NZ Field trips - November

[kiwi]

Mt Cook National Park, great trip, good company, bloody sore legs!
Sealy Tarns with Mt Cook at rear.
Steve and Hugh discuss mission objectives.
Viola cunninghamii.
Ranunculus lyallii.

Ian - you picked the right year for your visit last Spring, not a good flowering season so far.

[kiwi]

Now thats what we call a rock!
Myosotis uniflora.
The Tasman Valley.

Pimelea prostrata?
Pimelea oreophila? Please can someone confirm ID.

Steve giving us a super human seed cleaning demonstration - a few beers later....

[kiwi]

Myosotis pulvinaris
Ranunculus species. (ID please.)

[ichristie]

Hi Doug, WOW, super pictures and it looks like you had clear skies a bit more snow around than when we visited, did you photograph Mr Newall in Jail? at least I see a beer bottle good one,  cheers Ian.

[kiwi]

Gidday Ian, it was commented that we need to get you back up there so mother nature will give us a better selection of flowers.

Steve and Hugh were toasting the Single Malts in your honor.

Had a great weekend, Dave was up to his tricks as usual and no one broke any bones or lost limbs.....

[David Lyttle]

Hello Doug,

Looks like you all had a good trip - I was meant to be at Lake Roe this past week (in place of Mr Newall) but the weather decided it was not to be!

Cannot tell what species your Pimelea is from the photos if the leaves do not have any hairs it is Pimelea prostrata if hairs are present it is probably Pimelea oreophila - I am still struggling to come to terms with the most recent revision of the genus.

The Ranunculus is Ranunculus multiscapus - very easy with its elongated slender black flower stems.

Surely you mean Pimelea pulvinaris not Myosotis pulvinaris. The Tasman Myosotis uniflora is very white compared with the golden-flowered plants on Pisa flats.

[David Lyttle]

Correction:

Pimelea pulvinaris = Pimelea sericeovillosa subsp. pulvinaris according to the most recent revision

[Magnar]

Thanks a lot for sharing such wonderful pics 

[kiwi]

Crikey, thanks David for that correction.
That will teach me posting half asleep!
I  stopped off especially in the Tekapo Reserve to find the Pimelea pulvinaris after Dave and Steve found some inferior plants in Tarris. (stir… stir…)
What a stunning plant, and growing in the most inhospitable environment!
Cheers for the ID’s.

[Hoy]

I know what I need, a long holiday and a long hike in the mountains of New Zealand!

[Lesley Cox]

Wonderful pictures Doug and it's easy to see why the uninitiated call Ran. lyallii the Mt Cook "lily." That buttercup, taken in that habitat, epitomises the beauty on the NZ flora. You will have noticed the strong and delicious honey fragrance of Myosotis uniflora.

Who is that heavily pregnant person in your second picture?

[jandals]

I know what I need, a long holiday and a long hike in the mountains of New Zealand!

...and we would all gladly show you around but we may need a week or two to recover from this weekend

Hello Doug,
Looks like you all had a good trip - I was meant to be at Lake Roe this past week (in place of Mr Newall) but the weather decided it was not to be!

Shame about that David . Looks like we may have to put that trip on the SPAT agenda for next December

The thyme festival was on last week in Alexandra and there were plenty still flowering near Cromwell ( as well as Centranthus )



Some pictures of Pimelea pulvinaris inferioranus from Tarras





Accommodation for the weekend was the luxurious Chateau d'ferintosh . We even had a diesel generator for electricity and a tele !!!



The track up to Sealy Tarns is quite interesting and involves a lot of up but not a lot of forward . The hermitage at Mt.Cook village can be seen in the valley on the right hand side . The track goes back down the ridge between the camera and the hermitage then gets steeper out of view



And Lesley, the heavily pregnant person in the second picture is at eight months and ultrasound shows that he will be giving birth to a healthy 5kg block of dairy milk chocolate

[Hoy]

I know what I need, a long holiday and a long hike in the mountains of New Zealand!

...and we would all gladly show you around but we may need a week or two to recover from this weekend

Thank you, jandals, I shall remember that! However you can rest safely for a year at least- I have no spare holidays left this year

[jandals]

Dave managed to call in a couple of keas . I think the male kea must have recognised Dave as a possible threat and did the swoopy swoopy thing over his head . They then proceeded to heartily attack a defenceless Phyllachne colensoi ...



...gave me the beady eye ...



...and showed me their can opener beaks , which double as sleeping bag shredders ( see NZ Oct field trips )



Mt.Cook lilies were not flowering as well as last year , but there were still one or two



On Sunday , Hugh , Dave and I went for a bit of a stroll up another hill , this time on Glentanner Station . The weather had deteriorated and it was very windy but still mainly dry even though it was raining heavily at Mt.Cook , just a few kms away . A few years back I found a patch of Ranunculus crithmifolius growing on a scree with Ranunclus lyallii growing nearby . There were no flowers about that trip and I have always wanted to return during the flowering season to see if there were any hybrids of this unlikely combination . They do flower at the same time but I didn't see any this trip . However I did get a consolation prize of Ranunculus critmifolius x enysii



There were plenty of Ranunculus crithmifolius flowering but I didn't hang around because the wind was getting worse and there were showers about . On the way back down the wind blew my beanie off ( fairly impressive ) and I had to retrieve it 150m down the hill . One of the advantages of being permanently pregnant is I tend to leave the ground less often on days like this





Introduced weeds are also of interest to me . My last 2 pictures are of Hieracium pilosella near Twizel

[Lesley Cox]

And Lesley, the heavily pregnant person in the second picture is at eight months and ultrasound shows that he will be giving birth to a healthy 5kg block of dairy milk chocolate

He must be like one of the Greek gods - can't remember which - who consumed his children as they were born.