NZ field trips - December 2010

[TheOnionMan]

The name Hebejeebei gives me the hebe-jeebies   Surely the name is a botanist's inside joke, there are other cases where botanical names are conjured and published inspired by an obvious sense of humor.  I once had a link to a list of such joke-inspired taxonomic puns, but can't put my thumb on it at the moment.

http://coo.fieldofscience.com/2008_11_01_archive.html
Those of my readers who are familiar with hebes may have blinked a little there. Our conception of the place of hebes in the botanical world has changed a little in recent years. Not only has there been the transfer of hebes from the Scrophulariaceae to the Plantaginaceae* (Olmstead et al., 2001), there is the small matter of their generic allocation. During the 1800s and early 1900s, most of those New Zealand (and a few South American) species that would later become recognised as hebes were included in the genus Veronica, a genus originally established for an assortment of temperate Northern Hemisphere taxa. The genus name Hebe  (after the Greek goddess of youth, the daughter of Zeus and Hera, wife of Heracles after his apotheosis, and the server of ambrosia at the gods' table) was originally established in 1789, but didn't really enter use until the 1920s (Albach et al., 2004). Even after the botanical community recognised the distinctiveness of Hebe, horticulturists still tended for some time to regard the hebes as Veronica (Metcalf, 2006). Over time, everyone seems to have adjusted to the new view, and some groups of 'Hebe' species were even committed to further segregate genera - Parahebe, Chionohebe and (ha ha) Hebejeebie.

*Olmstead et al. (2001) suggested that the family including Hebe be called Veronicaceae, but the Botanical Code requires the correct name to be Plantaginaceae.

[Diane Clement]

The name Hebejeebei gives me the hebe-jeebies   Surely the name is a botanist's inside joke, there are other cases where botanical names are conjured and published inspired by an obvious sense of humor.  I once had a link to a list of such joke-inspired taxonomic puns, but can't put my thumb on it at the moment. 

This may be the site, Mark, there's some gems here.
http://www.curioustaxonomy.net/puns/puns.html
Enjoy!

[TheOnionMan]

This may be the site, Mark, there's some gems here.
http://www.curioustaxonomy.net/puns/puns.html
Enjoy!

That's it!  Thanks Diane.  Right off the top, I like the current seasonal:
Ba humbugi Solem, 1983 (endodontoid snail) from Mba island, Fiji. 

[t00lie]

Luit
I find that Brachyglottis revoluta ,while never reaching the sizeable wide shrub it becomes in the wild ,will happily grow in the garden.I know i have said this many many times before   i love it because of it's wonderful scent.
Cheers dave.

Dave, I didn't know it  is a shrub (alas not visible in the picture), and that might be the reason it is not in seen in gardens. Probaby not suitable as a compact plant for pots. Many alpine gardeners only want it when it's good for showing on shows, but overlook such a little bigger plants which would be good performers in the garden. I read in your words that we are thinking on the same line, so maybe there is a big task for you to try to introduce it 

Hello Luit

It's not a tall shrub --about 20cm max in height --maybe double that to the top of the flowering stems ( See attached pic which should give you a better idea of its growth).
I'm guessing it is in cultivation somewhere .....

If you are interested i can collect a little seed for you later my friend .

Regards dave

[Hoy]

I'm sure Hebejeebie was Doug's little joke. Hope so anyway. I know it as Chionohebe densifolia but I was told recently that all Hebes, Chionohebes, Heliohebes and others with name changes over recent years are now being put back into the single genus Veronica!!!!! whence they came many, many years ago. I hope this is not right as Hebe at least, is so very distinct from the northern veronicas. Not from all of them! I read several (that's more than 20) years ago that  Veronica fruticans (picture) had more in common with the southern Hebes than with the other Veronicas.

Chionohebe densifolia is very growable in the garden, along with plants like Herpolirion novae-zelandiae and it likes a humusy scree mixture in part sun with ample moisture during summer. It can be burned off only too easily, I found a couple of months ago, by our hot, searing north-west winds.

Lesley, we usually have ample moisture here! And no chance of being burned off, the warmest day last summer was 23C. The natural soil here is very humusy too. So I have to track down that plant!

[Lesley Cox]

I like Itibittium, Hunkydora and Ytu brutus, from Diane's link.

