NZ Field Trips 2009

[ranunculus]

Ranunculus insignis is one of the easiest to grow here in the U.K., David. It seems to survive our winters, but loses a number of it's leaves. Can't wait for the rest of your images.

[David Lyttle]

Hi Cliff,

I am pleased you can grow Ranunculus insignis - it seems a little less demanding than some of the others.
These are not exactly alpine images but I will post them on this thread anyway - you can at least see the mountains from this portion of the coast and the plants are interesting subjects in themselves. The first photos were taken on a walk round the Kaikoura Peninsula where you can take a track along the cliff tops and return via the beach. Tourists go to watch whales and swim with dolphins and that sort of thing. I dont have enough money to swim with dolphins or watch whales so a walk had to suffice for me.
The Kaikoura Penisula is made of limestone that has been subjected to a lot of tectonic activity as shown by the folded strata in Picture 2. The coastal formations in Pictures 3 and 4 are the consequence of wave erosion and tectonic uplift - the entire Peninsula has been rising.

There is an enormous breeding colony of red-billed gulls on the beaches. This species is not endangered and the bird are unconcerned by numerous walkers going past.
Picture 5 is a juvenile bird and picture 6 is an adult bird.

The other common species of gull the black-backed gull also breeds there. Picture 7 is a juvenile black-backed gull.

There are numerous fur seals tucked away in crevices in the rocks. One Irish tourist almost stepped on one while we were there. Picture 8 is a fur seal having a nap. Most of them know well enough just to stay out of the path of people. One gentleman asked me where he could see the seals having already walked past a dozen or so.

Picture 9 is of Pachystegia insignis the Marlborough Rock Daisy found in the drier North Eastern part of the South island in abundance. It clings to bluffs growing out of rock crevices. Phormiun tenax also grows on these dry coastal cliffs despite it being happy to grow in swamps.

Picture 10 is of the sand convolvulus Calystegia soldanella which grows on the high tide mark.

[Paddy Tobin]

Delighted to view the photographs, David. Many thanks.

Paddy

[ruweiss]

David, nature is so beautiful- thanks for taking us to this paradise.

[hadacekf]

Wonderful photographs, David Thank you

[David Lyttle]

Hi Paddy, Rudi, Franz,

I am pleased you enjoyed the photos here are some more to follow.

Picture 1 on is a view up the coast from the Kaikoura Peninsula.

We left the fleshpots of Kaikoura and headed up the coast to the little hamlet of Waipapa Bay where we pitched our tent for the night. The coastal strip is very narrow at this point. The campground is squeezed between the some bluffs and the main road. On the other side of the road is the railway and beyond that the ocean. During the night between the trains and semi-trailers passing we heard some scraping noises followed by muffled yelping. In the morning we were greeted by this sight so we rapidly packed up and headed up the road (without stopping for breakfast). The locals call it Kray Kong as it likes to climb over buildings and vehicles when it comes out of the water maurauding. There is rumoured to be an even larger one called "Tickles" about as well. They come out of the Kaikoura Canyon offshore. An American film crew on location in Kaikoura disappeared a couple of years ago but the authorities at the time kept it fairly quiet at the time possibly because it would frighten overseas tourists away. Whether the Americans found "Tickles" or meet with some other mishap is not known. It is sometimes difficult to establish the precise truth of events of this nature.

Back to the mountains - Picture 3 is Clematis afoliata showing it seed heads.

We  went up the Waima River to visit Sawcut Gorge. The entry to the reserve is through Blue Mountain Station. The lady who lives there has created a remarkable and quite beautiful garden on a very difficult site. The Waima River flows through some rugged limestone country. Picture 4 shows the first gorge of the Waima. Pictures 5- 8 are more views of the Gorge.

The route proceeds partly up through the river and in places there is a formed track on the bank through small patches of forest. There were several large totara trees (Podocarpus totara) in this particular patch (Picture 9) shown again in Picture 10

[David Lyttle]

Just on past the trees the valley opens a little and Isolation Creek enters the Waima on the true right through a very narrow cleft through the limestone bluffs. This is Sawcut Gorge (Picture 1)

Picture 2 shows Isolation Creek issuing from the opening

Once through the entrance to Sawcut Gorge you can look back downstream (Picture 3) or upwards (Picture 4)

Isolation Creek continues flanked by limestone bluffs upstream before it eventually opens out (Picture 5). We did not continue much further past this point.

Various plants grow on the steep limestone walls. Wahlenbergia mathewsii is a local endemic confined to limestone. The was the first ime I had ever seen this plant and I Had no idea what it was until I found one that was flowering. ( Pictures 6 & 7)

Picture 8 is Blechnum novae-zelandiae growing out of the limestone. It sems to be growing in a very inhospitable environment for a fern but there must be enough water seeping through the limestone to sustain it.

Picture 9 is Pachystegia insignis which was growing in profusion on the bluffs.

Picture 10 is the broom Carmichaelia camichaeliae formerly known as Notospartium carmichaeliae. ( This is my best guess for this species as I did not see it flowering). Apparently it was a poor flowering year this year for all the brooms.

