New Zealand field trips March 2010

[kiwi]

Another glorious day in the Southern Alps.
Leucogenes grandiceps and Dave getting close up.
Leptinella atrata.
Ranunculus haastii in seed.
Baby seedlings of Haastia recurva and Raoulia eximia.
Raoulia subsericea?
Dolichoglottis scorzoneroides.

[kiwi]

Another Shot of Dolichoglottis.
Gentiana Sp.- thought it was divisa but not sure now Ive checked the Mills and Boon?
A mountain critter.
Aciphylla montana.
Drosera arcturi?

[ashley]

Great plants Doug, and excellent pictures.  I especially like your first ranunculus (1156) & first dolichoglottis (1167).  Thanks for taking us along

[Maggi Young]

I love baby pictures.... and they don't come much cuter than this one shown above....I repeat it cos it's so adorable!!

[t00lie]

Great Day Doug ---thanks for the company.

Parent shots are aren't too bad either Maggie  --(admittedly another species).

Doug spied a bit of greenery way up high on a ledge  --i was able to impress him with the 20x zoom function on my point and shoot camera and at it's maximum without a tripod i managed to get a reasonable shot of Anisotome pilifera .

Bums --oops--- Buns ahoy --Sorry mate   

Cheers dave.

[kiwi]

Classic Dave, maybe if i had been wearing green i would have got away with that one!
love that first shot, perfect angle! Love that zoom also, my camera wouldn't touch that one!

[JPB]

What a beautiful plant is Raoulia!!!!! I've never seen something like that...is it from out of space?

[Lesley Cox]

You can see why they're called "vegetable sheep" Hans, and why many a farmer has been known to send his dogs out to round them up, when doing the autumn muster.

[Ross Graham]

Nice photos guys,

Here are a couple of youtube videos I made of alpine carnivorous plants

Utricularia dichotoma at Arthurs Pass


Drosera stenopetala also at Arthurs Pass



a photo of Drosera stenopetala this is only found in New Zealand, unlike most of the other carnivorous plants, which we also share with Australia.

[Lesley Cox]

I'd like to see what Mark McD might do with these. I can imagine the plants reaching, grasping then gulping down and burping as unwary plant photographers strayed too close.

[TheOnionMan]

Great shots Doug and Dave!  I'll go with Maggi on this one, that's the cutest little baby Raoulia I've ever seen, must be 30 or more individual rosettes within the size of a fingernail, just imagine the number of rosettes in Dave's Daddy Raoulia

And I love Leptinella atrata, all of these have my head spinning.

[Lesley Cox]

That little baby could be as much as 10 years old or even more! The largest ones can be hundreds of years.

[kiwi]

Took the family up the waima river in Marlborough to see the Sawcut gorge.
Secretly I was there to photograph the beautiful Wahlenbergia matthewsii and I wasn't disappointed.
I know we've had a couple of postings from this spot over the years but its just so incredible I have to show you all again!!!
Another critter lurking at our lunch stop.
Could someone out there explain this shot, is this a paracite plant growing from this Kowhai or has someone grafted it on?

[David Lyttle]

Hi Doug,

Nice pictures of Wahlenbergia mathewsii; the reflection off the limestone makes photography challenging. If I go back to the Waima again I hope the day will be overcast!

The plant on the kowhai is the mistletoe Ileostylus micranthus. It is fairly commonperhaps the most common of the New Zealand mistletoes though I have not seen it on kowhai before.

[David Lyttle]

Yesterday I visited  Te Papanui Conservation Park. It is a large inland plateau west of Dunedin and slightly further south than the Rock and Pillar Range. It is covered in snow tussock (Chionochloa rigida) and has extensive wetlands where all the interesting plants are found. The snow tussocks are very efficient at trapping water and the area is the source of most of the City of Dunedin's water. It is high, misty and cold being exposed to all the southerly weather. It is not a good idea to go walking there in when it is foggy. Early in the day a small front came through and it got a bit wet and cold. It then improved and was quite pleasant before a second front arrived. At this stage we retreated.

1  View of the headwaters of the Taieri River from near Lammerlaw Top. Altitude is about 1100 metres. Small wetland with tarns is typical of the area.

2. A small tarn with Gentianella amabilis growing in the wetland.

3. Gentianella amabilis

4. Nertera balfouriana

5. Lobelia angulata (formerly Pratia angulata)

6. Gaultheria depressa var novae-zelandiae with tiny Cladonia lichens.

7. Agyrotegium mackayi (formerly Gnaphalium mackayi)

8 Euphrasia dyeri.

9. The orchid Prasophyllum colensoi. This species is widespread and not confined to the subalpine zone.

10. Some tiny mushrooms growing in the bog.