These all please me because I had previously been sure all botonists/taxonomists were totally devoid of any kind of sense of humour. I'm happy to be wrong about that.

Trond, I'm sure that some time during the summer Dave T or Doug (Kiwi) or another New Zealander will collect seed of the chionohebe and perhaps will make some available to you. I've not seen that pink shade in the first picture but a purple colouring is quite usual.

[Diane Clement]

I like Itibittium, Hunkydora and Ytu brutus, from Diane's link.

I rather like these spiders:
Notnops, Taintnops, Tisentnops  (caponiid spiders) These Chilean spiders were originally placed in the genus Nops, but Platnick separated them into these new genera when he reexamined them

[Lvandelft]

Luit
I find that Brachyglottis revoluta ,while never reaching the sizeable wide shrub it becomes in the wild ,will happily grow in the garden.I know i have said this many many times before   i love it because of it's wonderful scent.
Cheers dave.

Dave, I didn't know it  is a shrub (alas not visible in the picture), and that might be the reason it is not in seen in gardens. Probaby not suitable as a compact plant for pots. Many alpine gardeners only want it when it's good for showing on shows, but overlook such a little bigger plants which would be good performers in the garden. I read in your words that we are thinking on the same line, so maybe there is a big task for you to try to introduce it 

Hello Luit

It's not a tall shrub --about 20cm max in height --maybe double that to the top of the flowering stems ( See attached pic which should give you a better idea of its growth).
I'm guessing it is in cultivation somewhere .....

If you are interested i can collect a little seed for you later my friend .

Regards dave

Hi Dave, I have been googling a bit on Brachyglottis revoluta and found out that it is related to Senecio greyi, now also called Brachyglottis.
As Senecio greyi is growing here well, this Brachyglottis revoluta might also do well here and is worth a try. And 20 cm. for a small shrub like this seems a perfect plant then.
So whenever you are in the area when the seeds are ripe I would be very happy to try it.
Thanks!

Luit

[cohan]

always gems here! virtually every plant is odd and exotic by north american standards--the leptinellas are especially cool..
they shall remain exotic, as i doubt i could grow any of these here, barring a cool greenhouse 

[t00lie]

Is R. royi in cultivation in New Zealand?  It looks a little gem.

Can be deceiving Cliff ---it's just another of the small grassland buttercups that in the flesh,(as least to me),have a weedy look......   

This one i think is more of a gem Cliff    --shot taken yesterday in the wild --Ranunculus pachyrrhizus .

I also took a photo of Hebejeebie trifida ,however i won't go there ...........

[Hoy]

Strange, almost all these mountain buttercups are magnificent. However the common weeds are but a nuisance!

[ranunculus]

Is R. royi in cultivation in New Zealand?  It looks a little gem.

Can be deceiving Cliff ---it's just another of the small grassland buttercups that in the flesh,(as least to me),have a weedy look......   

This one i think is more of a gem Cliff    --shot taken yesterday in the wild --Ranunculus pachyrrhizus .

I also took a photo of Hebejeebie trifida ,however i won't go there ...........

I have grown R. pachyrrhizus to flowering size Dave, but the resulting flowers weren't as pretty as in your image.  Now long gone, it is another species that I need to try again under more controlled 'grassland' conditions.

[t00lie]

I have grown R. pachyrrhizus to flowering size Dave, but the resulting flowers weren't as pretty as in your image.  Now long gone, it is another species that I need to try again under more controlled 'grassland' conditions.

You have 'done' better than me Cliff ---it only lasted a year or two here without blooming.

We may have 'crossed wires'  While R.pachyrrhizus is a snowmelt sps and found ,sometimes submerged  , in good numbers in short turf, i have also found it on thin clayish screes and rock ledges close by....

Cheers dave.

[ranunculus]

Thanks for clarifying that Dave!   I always assumed it to be a high level plant, but must have read Doug's comments about the grassland species, R. royi and, as you gently put it, got my wires crossed.  Age doesn't help much either!   
If I acquire seed again in the future I will treat it hard, though this approach isn't helping with seed of R. godleyanus, which germinates and dies in the same millisecond (or so it seems)?   

[Armin]

I'm late in reading this fascinating thread.
Many thanks Doug and Dave.