Mt Pisa, Central Otago, New Zealand

[HamishBrown]

Hi All.  This is my first post so apologies if there are any errors.  My family and I did some fun trips into the NZ mountains this summer to enjoy the alpines.  Here are some pictures that you may enjoy. 
On boxing day we took a drive up to Lake McKay on the Pisa range near Cromwell.  With permission from the Department of Conservation and adjoining land owners you can drive right up to 1700 m and see some awesome alpines out the window.  To name a few:

Ranunculus pachyrhizus just emerging from a snow bank and bursting into flower


Chionohebe ciliolata. Chionohebe thomsonii If I have identified this correctly it is growing outside of its currently described range but caught my eye none the less.
(edit to change name)



Gentinella divisa.  The exposed cushion fields are covered with this stunning gentian



Hebejeebie densifolia.  These big and delicate flowers make a wonderful contrast to its scruffy looking leaves and branches.



We saw loads of other cool and interesting species including a Raoulia which, as far as I can work out, was “an undescribed species, related to R. bryoides, which forms pale mats in high alpine cushion fields of Central Otago” (Mark 2012, Above the tree line: a nature guide to New Zealand alpines).
A great place to go and see alpines, we even manage to satisfy a promise to take the boy to the beach.

[Alan_b]

Welcome to the forum, Hamish.  I was stuck by one of your captions, to which my immediate reaction was: 'Hebejeebie'?  Who came up with that name?

Superb flowers but too cold for a swim at the beach?

[fixpix]

Sounds (=looks) like a nice place to visit

[HamishBrown]

Thanks Alan.
Hebejeebie is a genus endemic to NZ with only 3 species.  They have alot of similarities to the Hebe genus and were named HebeJeebie in reference to the anxiety they have caused taxonomists (Mark 2012).  Another Hebejeebie (H. birleyi) is notable for having the highest distribution of any vascular plant in NZ (1800 - 2900 m)

[Maggi Young]

A warm welcome to you, Hamish. A treat to be able to share the pleasures of your family trip.

That "beach" at Lake Mackay (?)  the shore of what we would call a mountain loch, looks quite inviting and the young person is clearly having fun.

[Julia]

Great to see the pic's from Mt Pisa range, brings back nice memories when I visited this area Dec 1987 and again leading a trip in Jan 2006

[HamishBrown]

Thanks Maggi.

Yes the boy had a good day.  You are not the first to refer to Lake Mckay a mountian Loch.  We accessed this area via Locharburn Station!

[David Lyttle]

Hi Hamish,

The Chionohebe you photographed on the Pisa Range is Chionohebe thomsonii not Chionohebe ciliolata: Chionohebe ciliolata has a more western distribution in the higher rainfall areas. Chionohebe thomsonii is common on the high, windswept  plateaux of the Otago block mountains

[HamishBrown]

Thanks David.  I suspected I had that one wrong.

[Lesley Cox]

A warm welcome to the Forum Hamish, it's really good to have another New Zealander contributing and showing some of the super plants of our mountains.

Yes Alan, it's a bit cool now for beach or other swimming, a really miserable period of pre winter weather having set in recently. Some years April is a golden month of Indian summer, warm and fruity. Just cold winds and a lot of rain so far this year. In any case the lakes and tarns of the high country are always pretty cool, being snow fed.

[HamishBrown]

Thanks Lesley.

Some more pictures from this trip.  As evidenced earlier on in this post, I am still quite novice with my plant ID so some of the captions could be wrong.  Corrections welcomed.

Lake McKay


Brachyscome Longiscapa


Bog at the head of the lake


Viola Cunninghamii


Boy taking photos

[David Lyttle]

Hello Hamish,

Brachyscomes are very difficult to identify as at present there is no satisfactory taxonomic treatment for the genus in New Zealand. The plant in your picture would perhaps be Brachyscome montana (which is not illustrated in Alan Mark's book) or by default Brachyscome sinclairii.  Brachyscome montana has a relatively large flower and rough, papillose leaves. Each (species) shows a tremendous amount of variation over its range.

On second thoughts looking at your picture I think your plant is more likely to be Brachyscome sinclairii

I am posting two pictures; Brachyscome longiscapa from Mt Kakanui and Brachyscome montana from the Old Man Range

[HamishBrown]

Confusing isn't it!!

Thanks for these comments David

[HamishBrown]

As a follow up from out trip up Mt Pisa last year we returned this year with a further 4 trucks full of New Zealand Alpine Garden Society members.  The plan was to head up on the 27th but high winds put a stop to that and we settled for some low altitude botanising.  Here is a photo of the NZAGS members enjoying the lake and mountain views from the Pisa salt flats



On the 28th the weather was good and we headed up the hill early.  Our patience was repaid with some wonderful plants.

An unusual Myosotis.  Possibly a tighter cushion form of cheesemanii but we could not settle on a name.



Another unusual Myosotis, a very hairy form of M pulvinaris



Gentianella divisa just starting to open up its flowers



Raoulia youngii

[HamishBrown]

Some awesome specimens of Caltha obtuse were found at peak flower in snow banks



Snow banks packed with Ranunculus pachyrrhizus



An interesting Chionohebe that generated much discussion trying to apply a name



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