012 publication, that none of the Hebe-related genera stand (Hebe, Parahebe, Chionohebe, Leonohebe, Heliohebe, and Hebejeebie), all have been sunk into Veronica.  At the bottom of the following web page, is a link to a PDF listing of all NZ Hebe relations, for a total of 141 Veronica species. :o
http://nzprn.otago.ac.nz/wiki/bin/view/NZPRN/TaxaVeronica

Michael Heads is best known in New Zealand for his somewhat controversial views on panbiogeography and vicariance. For a synopsis of his work seehttp://johngrehan.net/index.php/panbiogeography/panpublications/michael-heads-publications/ I do not count myself amongst his acolytes and listened to an exorticating criticism of his Abrotanella paper at the Southern Connections Congress held here in Dunedin in January. I can supply details if anyone is particularly interested. For a very readable and informative account of New Zealand's biogeography I recommend Ghosts of Gondwana: The History of Life in New Zealand by George Gibbs.

Phil Garnock Jones who supplied the content for the web page on Taxa/Veronica  that Mark refers to, argues (very persuasively) that since all New Zealand Hebes Chionohebes Parahebes etc are nested within the Northern hemisphere genus Veronica all the separate genera should be subsumed into Veronica.  Many New Zealand botanists disagree with this view and it is fair to say it has not gained universal acceptance; Alan Mark uses Hebe, Parahebe, Chionohebe, Leonohebe, Heliohebe, and Hebejeebie in his new book but supplies the synonyms in Veronica for anyone who wishes to use them. The NZPCN website does not use Veronica at all for the different genera. It can be argued that the genus Veronica has undergone sufficient evolutionary diversification in the Southern hemisphere and that the descendants of the original Veronica have diverged sufficiently from their ancestors to be given their own generic status. This is an exact parallel to the Dodecatheon/ Primula situation in North America where the name Dodecatheon is applied to a group of Primulas that have gone done a seperate evolutionary path with respect ot their pollination biology. So for the time being I will continue to use Hebe, Parahebe, Chionohebe, Leonohebe, Heliohebe, and Hebejeebie. I suspect Dodecatheon is still widely used in North America.

David wrote:

So for the time being I will continue to use Hebe, Parahebe, Chionohebe, Leonohebe, Heliohebe, and Hebejeebie. I suspect Dodecatheon is still widely used in North America.

Quite so, David - hard to find any grower who cannot  quite easily discern between most of the hebe "variations" and a veronica  or between a primula and a dodecatheon - a lot of us are sticking with the names we recognise, I think.

David, does that make Veronica a paraphyletic taxon?

Hoy wrote:

David, does that make Veronica a paraphyletic taxon?

If you think Hebe, Parahebe, Chionohebe, Leonohebe, Heliohebe, and Hebejeebie are worthy of generic status yes but Phil Garnock Jones does not think Northern hemsphere taxonomists would be willing to carve Veronica up into multiple genera.

On thinking a bit more about your question the answer is possibly more accurately no as Veronica has a common line of descent; Hebe and the other Southern hemisphere genera are nested within it.

Sorry to be so equivocal about your question.

Thanks David, I am satisfied. Things don't always have a clear-cut answer!

Went for a little walk today ---Cool conditions with a very strong wind so i kept well away from the edge of the drop offs.

My visit was primarily seed hunting ,and as i wanted to cover as much ground as possible i packed light ,so for the first time in many many years i left the camera in the vehicle ......
I should have known better  :rolleyes: :rolleyes: as there were still some nice gems in flower-----

namely, fields of a very dwarf form of Gentianella bellidifolia ,(syn G. bellidifolia var australis ), and surprisingly a small number of Ranunculus buchananii where the flowers were displaying a spidery effect having just about gone over.I even found one plant that had buds yet to open !.

