NZ field trips - Feb 2012

[David Lyttle]

Some further plant photos;

1 The tiny eyebright Euphrasia zelandica This species is annual and semi-parasitic so is not in cultivation.

2. Massed Euphrasia zelandica The colour of the flowers and foliage is quite variable

3. Gaultheria deprssa var novae-zelandiae in fruit. The berries are edible

4, 5 Gentianella bellidifolia These plants were flowering profusely. It is a perennial and the Black Birch plants grow as compact clumps different to the taller fewer-stemmed plants that are found here in Otago.

6 Close up of the flowers of Gentianella bellidifolia, The wind was blowing quite hard so I cranked up rhe ISO setting on the camera and took lots of shots to get the photos. A shutter speed of about 1/125 seems sufficient to stop the movement,

7 A lovely coloured form of Gentianella bellidifolia

8 Gentianella corymbifera This species is monocarpic

9 A multi-stemmed plant of Gentianella corymbifera

10 Epilobium pycnostachyum, a common scree species ( 1/125 at f16 ISO 1000) because of the wind - I took one shot and gave it away as I have plenty of pictures if this species. I was looking for penwipers at the time but did not find any.

[Lesley Cox]

The Gentianellas are really lovely David. I like the coloured foliage and compact habit of some.

I sowed seed of the Gaultheria, from Mahinerangi, earlier this year (went up there to see the wind towers being erected.) The seed started to germinate within a fortnight!

The second lot I collected and sowed at the same time but they took about a month to start. I have them as G. pumila but not sure. Could you confirm or correct pleas? Thanks.

[Lesley Cox]

This isn't native, but is endemic to Tasmania but here seems a good place to put it because it is close to some of our species of Coprosma. My plant is of garden origin, not collected. Unlike ours, this one is monoecious so doesn't need another to produce fertile fruit. I'll have seed available soon as the fruit shrivel up, if anyone would like a few.

[Hoy]

Here are a few pictures I took on a recent visit to Mt Patriarch on the the west side of the Wairau River in Marlborough. I did not get to the top on this occasion but still found some interesting plants. Unfortunately the region is converting itself into a coniferous forest so you might feel that you are in Switzerland (or Norway) rather then New Zealand.

David, I wouldn't feel I was in neither Switzerland nor Norway for one split second either with or without conifer forest Both the lines of the landscape and the details of the flora are so different and unfamiliar! Even the grass has an alien look
Thank you to both you and Doug for the good experiences you give us (me)

Maggi, many of our native alpines are very fragrant, a rich, wild honey scent in most cases. It adds an extra dimension to a walk among the plants and is very pleasant.

Lesley, what kind of creatures are lured by the fragrance of your native alpine flora?

This isn't native, but is endemic to Tasmania but here seems a good place to put it because it is close to some of our species of Coprosma. My plant is of garden origin, not collected. Unlike ours, this one is monoecious so doesn't need another to produce fertile fruit. I'll have seed available soon as the fruit shrivel up, if anyone would like a few.

Yes please, once again

[David Lyttle]

The Gentianellas are really lovely David. I like the coloured foliage and compact habit of some.

I sowed seed of the Gaultheria, from Mahinerangi, earlier this year (went up there to see the wind towers being erected.) The seed started to germinate within a fortnight!

The second lot I collected and sowed at the same time but they took about a month to start. I have them as G. pumila but not sure. Could you confirm or correct pleas? Thanks.

Lesley,

The second lot are Gaultheria macrostigma; Gaultheria/Pernettya pumila is a South American species.

[Lesley Cox]

Lesley, what kind of creatures are lured by the fragrance of your native alpine flora?

Mostly Lyttles, Coxes, Newalls, Toolies, Logans and similar animals, but also bees and moths, butterflies and smaller crawling or flying insects.

And yes, certainly, your name added to "the Book" to which I've resortd for such reminders. Won't be long though. It may not be fully hardy with you.

Thanks David. Silly of me. I'll relabel immediately.

[David Lyttle]

Trond,

Unhappily wildling conifers are becoming a huge problem in many areas. On Mt Patriarch I felt I was documenting a vanishing flora.

Here are some more pictures from Altimarloch

1 The tiny speargrass Aciphylla monroi

2 Anisotome imbricata var prostrata

3,4 Pentachondra pumila; in the second picture the Pentachondra is growing in a cushion of Raoulia bryoides

5  Craspedia lanata (perhaps, but then again it may be something else)

6, 7 Hebe lycopodioides I could not identify this in the field and the plant list for Altimarloch was not a lot of help as it listed only Hebe tetragona, a species found only in the North Island. It looks very different fom Hebe lycopodioides from Otago which is its southern limit. It is surprising how much vatiation there is in some species in the field. The diameter of the branches and growth form of this species showed a considerable amount of variation even on the one mountain.

