NZ field trips Jan 2008

[Maggi Young]

Hmm, I may be wrong... I have found here :http://www.srgc.org.uk/discus/messages/283/20883.html  in a message from Dave Toole Posted on Sunday, November 13, 2005 - 2:49 am: a photo of Leptinealla atrata luteola .... another great plant but not what I was looking for!! 
David, I'm not getting muddled, am I? Leptinella atrata will show a circle of golden stamens and a flash of red, too, when the flowers are more developed.... between the outer "fluffy" dark red, almost black area and the button centre?
 

[David Lyttle]

Maggi,

Leptinella atrata var luteola has yellow florets with dark red tips. A second species Leptinella dendyi  resembles ssp luteola but differs in details of the flower. Here is another picture showing the stamens of Leptinella atrata sitting up above the rest of the flower.

[Lesley Cox]

I should have a few pics to post later today when some urgent watering is done and equally urgent house cleaning, since my sister is arriving tomorrow for a few days.

The Leptinellas were beautiful, with some very large plants, bigger than I've seen before. Overall the flowering wasn't great on other things but there was evidence of seed of Ran. haastii and R. crithmifolius. The latter was at the dropping stage but we weren't allowed to take any seed or cuttings at all. The area is a consevation reserve. Makes me mad since the ski people bulldoze any and every thing in their way, for new tracks and tows, with no compunction about destroying the flora at all.

I did turn rocks in order to find an alpine weta for Maggi, but she'll be relieved to know, I found none. Lots of sheep though. Whole flocks of them.

[Maggi Young]

I did turn rocks in order to find an alpine weta for Maggi, but she'll be relieved to know, I found none.

PHEW! What a relief!

[David Lyttle]

I have been waiting for some postings on the post NZAGS Conference trip to Mt Hutt but it appears that most of the participants have gone to ground.  When I come to think about it, Dave Toole spent a lot of time looking for money beneath the chair lifts and Lesley was too preoccupied turning over rocks looking for wetas to photograph plants. Dave at least found three dollars though it seems Lesley found nary a weta. I found twenty cents only and a set of house and car keys which leads me to think that someone had a memorable/forgetable ski trip.

Mt Hutt is made from fairly typical Canterbury rubbish rock- shattered greywacke and consequently has strongly developed screes.  Photograpy was was a bit challenging as it was a very sunny day with strong direct light. However in these situations Photoshop is able to rescue indifferent images.
Without further ado I will post the first set of images

1,2,3 Raoulia eximia Shot 1 shows plants of Raoulia growing on a rocky crag. Many a dog has been sent off to muster a mob of immovable sheep. Note the steeply dipping rock strata of grey and darker rock. Shot 2 shows a single plant and shot 3 shows the plant up close.

4,5,6 show Haastia sinclairii - this my identification of the plant. It could however be Haastia recurva as it is quite unlike Haastia sinclairii further south. Shot 4 shows a large Haastia cushion growing in a fairly blocky scree. Shot 5 shows the foliage of the plant and shot 6 is a closeup of the flowers.

The next two pictures are of Ranunculus haastii showing the habit of the plant. there are only one or two rossette per plant. It typically grows on the finer more mobile screes that are damp underneath.

Picture 9 show the cryptic buttercup Ranunculus crithmifolius. It was growing on a band of the darker rock
shown in picture1 that had been eroded into a shallow gully giving it some moisture. It was difficult to spot against the fine scree in which it grew. There is a seedhead almost hidden by the foliage in the centre of the plant.

Picture 10 shows another scree specialist Lobelia roughii growing in a more blocky scree.

[t00lie]

Finally arrived home last night after visiting a couple of ski fields further up country following the NZAGS Conference /Mt Hutt field trip.Will try and post pics of these new areas later this week . 

In the meantime in between looking for coinage up on Mt Hutt i did manage a few pics.

Firstly a close up of the tall Gentiana corymbifera.

Acaena sps.

Followed by a look at the screes within the ski field.

A look down to the Rakaia River out across the Canterbury Plains.

A bit of colour on the slopes.
   
Cheers Dave.

