New Zealand Alpine Flora

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.