New Zealand Field Trips November 2010

[David Lyttle]

I walked up to Swamp Summit from Leith Saddle a couple of days ago. Fine, hot day with virtually no wind. Still a bit early for flowering though some plants were out.

1-5 General scenic shots

6 ,7 Tarns on Swampy Summit Vegetation is a mixture of Chionochloa rubra var cuprea ( Red tussock) which favours wet boggy sites, Dracophyllum longifolium and Phormium tenax. The bogs contain Spaghnum and a couple of species of Drosera as well as other plants.

8 Shrubland dominated by Dracophyllum longifolium. As we were pushing our way through this which is in places shoulder high my companion remarked "at least it is not covered in snow".

[David Lyttle]

Now some plants;

1 A small Cardamine with Epilobium and Euchiton growing near a little creek.

2 Forstera tenella growing in a Spaghnum bog.

3,4 Kelleria dieffenbachii

5 Pentachondre pumila

6 Flowers of Melicytus aff flexuosus

7 A fungus growing on a dead branch

8 A little mushroom growing in a spaghnum bog. It is a lichenized basidiomycete.

[kiwi]

Spent the last three days in Mt Cook National Park and Ohau Ski Field with Dave, Steve, Ian and Ann.
Glorious weather and an abundance of flowers so early in the season.
The expedition team
Fields of Aciphylla aurea and Ranunculus lyalli were hevenly!
A hybrid we have named R tooliei - a possible cross of R godleyanus

[kiwi]

More R. lyallii and the views of the Hooker valley.
Ourisia caespitosa and Gingidia montana keep to the cooler shade.
Phyllocladus aspleniifolius in flower was dramatic.
Melicytus alpinus with an unusual colourfull paracite.

[kiwi]

Bulbinella angustifolia
Ranunculus haastii
Aciphylla dobsonii my new favourite plant!!!
An Aciphylla beetle.

[kiwi]

Chionohebe pulvinaris
Raoulia eximia
Celmisia hectorii
Myosotis uniflora
Raoulia heaven 4 species grow side by side in the Tasman valley. R. hookerii, R. haastii, R. australis, and R. tenuicalis

[ranunculus]

Oh my, Oh my, Oh my ... these are SO worth the insomnia!!!!!!!   Many, many thanks Doug.

Greetings to all your happy hikers!

[Lvandelft]

Chionohebe pulvinaris
Raoulia eximia
Celmisia hectorii
Myosotis uniflora
Raoulia heaven 4 species grow side by side in the Tasman valley. R. hookerii, R. haastii, R. australis, and R. tenuicalis

Raoulia heaven , something to dream of 
What fantastic places to visit. You lucky people!!

[kiwi]

Cheers Cliff, Lvandelft, it's all here waiting for you!
Psychrophila obtusa, celmisia sessiliflora and Coprosma perpusilla in berry.
Ranunculus gracilipes?
Celmisia walkeri.
Haastia sinclairii.
Cardimine sp.
Anaphalioides bellidoides.
Dave, one I forgot to ask you for an id, any ideas?

[t00lie]

Dave, one I forgot to ask you for an id, any ideas?

It's a nice patch of Celmisia laricifolia Doug.

Yes a wonderful last 3 days --i was planning to join Steve Newall and the Christies tonight up at the hut on Mt Bee ,(Nrthn Southland), in their quest to locate Celmisia philocremna,however the rain has set in .Steve is going to call me on his cell,(shoe),phone at 5.30 am tomorrow from the hut if it's fine ,so i might meet up with them again.

Doug hasn't mentioned that he and a wet patch of snow grass had a disagreement yesterday morning at Lake Ohau--result, index finger broken in 3 places --knuckle floating off the bone   --hand now in plaster and a bit of time off work--lucky my initial diagnosis of a dislocation, and the remedy ,wasn't followed through--(Hilda my wife is a nurse and when hearing later on of my diagnosis ,asked "when was it that i recently changed my occupation ?" ; ).
Also there was talk among our little group of the possibility of a quick amputation    --luckily ? Steves whisky bottle was in his vehicle some distance away .........

I don't know how Doug continued plant locating, photographing, then driving 4.5 hours by himself back to Christchurch despite his obvious discomfort and swollen hand.

Cheers dave.    

[ranunculus]

A minor inconvenience for the chance to see that BEAUTIFUL Ranunculus tooliei, Dave!!! 
Get well soon Doug ... good job it wasn't your shutter release finger.

[kiwi]

Unfortunately it was Cliff, so I had to get used to holding and shooting with only my left hand.
You are right though, the amazing plants kept my mind on the job!
Find out on Monday wether it needs to be pinned, fingers crossed
Now I have to try and sweet talk my wife to drive me up the mountains for the next few weeks!!!

[t00lie]

Not an alpine but very interesting all the same --On our way home Steve spied what looked like to me to be some dead growths on a Beech tree.However upon stopping it became obvious that the beech mistletoes ,(Paraxilla sps),were in bloom.
Although these are normally found on Southern Beech ,(Nothofagus sps),i located it on another host ,the shrubby Matagourui,(Discaria toumatou), commonly known as wild Irishman.

Cheers dave.

[Julia]

Fantastic pictures thanks so much for sharing them with us.
Looks as if Ann and Ian are having a great time.
 

[Lesley Cox]

Great pictures Doug, and obviously a good season for many plants.

It would have been a kindness of those taking part to have invited or informed the other Forumists so that we could have had a chance to meet Ian and Ann, even if only for an evening meal at Ohau or somewhere.