 

[David Lyttle]

Hi Dave

Looking forward to seeing your pictures from the other mountains.
The Acaena is Acena glabra.
I have some further pictures from Mt Hutt- continuing with the srcee theme pictures 1 and 2 are Epilobium species. One could be almost tempted to grow them!

Picture 3 is Colobanthus acicularis ( for all those Colobanthus devotees out there)

Picture 4 is Hebe haastii growing on a bare scree.

Picture 5 is Leptinella pyrethifolia ( I had it labelled Cotula pyrethifolia so had to change it )

Pictures 6 and 7 are Brachyglottis lagopus. It is larger and more tomentose then Brachyglottis bellidioides.

Picture 8 is Craspedia incana.

Picture 9 is the opening flowers of Lecogenes grandiceps. This plant grows on rock outcrops rather than screes but somtimes it is hard to tell if there is anything solid underneath the shattered rock.

Picture 10 is a grasshopper. Its kin were up there in their legions. It is not as ugly as a weta. Sorry if I have disappointed anyone.

[Lvandelft]

Dave and David,
Fascinating plants. Fantastic.

Dave, this Acaena ssp. would be really a plant for taking into culture?
David, this Craspedia looks in nature 10 times nicer than in our gardens.
Thaks very much!

[Maggi Young]

You'd need a helluva size of a sheepdog for herding those vegetable sheep, wouldn't you?

I'm with Luit on the charm of the Acaena glabra....great foliage.

The Brachyglottis lagopus is fantastic....all that fur and such neat "stitching" around the leaf margins... very elegantly tailored and a good flower shape/size, too. Some of these "daisies" seem to get their proportions wrong, don't they? 

[Katherine J]

My "favorite" is the Leucogenes grandiceps. So beatuiful flowers!

[t00lie]

Quote--"Dave, this Acaena ssp. would be really a plant for taking into culture?".

Hello Luit --Not sure how the plant behaves in the garden ,(makes mats over 30 cm wide in the wild).I see seed is listed by B&T seeds.

Cheers dave.

[Lvandelft]

Thank you Dave.
Comparing to these mats of 30 cm, could you tell me what measures for instance have the
Acaena microphylla types in the wild.?
These are plants which we only know from culture.
What I like most on this Acaena ssp. are the flowerheads over these nicely formed glabrous leaves.
Regards Luit

[David Lyttle]

Here is my last batch of photos from Mt Hutt

1 and 2 are Gentiana corymbifera. This species is monocarpic,

Picture 3 is Gentiana divisa. (at least I think it is-  NZ gentians are very difficult to identify in the field)

Picture 4 is Celmisia spectabilis var magnifica. This plant does not extend as far south as Otago.

Picture 5 is Celmisia angustifolia

Picture 6 is Aciphylla montana ( I could stand corrected on this identification - again it is a plant I am not familar with)

Picture 7 is a small Wahlenbergia species. It is similar to Wahlenbergia albomarginata but the flowers seem smaller and more intensely coloured

Picture 8 is Pratia macrodon. We observed a smaller as yet unamed species of Pratia on the Old Man Range the previous week. Peter Heenan presented his taxonomic findings on New Zealand Lobeliaceae during the conference where he recognised the entity from the Old Man Range as a distinct species more closely related to Lobelia linnaeoides . It was good to see both species growing in the wild within the space of a few days.

Picture 9 is the coral broom Carmichealia crassicaulis (formerly Corallospartium crassicaule)

[David Lyttle]

Hello Luit,

Most Acaenas are fairly vigorous plants when taken into culture. there are numerous forms , hybrids etc that can be selected from the wild. The larger species are not suitable for gardens and are regarded as pasture weeds here in New Zealand. The burrs get stuck in the fleeces of sheep and can cause considerable economic loss. Some species do not have spines so are more suitable for gardens.  A cotted cat is not a pretty sight. One of my family's childhood pastimes was to make a ball of ripe Aceana seedheads and throw it at a brother or sister where it would disintegrate and stick to the targets clothing. Generally my mother was not pleased and discouraged this particular game!

I have a few species growing in my garden. I will take some pictures and post them to show thw range of species/ forms that may be found.

[ranunculus]

Many thanks David.....wonderful images!   What? No snowdrops?