alpine and subalpine Plants from New Zealand

[Leucogenes]

Absolutely fantastic... David. My day actually went very well, because I am piquing a lot of young plants right now. Now the day is perfect...thanks to your pictures and words.

The first three pictures belong in the magazine of the National Geographic...

Thanks...
Thomas

[ruweiss]

David, thank you for these beautiful pictures. I also love these beautiful creatures, but my garden
is simply too hot for them. 30 years ago I was more succesful, for me another sign of climatic change.
These Raoulia plants grow quite happy in the open garden, but after the first hot days ( we had 31°C
today) they get heavily burrned. This plant was in a small pot, plunged in sand in the Alpine House. During
the years it escaped to the sand and its beauty can be enjoyed there.

[Leucogenes]

Hello dear Rudi...

only yesterday I talked about you. I was on a visit to Dieter Zschummel. We both mentioned that we hadn't written to you for a long time. Sorry.

Your Raoulia lutescens (?) looks very good. The pictures of David animated me to take a closer look again. I discovered a few flowers at Dracophyllum pronum and the Hebe haastii. At least I got them under this name. She has been with me for three years and keeps this size...which I find very pleasant.

31°C is really too much. With us it will be probably also so hot tomorrow.

Greetings
Thomas

[David Lyttle]

Absolutely fantastic... David. My day actually went very well, because I am piquing a lot of young plants right now. Now the day is perfect...thanks to your pictures and words.

The first three pictures belong in the magazine of the National Geographic...

Thanks...
Thomas

Hello Thomas, Pleased you enjoyed the pictures. I don't think you get to see them at their best because of the low resolution for forum posts. The ones I post on iNaturalist NZ are 25% of the original which gives you a lot better detail. I do not take a lot of landscape pictures as I am usually too busy photographing plants as I was last weekend when I visited Dave Toole. There were some opportunities for some nice scenic shots but I don't spend a lot of time looking up when I am in the field.

[David Lyttle]

David, thank you for these beautiful pictures. I also love these beautiful creatures, but my garden
is simply too hot for them. 30 years ago I was more succesful, for me another sign of climatic change.
These Raoulia plants grow quite happy in the open garden, but after the first hot days ( we had 31°C
today) they get heavily burrned. This plant was in a small pot, plunged in sand in the Alpine House. During
the years it escaped to the sand and its beauty can be enjoyed there.

Hello Rudi, Thank you for your kind comments. Your Raoulia looks like Raoulia australis which is not a true alpine but is found from the sea coast to up to about 800 m. It is grows predominantly on riverbeds and degraded grasslands so should be able to tolerate hot, dry conditions once established

[David Lyttle]

We are still in the alpine zone with plenty more plants to come.
Forstera tenella - not as spectacular as Forstera mackayi. A more common and widespread species but difficult to photograph.


Brachyglottis bellidioides. A little yellow groundsel. It could be called something else but I will not confuse you with the taxonomy.


Anisotome haastii a common and widespread species but very susceptible to browsing.


This was a new species for me Gentianella impressinervia


A Hebe (Veronica) species. The New Zealand expert on the genus was reluctant to provide a name so I wont either.

[David Lyttle]

This plant was perhaps the best find of the trip. I realised it was an Abrotanella but I did not recognise the species until one of my iNaturalist colleagues suggeste Abrotanella pusilla, a North Island species. There are two other records of it in the South Island one from Fiordland and the other from Arthurs Pass. It is a very striking plant with the dark bracts around the head.


Next we have Olearia colensoi a shrub. It is not very popular with trampers as it forms impenetrable thickets. The leaves die leaving the dried branches which tear flesh and clothing. However the flowers are quite attractive when seen up close.


A vegetable sheep, Raoulia eximia hugging a rock outcrop on the crest of the ridge. You can see the forested ridges of the Paparoa Range below and the Grey Valley and the Southern Alps beyond.


We found some Rubus parvus in flower This is a plant I would like to have in my garden. It would make a very attractive ground cover.


This I think is Wahlenbergia albomarginata but it has larger flowers and shorter stems than the usual form. It may well be different but it is really hard to say as it is growing on a very infertile site..

[Maggi Young]

David - you  may not  be  aware that the  forum has  a  new  system now which allows  photos to  be uploaded of  much larger  size - and  resized  automatically and this  may  both be  simpler  for you  and  also allow a  better  resolution of your  photos. It saves you time resizing and  allows a  larger  file than you are  currently  resizing to be  viewed.   
See this  post  for  more  details ...
http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=65.msg389856#msg389856
Cheers,
 Maggi

[David Lyttle]

There are several species of orchids found in these alpine areas. On of the more spectacular is Thelymitra cyanea which favours boggy ground.


Next Waireia stenopetala, a single plant


and a group


On the ridge crests we found colonies of Leucogenes grandiceps growing on rock outcrops.


And one plant with exceptionally large flower heads

[Leucogenes]

Hello David

I think I can speak here for all the others when I say that the images are good for us of quality. They show the essentials... the incomparable beauty of the diverse flora.

I also enjoy your photos at iNaturalist NZ with silent enthusiasm. I have already thought that you are focused on the essential in your work in the field. I don't know where I would look first. Probably I would stumble over my own feet permanently... or solidify into a pillar of salt with the first beautiful plant.   

[Maggi Young]

There  is a  little  Celmisia in the  SRGC display  at  Gardening Scotland which seems to be without a  definite  ID - can our  NZ experts  help?   These  are the  best  images  I have  at  present! Plant  in question is the  small one  in front  of   Celmisa semicordata.

[David Lyttle]

Very hard to tell from the photo as I would need to see the details of the leaves. Another issue is once Celmisias are taken into cultivation they hybridise and the progeny can look very different from forms occurring in nature. Hybrid Celmisias are very common in the field but you can usually work out the parentage by observing the species near by.

[ruweiss]

David, thank you for the new set of plant pictures and the good advice
about my Raoulia in the Alpine House.

[David Lyttle]

From my photos you might think that we are always blessed with magnificent views, fine weather and a endless variety of alpine plants in flower on our botanical excursions. However it is not always thus. We decided to go up a creek called Rough Creek off the main highway an the western side of the Lewis Pass It should have given us access to the open tops above Lake Christabel which drains west into the Blue Grey River. Rough Creek is aptly named; the track rises steeply levels of a bit and rises steeply again. By the time we reached bushline it was raining quite hard and there were no suitable sites to make camp and pitch a tent. So after a fairly arduous trip up the valley we turned round and walked back down again. Our camp site that night was at the DOC campground at Marble Hill right on the alpine fault. We speculated what would happen if the fault moved during the night. We concluded that if it did we would not be getting home in a hurry. Neither would a lot of other people. The next set of photos is taken on an Olympus TG5 camera which its manufacturers claim is waterproof down to 15 m.

Forest in Rough Creek The track disappears behind the big boulder on the right and you can see an triangular orange track maker on a tree to the upper left of the boulder.


Another view of the boulder. These tend to fall off the hills above when there is an earthquake. This one has been here for a while though possibly not all that long a the vegetation shows.


Another view of the forest


A small side creek


A limpid pool which would grace any garden.

[David Lyttle]

Rough Creek cascading down the valley. We had to cross it further up where it was not as steep.


Ourisia macrophylla subsp lactea. This is very common in open forest on stream margins


A filmy fern (Hymenophyllum flabellatum)


Large foliose lichen (Pseudocyphelleria)


Most of the forest floor and tree trunks are covered in ferns, mosses, liverworts and lichens