NZ field trip - North Island - Mt. Ruapehu

[ajbroome]

Folks,

Three friends (Pete Sebborn, Brian Casey and Stella McQueen) and I went up Mount Ruapehu on the NZ holiday, Waitangi Day (February 6th) 2008.  We were specifically looking at carnivorous plants but I took some photos of other things.  I welcome IDs on any of these others.  We looked at a variety of known sites, starting with a feral population of the European Pinguicula grandiflora. We then drove to the Whakapapa side of the mountain, first stopping at a relatively low area to see Utricularia dichotoma and then we did a walk around 'Silica Rapids' (approx 1130m+ A.S.L) and finished with the opposite side of the mountain (Turoa, approx 1600m A.S.L.).

On the way back to Palmerston North via Wanganui we saw a potentially nasty truck crash.  Thankfully no one appeared to be hurt.

Apparently I'm only allowed 10 pictures per post so will divide them up into several posts, starting with some scenery.

Comments on all threads, as always are welcome.

Andrew.

[ajbroome]

Folks,

See my previous thread, these are the people involved, in their typical poses.

Andrew.

[ajbroome]

Folks,

The carnivorous plants we were specifically looking for on the trip.

There are no photos of Drosera binata but we saw them at the Pinguicula site (never recorded from there before as far as I'm aware) and from the initial (relatively lowland) Utricularia site.

The highland Drosera spatulata are quite different to the lowland ones and D. arcturi is always an interesting thing to see. Most sites are a bit of an effort to get to but these ones are all pretty easy, thankfully.

Andrew.

[Lesley Cox]

Lovely to see pics from the North Island. We southerners rarely see the alpine regions of the top part of the country. I'm looking forward to plant pictures. Did you take a pic of the Pinguicula Andrew? I'm struggling with mine at present because it has been so dry. Just hanging on.

[ajbroome]

Folks,

We actually saw at least 4 species of orchid, probably 5.  For some reason I didn't take photos of the Prasophyllum species (probably P. colensoi) we saw at Silica Rapids or the 2nd type of Pterostylis (much smaller flower and already finished flowering) further down the track.  The Pterostylis pictured is perhaps Pt. banksii but I'm used to seeing a slightly different form.  Then again, it is very late in the season.  We saw some sea-level Pterostylis just south of Levin last Sunday that could easily be the same, 1100m is quite different to sea-level, environment wise...

Anyhow, the Thelymitra was pretty. There are reported to be several species in the area but this is most likely to be T. cyanea I suspect.

Andrew.

[ajbroome]

Folks,

Here, I get to admit my ignorance.  I know very little about the local alpine flora and probably missed 100 Really Interesting Things (tm).  I know there were some Celmisia, probably some Ranunculus and assorted other things.  I didn't photograph a lot of stuff as it wasn't flowering or didn't attract my attention for long enough (tricky when you're with a mixed group of random freaks . Hebes (and perhaps Parahebe) were everywhere as were many types of alpine shrub and tree which I gleefully ignored...

This is really where IDs would be extremely welcome so feel free to chime in.

Andrew.

[Maggi Young]

Andrew was opening each of his subjects for this trip in a new page: I have merged them all together in one.
Enjoy!

[ajbroome]

Maggi said...

> Andrew was opening each of his subjects for this
> trip in a new page: I have merged them all together
> in one. Enjoy!

Yes, well, I never made any claims of being overly bright.  It didn't occur to me to reply to my own thread with more pictures.  D'oh! 

Thanks for tidying it up.

Andrew, trying to remember how to drive 15 different fora and mailing lists and so on... ;-)

[Maggi Young]

Not to worry, Andrew,we're just happy to have you sharing your trip with us! 

[Lesley Cox]

Andrew, sorry I was asking did you take a pic of the Pinguicula when there it was already above my question. I think we were posting at the same time last night and your plant pics hadn't come through to me when I posted.

Pic 2 is probably a Euphrasia sp, don't know which without looking in the Flora, and the next 2 are a Wahlenbergia, probably albomarginata. The silvery Celmisia could be incana or allanii, but a lovely form of that if so. Then one of the Gentians (Gentianella) and not sure about the last 2. The 1st one could maybe be a Forstera but some foliage would help.

The Pinguicula is super, obviously very much at home there, and just like the little patches I saw on Fylingdales Moor in Northumberland and on Snowdon in Wales. How on earth could it have been introduced to our alpine ski fields. Mmmmmm? Must have been deliberate. And what is its status? Are DOC quite happy with it being there? or would they wish it gone?

[David Lyttle]

Hi Andrew,

Its difficult to ID plants from a single flower especially Celmisias where the foliage and form of the plant are the best features to use.

Based on distributions and a certain amount of guess work the Celmisia is Celmisia incana, Celmisia allanii is northern South Is only.  The Euphrasia could possibly be Euphrasia cuneata described as a semi-woody sub-shrub. Hope this helps

[Anthony Darby]

The Pinguicula is super, obviously very much at home there, and just like the little patches I saw on Fylingdales Moor in Northumberland and on Snowdon in Wales. How on earth could it have been introduced to our alpine ski fields. Mmmmmm? Must have been deliberate. And what is its status? Are DOC quite happy with it being there? or would they wish it gone?

Must have been introduced into those places you mention in England and Wales too Lesley?

[ajbroome]

adarby said...

> Must have been introduced into those places you mention in England and Wales too Lesley?

Perhaps P. vulgaris which is similar.  P. grandiflora is supposed to exist in Ireland.

Andrew.

[ajbroome]

Lesley said...

> How on earth could it have been introduced to our alpine
> ski fields. Mmmmmm? Must have been deliberate. And what
> is its status? Are DOC quite happy with it being there? or
> would they wish it gone?

It's definitely been deliberately introduced.  I have my theories
but won't name names (I've also seen this species in the Coromandel
along with the South African Utric. sandersonii).  The spot we
saw these at last week is a fairly degraded roadside location
outside the national park.  If it were elsewhere I'd be more inclined
to take to the plants with some 'Roundup' (tm).

There are photos from a friends trip to the same area here:

http://www.cpukforum.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=20163

Andrew.

[ajbroome]

Folks,

Here are the truck crash photos, taken from our car window.  If they're hideously off topic and irritate people then a moderator should feel free to remove them.

Andrew.