So i hope you don't mind if i cheat a little bit and show a couple of pics from back in 2011 showing the Gentianella habit in cushion field and the Ranunculus at the spidery stage . :-* :-*

I'm away tomorrow again but this time I'll be taking the camera  :D  

Cheers Dave

What superb photos! Gorgeous plants and scenery.

Toole wrote:

So i hope you don't mind if i cheat a little bit and show a couple of pics from back in 2011 showing the Gentianella habit in cushion field and the Ranunculus at the spidery stage . :-* :-*

Cheers Dave

No, not at all!

Thanks Lori and Trond.

Here's a small selection from yesterday.

Gentianella serotina in bloom.

Bold foliage of Aciphylla aurea contrasting with the silver foliage of Celmisia semicordata ssp stricta.

Focus on the growth habit of the crevice loving Celmisia philocremna.

South Island edelweiss ,Leucogenes grandiceps.

Cheers Dave.

Oh Dave,
That C. philocremna is breathtaking ... we see it on the show benches here in the UK, but to see it growing in habitat ... Wow!!!!

Booker wrote:

Oh Dave,
That C. philocremna is breathtaking ... we see it on the show benches here in the UK, but to see it growing in habitat ... Wow!!!!

I don't agree, Cliff! They are all breathtaking ;) But I would prefere to grow them in a rockery :o

Hoy wrote:

Booker wrote:

Oh Dave,
That C. philocremna is breathtaking ... we see it on the show benches here in the UK, but to see it growing in habitat ... Wow!!!!

I don't agree, Cliff! They are all breathtaking ;) But I would prefere to grow them in a rockery :o

Thanks Cliff ,Hoy

It took a bit of an effort to get up there --both sections of the track have deteriorated quite badly in the 12 months since i last visited ...I won't be going back .. until it has been upgraded.

Cheers Dave.

Glad you made a safe return from the poor track, Dave!

cohan wrote:

Glad you made a safe return from the poor track, Dave!

Thanks
My body survived Cohan, unfortunately my wallet took a pounding  --$285 bike repair bill ! :'( :'( :'(

Not so cherry Dave.

This morning I went on a field trip to Tunnel Beach just south of Dunedin City. The good thing about living here is when you do not have enough time or inclination to drive to the mountains you can always go to the coast. The area has some spectacular sandstone sea cliffs. The day was fairly brisk but it did not rain and we were home by lunchtime. I will post some scenic shots first

Here are a  few more plant pictures. A feature of the area is the coastal turf vegetation. If you look carefully in the last photograph of the first set you can see the fragments of kelp just above where the people are crouching. We did not find anything unusual or rare.
1. Glasswort (Sarcocornia quinqueflora subsp. quinqueflora).
2. Senecio carnosulus. This plant is classified as naturally uncommon notwithstanding my earlier comments.
3. A cascade of mosses and liverworts growing on a seepage down the cliff face.
4. Detail of bryophytes.
5. A fringe of Hebe elliptica growing on the cliff edge.
6. Black-backed gulls.

Interesting pics David

I was down on the coast today a bit further south of you trying to locate Luzuriaga parviflora ,(Lantern Berry) ,in the coastal forest --my 2nd visit without any luck ...... :' I'm now thinking that although it's been 'recorded' as being in the area ,it's very localized.

Cheers Dave.

Dave,

Luzuriaga is down in the Catlins near Papatowai and it is up on the Longwoods as well. Since you did not find it I will pop in a photo I took in the Longwoods about a year ago for you.

Interesting photos, David.

What is it that is to the lower right of the Senecio?

RickR wrote:

Interesting photos, David.

What is it that is to the lower right of the Senecio?

I noticed that Rick ... looks like a species of Salicornia?

Perhaps it's another of the glassworts (Sarcocornia quinqueflora subsp. quinqueflora) that was shown in the previous set of photos?

RickR wrote:

Interesting photos, David.

What is it that is to the lower right of the Senecio?