There was also a Celmisia growing there that I think was Celmisia monroi. It looks like a smaller version of Celmisia semicordata. Ranunculus insignis was also present

[David Lyttle]

This posting is from Mt Arthur, Nelson where a short walk through forest from the road end takes you to treeline and the alpine zone. A feature of the forest here is Dracophyllum traversii. These trees are growing on a ridge crest on thin fairly poor soil in forest dominated by mountain beech (Nothofagus solandri var cliffortioides). New Zealand has many species of Dracophyllum;mosr are shrubs but a few including this species are small trees. The genus was formerly placed in the family Epacridaceae but has now been subsumed into Ericaceae. There is a closely related species Dracophyllum elegantissimum that grows in similar situations.

Pictures 1-5 are Dracophyllum traversii

Picture 6 shows details of the foliage and inflorescence which is terminal in this species.

Picture 7 is a forest species of Myosotis, Myosotis forsterii.

Picture 8 is Celmisia dallii which is confined to North West Nelson

Picture 9 is Celmisia travesii which is characterised by the brown tomentum seen here on the margins of the leaves. It has a discontinuous distribution being found in Fiordland in the south-west of the South island and in Nelson which is in the north west. There is a view that the species originally evolved in one locality and the present discontinuous distribution is the result of movement of the alpine fault. The geological record clearly shows that North -West Nelson was once contiguous with Fiordland. However I am not convinced that this is the explanation for the for the present distribution of this species.

Picture 10 shows Celmisia traversii and Ranunculus insignis growing on the side of a limestone sinkhole.

[Lvandelft]

Interesting and beautiful pictures again David.
Looking at those Dracophyllum traversii where some are looking really old,
raises the question about them how many years they may be?
And is the climate where they grow less cold then in other places on South Island?

[David Lyttle]

Hi Luit,

I do not think the Dracophyllum trees are very old. There appears to be a complete range of sizes from small seedlings to the large trees I photographed. They seem to be replacing themselves so I think there must be a steady turnover. My guess is that the larger specimens would be 50 - 100 years old.

It is warmer in the northern part of the South Island than in the southern part. The net effect is to depress the tree line in the south so at the tree line the climate would be comparable in the north and the south. What I am trying to say is that you would find comparable conditions in the north and the south but in the south they would occur at a lower elevation. In the south the largest Dracophyllum is Dracophyllum fiordense. It usually has a single trunk crowned with a tuft of leaves and look a bit like a small Cordyline.

[Lvandelft]

David, thank you for this information. You're living in such an interesting country.
Would love to see that all myself, but alas rather far away     

[David Lyttle]

Luit,

I am still seeing plants that are new to me. I find the New Zealand flora completely fascinating and even though I have more opportunity to see it than most I never fail to be surprised when I am out in the field. This next posting contains several plants that I have not been able to identify to species level.

Picture 1 is Celmisia spectabilis which is a common plant from Canterbury north.

Picture 2 is Celmisia sessiliflora a common but very attractive cushion species.

Picture 3 is a Celmisia I have not been able to positively identify - It could be Celmisia allanii, Celmisia dicolor or Celmisia incana. It forms large patches and is common on Mt Arthur. It is  a spectacular sight in flower.

Picture 4 and 5 are of a Euphrasia that I can not identify to species level. I thik they are the same species.

Picture 6 is another Euphrasia that I think is a different species. At the time I was photographing them I thought there was only one species butlooking at the photo I think they are different.

Picture 7 is Hebe macrantha

Picture 8 is Hebe coarctata a whipcord species found in the north -west part of the South Island.

Picture 9 and 10 are again two species of Hebe I have not been able to identify. I took a small library of reference books on my travel but not the one on Hebes.

[t00lie]

Nice pics David

I was away up north in *Canterbury (Craigieburn Forest Park), last weekend with members of the NZAGS and saw numerous large patches of Celmisia discolor with some variation in the leaf colouring ,from grey to greyish green so i cannot id your pic 3 either.

* Saw some fabulous plants ---particularly this wonderful specialized scree plant in flower --Lignocarpa carnosula --it's congested leaves remind me somewhat of deers antlers .


Cheers Dave.

[ranunculus]

Oh Dave ... magnificent!  I have germinated this lovely little thing three times now, but lost the tiny seedlings almost immediately.  I am certain that it is growable, but certainly not easy.
Many thanks for posting and kind regards.

[David Lyttle]

Hi Dave,

I wondered when you would be posting again: you have been a bit quiet lately. When I was up on Mt Arthur I was thinking that you would have been pretty excited to see all the alpines up there - all totally unlike what you and I are used to seeing down here. However it started to rain and Belinda was shepherding me off the mountain so I did not get to spent as much time there as I would have liked. An excuse to go back sometime. I saw the Lignocarpa on Island Pass on the way home. Our Canterbury friends had already been there as there were bootmarks all over the scree with little stone cairns marking the most photogenic plants.

Cliff,

These screes have a very mobile upper layer over a fine silty layer which can be quite moist at times. This under-layer was very hard and unyielding on the Island Pass scree when I visited it - a bit like concrete. However this information is unlikely to assist anyone in their attempts to grow these plants and probably just increases the frustration levels af would be growers. The whole plant drys and breaks off acting as a tumble weed to disperse the seeds. I suspect in general these plants are not particularly long-lived.