8, 9 Raoulia bryoides

10 Raoulia subsericea This is a very common species that I do not usually bother photographing

[ashley]

Wonderful plants and photos David, and many thanks for these ongoing reports which are fascinating.  
The pentachondra is particularly spectacular in its raoulia setting

That Tasmanian coprosma is a little jewel too Lesley.  Your dry summers obviously don't bother it.

[David Lyttle]

Hello Ashley,

I am pleased you liked the Pentachondra. The tiny hairs on the petals are very reflective and are usually obscure in photos. In this case I got both the flowers and ripe fruit which is a bonus.

Some more pictures for this posting;

1 Brachyglottis bellidioides

2 Brachyglottis monroi  This species is a small compact shrub. I grow this plant but it has never flowered as well as these specimens in their natural habitat. The flowers are being visited by an introduced bumble bee.

3 Brachyglottis monroi In this case the flowers are being visited by a small native bee, Leioproctus fulvescens.

4 Brachyglottis monroi an an open hillside These plants are quite a long way a way and were shot with a 200mm lens Stuart was showing me how good his camera was so I had to take a shot as well. The plants are entirely covered with flowers obscuring the leaves There are two species of Aciphylla present as well,  Aciphylla glaucecens and Aciphylla aurea.The small trees on the bottom right are Hoheria lyallii distinguished from Hoheria glabrata by the dense covering of hairs on its branches and leaves.

5 Celmisia insignis Not a hybrid (as perhaps Dave Toole would claim) but a local endemic being restricted to the area between the Awatere and Wairau rivers.

6 Helichrysum parvifolium Stuart spotted this stunning plant on the way up the hill and made sure we stopped and photographed it on the way down.

7. Aciphylla glaucescens ( My plant list says Aciphylla aff glaucescens so we will leave it at that)

8 Telephoto view of the Lake Grassmere saltworks The pink colour in the water is due to the brine shrimps in the hyper saline pools.

9 Port Underwood on the southern side of the Marlbourough Sounds

10  Mountains if the Inland Kaikoura Range to the south-east

[Hoy]

Lesley, what kind of creatures are lured by the fragrance of your native alpine flora?

Mostly Lyttles, Coxes, Newalls, Toolies, Logans and similar animals, but also bees and moths, butterflies and smaller crawling or flying insects.

And yes, certainly, your name added to "the Book" to which I've resortd for such reminders. Won't be long though. It may not be fully hardy with you.

Thanks David. Silly of me. I'll relabel immediately.

Thanks Lesley - as always  
I can understand the first bunch but the latter? As far as I know colour is more important than fragrance in the mountains here. Colours don't blow away in the wind . . . .

Regarding hardiness - the coldest night this winter was -8C and the mean temperature in February (usually the coldest month) was 2.8C.

[ruweiss]

David, thank you for showing us these beautiful plants. I love them so much, but our local
climate is not suitable for the cultivation of them with only a few exceptions.

[Hoy]

Trond,

Unhappily wildling conifers are becoming a huge problem in many areas. On Mt Patriarch I felt I was documenting a vanishing flora.

Sorry to hear that! That flora is so different from all here!
Foreign conifers have been planted here for more than 150 years and some of them like Picea sitchensis and Tsuga heterophylla are becoming pests in many places. But the vanishingnative flora isn't that exciting. . . .

10 Raoulia subsericea This is a very common species that I do not usually bother photographing

I would rather have this Raoulia as a common species than dandelions which I never bother photographing

[Lesley Cox]

Well dandelions can be very handsome as the Bulb Log Man has shown several times.

Trond, if not to attract pollinators, what other reason for the scent of flowers in the wild? Not just to please those who walk among them. And we do have days in the hills without wind, wonderful hot days when the very air seems to sing and the skylarks calls can be heard for miles. Wonderful.

[Hoy]

Well dandelions can be very handsome as the Bulb Log Log has shown sevral times.

Trond, if not to attract pollinators, what other reason for the scent of flowers in the wild? Not just to please those who walk among them. And we do have doays in the hills without wind, wonderful hot days when the very air seems to sing and the skylarks calls can be heard for miles. Wonderful.

I see that point, Lesley! But either our pollinators are a different breed (which they are ) or my nose deceives me but I rarely notice any scent other than from leaves, bogs - wet soil, animals etc in the mountains.
But I'll put my nose in closer proximity yo the flowers this summer! Maybe I can discern something new to me

[Anthony Darby]

Scented flowers attract night pollinators, such as moths and tend to be white flowered.