Lori  and Cliff are correct.It is Sarcocornia quinqueflora subsp quinqueflora formerly known as Salicornia australis. Here are a couple of pictures of the plant; covering the salt flats at the entrance of the Otago Harbour at Aramoana, and a close up of the plants with flowers

David, very interesting! I am familiar with (some parts of) the Norwegian coast (it is roughly 25000km long if you add all the islands!) but your coast is quite different from anything here. Some plants are similar of course but some are very unfamiliar!

Interesting views! Ocean coastlines are much more exotic (at least much farther away!) here than mountains  ;D

Just back from the Nelson AGS study weekend ar Lake Rotoiti, Nelson Lakes. Drove back from Westport to Dunedin today: it was a bit of a long drive and was slightly damp driving up the Otira Gorge through to Arthurs Pass. Took a short cut gravel road from Lake Lyndon to Lake Coleridge. I must have dodged a dump of snow  as there was fresh snow on Mt Hutt and the eastern foothills of the Southern Alps. Here are some pictures I took on the drive up through the Lewis Pass on Friday.

1&2 Tarn at Lewis Pass

3 Bog pine (Halocarpus bidwilli) at Lewis Pass

4,5,6 Lichens on mountain beech trees ( mainly Usnea)

7 Lichens, fungi and mosses

8 Stone with crustose lichens

9 Mountain beech trees

10 Astelia nervosa

The next set of picture was taken on my way home from Nelson Lakes. The Buller River flows out of Lake Rotoiti and flows out to sea ar Westport. The highway more or less follows it down and that is the way I went.

1 Upper Buller Gorge. The road folllows the true right bank at this point.

2. Side creek entering the Buller River note how stained the water is.

Stayed overnight at Westport and headed down the coast to Punakaiki next morning. The lady at the compground said it was going to be a fine day. The first walk I did was a 20 min track to the beach. It was raining so I left the camera behind and when I came back it had stopped raining so went to the next walk which was up the Porariri River. I took the camera and got some good pictures.

3&4 Porariri River flowing out of the Paparoa Range to the coast.

5. Arch under the roots of a big rata tree on the Porariri river track

6. Cardiomanes reniforme - a fern. Note the Tmespteris on the lower left

7. Forest vegetation on the river bank There are tree ferns, nikau palms and Freycinetia banksii in abundance. The Freycinetia is the gassy tufted thing centre - do not ever try walking through a clump of it!

8&9 Nikau Palms and Nikau palm fruit

When I got back to the car it had started raining again so I did not bother walking out to see the blowholes at Punakaiki  and drove south to Greymouth.

10 Coastal view south of Punakaiki

Before I tackled the transalpine crossing of Arthurs Pass I thought I better have some lunch at Greymouth. I headed out to Lake Brunner and this is the last photo I took until I was well over the other side.

1. Lake Brunner

The road heads into the murk at the far right of the picture. It was raining at the bottom of the climb up to the pass so much so that the water was beginning to overtop the bridge at Kelleys Creek. It was raining all the way up the Otira Gorge: some of the road has a roof built over it to divert the water and this was cascading over the lip and down the hillside.

2 For the record; the road up to the pass taken last January

It was raining at Arthurs Pass village, it was raining at the Waimakariri bridge, it was raining at Craigieburn, it was raining at Castle Hill basin so I took the back road from Lake Lyndon to Lake Coleridge. I had not travelled that way before; it is a gravel road and is a bit rough.

3 Acheron River between Lake Lyndon and Lake Coleridge

The road comes out on a high terrace overlooking the Rakaia River and you can see the Mt Hutt Range.

4. Mt Hutt Range with a coat of fresh snow. There was a bit of slushy snow along the side of the road so I had been fortunate not encountering snow when I crossed Arthurs Pass.

5. Rakaia River looking down river to the east coast of the South Island.

I arrived home in Dunedin about 8.30 so it had been an interesting day.  It was a north to south, west to east trip with a huge contrast in the scenery and weather.

David, very exciting! I love it all from the lichen to the grand landscape!

