NZ field trips - Jan 2012

[Anthony Darby]

I just love these tours. Thanks. They are fascinating. Love the 5* accommodation!

[Ian Y]

Fantastic pictures Doug how I wish I could be there with you -rain and all.

It is such an incredible flora with stunning scenery and the company would brighten the dullest of days.

I have attached a picture of the plant of Stellaria roughii we grew many years ago.
Unfortunately we never got seed from it and it died after flowering so have never tried again- however if there were any seeds around later in the year

[kiwi]

Stunning specimen Ian !!!
After seeing it presented in a pot full like that, I will be grabbing some seed for the both of us !!!
Cheers,
Doug.

[David Lyttle]

Here is a trip I did just prior to Christmas but I think I will tack it on to the January thread with some plant pictures I took on another trip last week. The first trip was for two days. I went to the Ida Range near Naseby with a geologist friend.  We visited the historical Mt Buster gold diggings and climbed Mt Kyeburn. (because it was there) However we saw and photographed plenty of plants along the way. The gold workings are in an area of quartz gravels at about 1000 metres in altitude. The gold was recovered by sluicing with water being brought to the site by an extensive system of water races that tapped in to streams higher still.

1. View of the gold workings showing exposed gold-bearing quartz gravels.

2. Exposed gravels form fantastic shapes.

3. Tussock covered terrain with St Marys Range in the distance. Mt Bitterness is the peak on the left with Kohurau on the right. Mid-distance are more gold workings and the remains of water race can be seen left foreground.

4. Further up on the Ida Range showing graywacke scree (the most boring rock in NZ according to my friend). The mountains in the background are the Kakanui range. The Kyeburn flows out to right.

5. Looking down from the top of Mt Kyeburn towards the Hawkdun Range. The area is a huge upland plateau between the Hawkdun and St Marys Ranges dissected by various streams that flow into the Otematata River which drains northward into the Waitaki (more or less centre of the picture).

6. The top of Mt Kyeburn (1636 metres).

A series of weather photos; there was a large anticyclone over the South Island at the time so there was a build up of cumulus cloud in Central Otago with th odd shower passing through.

7. Cumulus cloud over Mt Buster on the Ida Range.

8. Cloud from the north east pouring over the St Marys Range. The St Marys Range is sufficiently close to the coast to get what is essentially coastal fog.

9. Another view of the St Marys Range from the Buster Diggings.

10. North-east cloud obscuring Mt Kyeburn  At this stage we had completed our climb and were back down at the diggings.

[David Lyttle]

Now for some plants

1. Acaena saccaticupula in flower

2. Anisotome flexuosa

3. Anisotome ' Bog' ,   This bog form is found throughout Central Otago and may possibly correspond to Anisotome imbricata var prostrata.

4, 5 I have identified this daisy as Brachyscome longiscapa. It may be something else as these are very confusing.

6. A small Cardamine (for all those gardeners that love this genus)

7. Celmisia alpina

8. Celmisia haastii var haastii, a common snowbank Celmisia.

9, 10 Celmisia laricifolia. This species is almost impossible to photograph because of its slender flower stems and propensity for growing in windy situations.

[Lesley Cox]

In the top and bottom landscapes one could almost expect to find Crocus moabiticus.

[David Lyttle]

In the top and bottom landscapes one could almost expect to find Crocus moabiticus.

How about Podocarpus nivalis

[Anthony Darby]

Gosh, I'm seeing more of New Zealand in my study!

[Lesley Cox]

How about Podocarpus nivalis

My tiny one would be totally lost!

[David Lyttle]

Anthony,

There are plenty of interesting places to visit in the southern part of the South Island there are still many places I have not been to. Each mountain range has its own distinctive character. I keep finding new plants each time I go out (new to me at least and a lot of them are undescribed) For todays posting;

1,2 Chionohebe thomsonii. The second plant is growing on a rock outcrop that was falling to bits - not a pleasant place to be as a chunk of rock below the Chionohebe started to fall away as I brushed against it. I very carefully removed it and placed it in a more secure position. If I was a S.PA.T. member I would have dropped ot on my toe or something  .

3, 4 Colobanthus buchananii A small cushion and part of a plant just begining to flower.

5,6 Dracophyllum muscoides A large cushion and close up of the flowers.

7. Dracophyllum pronum

8. Dracophyllum pronum (foreground) with Dracophyllum muscoides behind.

9. The alpine sundew Drosera arcturi. The showy flowers of this plant are insect pollinated but:-

10. Drosera arcturi with a trapped moth. There is a contradiction here.

[David Lyttle]

More plants;

1,2 Epilobium porphyrium

3. Tiny Galium perpusillum growing in a patch of Muehlenbeckia axillaris.

4. Gaultheria depressa var novae-zelandiae

5. The related species Gaultheria parvula which tends to grow in bogs.

6. Geranium potentilloides ( syn Geranium microphyllum)

7. Geum leiospermum

8. Haastia pulvinaris A scree variant of this widespread species; the aerial parts appear to die down in the winter and regrow in the spring unlike the more common form of this species which is a perennial subshrub.

9, 10 Hebe epacridea Another scree specialist. This the first time I have managed to find and photograph a good flowering specimen.

[Tim Ingram]

Super plants. I wonder if any of those little dracophyllums (or even any of the larger species) have been in cultivation? I know Brian Halliwell when at Kew had an interest and success with some of these and Tasmanian plants but they sound very difficult to grow. Hebe epacridea is really an intriguing looking plant and has been grown quite a bit in the past. I also once had H. cheesemannii, maybe from Graham Hutchins, and these small species are very appealing.

[jandals]

If I was a S.PA.T. member I would have dropped ot on my toe or something  .

Are you saying we are accident prone? I don't think so.

My safety jandals can easily deflect a falling Chionohebe .I know so, because the manufacturer of jandals claim that after exhaustive clinical tests it has been proven that the structural integrity of jandals were not compromised in any way by the rapid descent of any genus of Scrophulariaceae .

So there!

[Anthony Darby]

Good job they weren't Samoan safety jandals!

David, I find these pictures and plants absolutely fascinating. Once I'm settled and can organise myself better I'll venture into the wilderness. I think your trapped moth is a rusty hebe looper (Dasyuris callicrena)? Its caterpillars appropriately feed on one of the subalpine hebes.

[David Lyttle]

If I was a S.PA.T. member I would have dropped ot on my toe or something  .

Are you saying we are accident prone? I don't think so.

My safety jandals can easily deflect a falling Chionohebe .I know so, because the manufacturer of jandals claim that after exhaustive clinical tests it has been proven that the structural integrity of jandals were not compromised in any way by the rapid descent of any genus of Scrophulariaceae .

So there!

I am reassured by the thourghness and efficacy of the testing regime of the manufacturer of your footwear. Bruised toes can be very painful.