Trond, It was an interesting trip;I was not lingering because of the weather. I got about an hour between the showers at the Porariri River where I took the photos of the nikau palms. They do not grow this far south. I find them quite fascinating and exotic despite the fact my main interest is alpines.

Nice pics David of your trip up country ,especially of the Nikau's.

I've tried the Chatham Island form once without success however a plant apparently raised from seed collected on Banks Peninsula near Christchurch has survived a couple of winters here in it's pot just on the edge of the bush.It needs planting out if I'm going to see it reach height and flowering .....

Cheers Dave.

Have just sorted out my password so I can log on to the site now it has been rebuilt so will do a brief post as a test. The photos were taken at Careys Ceek just north of Dunedin about a week ago.

    The photo shows mainly native vegetation growing along side the creek; the area is a frost hollow and contains a lot of divaricating shrubs rather than forest. The large tree on the right is a broadleaf ( Griselinia littoralis)

Further up on a very steep-sided spur I photographed some fungi growing in mixed Kunzea/Leptospermum forest.

  This small red mushroom is a species of Hygrocybe

There is a small brown mushroom and some coral fungi growing amongst the moss neither of which I was able to identify. It was a challenge to get a good exposure for everything in the photo.

Earlier I had found a huge old totara (Podocarpus cunninghamii) growing in an inaccessible spot at the base of some bluffs. Most of this area has been milled over and burnt in the past so it was good to see that a least one of the original large trees had survived. Sorry no photos- it is difficult photographing large trees in thick bush.

Please to see you are getting out and about David.

There are still some fungi showing in the bush here as well.

I posted a few pics back on the 12 June under the General Forum --it was about the time of the Forum upgrade so not sure if you have seen them.

It's forecast to reach 16C down this way on Sat so i might go for a bit of a wander down the coast.

Cheers Dave.

Spent last weekend up country on the first S.P.A.T. field trip of this season.

On the way we stopped off at an anglers access to view the declining Pimelea sericeovillosa ssp pulvinaris and common mat daisy Raoulia australis which is quite distinctive with its yellow flowers .

Myosotis uniflora was also in bloom .While a number of cushions had faded yellow flowers where most had gone over to white, on a cooler spot we found a plant that had not yet done so.

Pete decided to park up on a Raoulia field where upon exiting the vehicle we were ' informed' by a 'local resident' that this was his patch and to move on ....Here he is, a male Banded Dotterel, trying i think , to mimic a pair of broken wings in an attempt to lead us away from his nest which had a clutch of 3 eggs.

Curious that those three eggs are separated and not together.  I would have thought it would be more difficult for the mother to keep them all warm.

  Definitely aids in the camouflage, though.

[quote=RickR]

Curious that those three eggs are separated and not together.  I would have thought it would be more difficult for the mother to keep them all warm.

Definitely aids in the camouflage, though.

[/quote]

I thought that as well Rick .I understand Incubation is performed by both adults for about 4 weeks and chicks fledge after another 5-6 weeks.....

Continuing on with the weekend ,next morning the cloud was low as we made our way up the Hooker Valley.

View into the Terminal lake of the 13k long Mueller Glacier.

Doug's daughter Samantha is 8 and already has a healthy interest in getting out and photographing in the mountains .At this rate I suspect it won't be too long before she will be ahead of us in terms of plant knowledge and photography.........

Further up the valley the weather started to improve allowing glimpses of Mt Cook ,followed by a nice flowering specimen of  Aciphylla aurea .

A trio of pics of Ranunculus lyallii --the clumps with the brown showing underneath the leaves being most attractive.

John ,another member of our group up high on eastern slopes with the massif of Mt Cook as a backdrop.

There wasn't much 'happening ' plant wise on the eastern slopes so Pete and i decided to travel down and search over the other side of the lake just below the snow patch indicated by the red X.

This western side was more productive and a number of plants were seen including Gingidia montana and good sized mats of Ourisia caespitosa as we made our way up to the snow patch.

As well as a Euphrasia sps which I have keyed out as petriei because of its broad ,rounded ,lobed leaves. Eventually our way was blocked by snow affected by rock material ,(I'm sure there is a geological term for it ....  - Lori ?.).

So we headed back down again coming across this R.lyallii affected with virus.

.Cheers Dave.

Our long day ended with a short visit to the Tasman River delta to view Raoulia haastii  ,followed by Pimelea prostrata.

Thanks Dave! I never think I'll ever get tired of looking at pictures of plants and landscape from NZ!

Trond you might like this one as well ...Admittedly I haven't had to travel far to take a picture . Bulbinella rossii looking nice and fresh in a cool spot in the back garden .

Dave,

if you need to have a cool place for it we'd need to make room in the fridge!

Superb plant!

cheers

fermi

[quote=Fermi]

Dave,

if you need to have a cool place for it we'd need to make room in the fridge!

Superb plant!

cheers

fermi

[/quote]

Thanks Fermi

You might like the following ....

Phone rings Sunday night..,,,,It’s Mr Newall asking if I wanted to accompany him up a ‘hill’ this week to see if any buttercups were out and as Tuesday’s weather looked okay that’s when he planned to go.

Of course I said yes .

Here’s a number of pics from our 10 hour hike around and up over Smooth Peak, Northern Southland.

Imposing plants of Aciphylla ‘lomond’ on the valley floor.

A couple hours of uphill slog and our first decent stop.Steve in amongst a field of Viola and Carex.

Viola sps and Carex petriei close up.

Most Celmisia semicordata ssp stricta were in heavy bud yet to flower however we found a plant or two lower down near the stream in flower.

A creeping Kelleria sps and close up, growing amongst the snow tussocks.

Steve spied Anemone tenuicaulis ,a first for me.

Geum uniflorum in bloom with the hairy foliage of an Ourisia sps beside it.

Nice pictures Dave,  you have not mentioned the Rumex flexuosus growing with your Carex petriei

We climbed higher into fields of Celmisia and then onto the scree edges of Smooth peak,(which is appropriately named),and our first sighting of Aciphylla spedenii.

On the screes Steve tended to blend in as he was photographing some yellow weeds .....

........Ranunculus pilifera.

I came across this Myosotis so we sat down again and had a discussion on it's identity  banding about a number of species names   .A closer look at my pics and I note the anthers project well beyond the petals so I'm wondering whether it's a form of M.lyallii.

View down to our vehicle , more or less zigzagging straight down for about 1.45 hours of agony on the joints.........Raoulia buchananii in the foreground.

A great day ,a few laughs between gasping for our breath and although it is early enough it appears to be a good flowering season.

Cheers Dave.

[quote=David L]

Nice pictures Dave,  you have not mentioned the Rumex flexuosus growing with your Carex petriei

[/quote]

Thanks David

Funny enough we did talk about the Rumex ,(NZ dock) .Steve grows this at home at his seed farm and his plants are so vigorous and attractive when grown in cultivation .....

I see you have saved the best to last or do you have more, lovely pictures of Aciphylla spedenii and Ranunculus piliferus. makes me want to get into the car and head out; everything seems to flowering early.

Dave,

Since you missed out on the Mt Kakanui trip last weekend I will post some picture on for you and our North American friends. The plants were not is spectacular as yours. We did find some interesting things. Now I have a GPS unit for my camera I can download the images and see exactly where I have taken them thanks to Google Earth. It is accurate to within a few metres.

First Aciphylla montana with separate male and female plants

Aciphylla scott-thomsonii -  large plants growing in profusion in a damp gully and a picture of a single plant in flower

Anisotome flexuosa

Next the daisy Brachyscome longiscapa. The genus Brachyscome in New Zealand contains a number of different entities not all have been described

An undescribed species of Cardamine. The New Zealand species are presently being revised We are probably going to end up with 30 + species up from the present 5

Two Celmisias; Celmisia brevifolia and Celmisia lyallii