Quoting, for fair use: E.J. Godley, Research Associate, Manaaki Whenua - Landcare Research, PO Box 69, Lincoln , from this document
http://www.nzbotanicalsociety.org.nz/newsletter/NZBotSoc-1997-47.pdf•
Biographical Notes (25): James Ronald Le Comte (1927 - 1987)Jim Le Comte was born at Little Akaloa, Banks Peninsula, on 10 July, 1927, and attended Addington Primary
School and Christchurch West High School. He then worked as a farmhand in North Canterbury at Cust
and on the Mt. Pember Station, where he became familiar with the Puketeraki Range, and was a keen
deer-stalker. While visiting friends in Dannevirke he met Jean Luscombe and they were married there in
1953 (1,2,3).
After living at Sherwood (north of Ashburton) and then Methven, the Le Comtes bought five acres between
Winchmore and Lauriston in 1957, where Jim continued to work on fencing and farm buildings. In 1962,
he became interested in alpine plants and their cultivation. Some of these he had seen in the garden of
Mrs Cotterill of Mount Hutt. She lent him books and he bought some plants from her. Those of Gentiana
sino-ornata he multiplied in the paddock (2). His first advertisement in the "New Zealand Gardener"
appeared in August, 1966, and announced: "Glorious Blue Gentiana. Sino-ornata. Beautiful vivid blue
trumpets in late summer and autumn. Ideal for front border and rock garden. Hardy. Vigorous plants, 4
for 10/-, 10 for 20/-. Cash with order. Alouette Nurseries, 2 RD, Ashburton". Plants were also supplied to
Woolworths as well as packets of resting "buds", (2).
From these beginnings evolved the mail-order business of "James R. and Jean A. Le Comte, Specialists
in Choice Alpine Plants, Dwarf Rhodos, Conifers and Miniature Shrubs". Their first catalogue appeared
about 1972 (2). Gordon Collier (4) recalled: "The name Alouette has become synonymous with quality,
excellence, and rarity. Their twice-yearly catalogues have offered a quite extraordinary range of choice
plant material over the years, much of it extremely rare even by world standards. The arrival at our house
of parcels from Alouette has always been a red-letter day. The plants invariably arrived in immaculate
condition and were unpacked in a state of excitement. Alouette was never open to the public. Jim and
Jean were fully extended maintaining their extensive garden and propagating and potting their nursery
stock. Thus it was a rare honour and special treat to get inside the garden gate and see the full extent of
their horticultural treasure trove."
On 18 December, 1966, Jim took Ian Tweedy (a fellow member of the Canterbury Alpine Garden Society),
Lucy Moore and Jean Clarke (Botany Division, DSIR) to the Puketeraki Range (Mt. Pember) where they
collected some 40 species of sub-alpine and alpine plants. Ian described this trip in the Canterbury Alpine
Garden Society's Bulletin and Jim arranged its re-publication in the American Rock Garden Society Bulletin
of January, 1970. On 8 December, 1968, Jim and Ian returned to the same area but were forced off the
mountain by a violent westerly storm. Jim's interest in this particular area and one of the reasons for these
visits was that he had memories from when he worked there (and before he became interested in gardening
and botany) of seeing an alpine plant with bright blue flowers. He never found it (3).
In June, 1970, according to the Ashburton Guardian, (5) "Mr Le Comte called a meeting of people interested
in furthering their knowledge of New Zealand and exotic alpine plants. The result was the formation of the
Ashburton Alpine Garden Society which now [1987] has a restricted membership of 50." Jim's major
interest among the native alpines was in the genus Aciphylla (Apiaceae), the spear-grasses, and by
mid-1972 he had searched for them on the Puketeraki and Old Man Range, the Hunter Mountains and was
growing them in his garden and propagating them from cuttings. As well as being in touch with Dr Lucy
Moore and Mr Ian Tweedy, he was consulting Dr David Given and Dr John Hair of Botany Division, DSIR,
and Mr Lawrie Metcalfe (Christchurch Botanic Gardens) (6). Then, on 27 July, 1972, he wrote as follows
to Dr J.W. Dawson of the Botany Department, Victoria University, Wellington, who had been studying
Aciphylla for some years.
"Dear Dr Dawson,
I have been advised to write to you by Dr David Given who gave me your address.
I am very interested in the genus Aciphylla and intend doing a lot of work on the subject this next summer
and the next. Meantime I am trying to acquaint myself with some of the lesser known species and would
be most appreciative of copies of reprints of any papers you have put out on the genus. I intend to
photograph, record and collect from as many stations as possible and all will be available to yourself and
Botany Div., Lincoln.
Hoping that you can help.
Yours faithfully
James R. Le Comte"
Thus began a correspondence spanning 14 years during which Jim wrote at least 96 letters to John
Dawson, mainly about Aciphylla and distributed as follows: 1972 (4); 1973 (14); 1974 (13); 1975 (16); 1976
(
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; 1977 (13); 1978 (16); 1979 (4); 1980 (4); 1981 (2); 1982 (0); 1983 (1); 1984 (0; 1985 (1). The originals
of these letters have been generously presented by Dr Dawson to the library, Landcare Research, Lincoln,
and copies returned to him. They contain graphic descriptions of Jim's expeditions into the mountains
and useful comments on variation and species status based on observations in the field and comparative
plantings in the Alouette nursery.
To reach remote peaks Jim needed helicopters, and this problem was resolved during an encounter in
March, 1974, which he described to John Dawson as follows: "Two days later we hired a chopper to take
us to Mount Stevenson which is an outlying peak of the Paparoas but about the same height. Reason was
that this area was closer to Reefton (only about 11/2 days hike) than the main range, just in case they
couldn't get back to get us. On the top at 6am with the prospect of 12 hours of botanising but 2 hours or
so later it was raining heavily and we had to pitch our tent and climb into our bags (we were cold and wet)
and just wait. It didn't clear and we expected to spend the night there as it was very foggy etc. But at the
appointed time we were really thrilled to hear the beat of the chopper blades and I still can't work out how
he found us, or how he got us down to Reefton, but we had a hot meal that night that we had not thought
we'd be having, and a long session in the hostelry until 1am." Thus began Jim's friendship with Alpine
Enterprises, whose pilot (Phil Meltzer) and shooter/co-owner (Ivan Wilson) became his good companions,
interested in his work and always ready to move him about in the mountains while they shot or captured
deer in their allotted block.
The following itinerary of Jim's movements is compiled from his letters to Dr Dawson, his articles in the
American Rock Garden Society Bulletin (7), and information from Dr Dawson.
1973 Jan. with an American friend, Paul Palomino: Mt. Cook (Hugh Wilson), Fiordland (Hector Mts; Borland
Pass), then Woodside Gorge (Kekerengu), Blackbirch Ra., Mt. Augustus, Mt. Alexander (helicopter),
Craigieburn Ra. Feb. (late) with Greg Hooker: Old Man Ra., Fiordland: Hector Mts; Jane Peak, Eyre
Mts(lan Spence); Mt. Burns, Hunter Mts. May with family: Takaka, Lake Sylvester.
1974 Jan.(late) with J.W. Dawson: Dansey's Pass, Kyeburn, Mt. St. Bathans, Old Man Ra.; Feb. (early)
with American friends and Jean: Arthur's Pass, Otira Valley, Mt. Hutt. Mar. (early) with Greg Hooker:
Wairau Valley (Mt. Fishtail, Richmond Ra.), Reefton (helicopter to Mt. Stevenson). May with friend:
Fiordland (Borland Pass Rd; Hummock Peak, Eyre Mts.) Dec. with Greg Hooker: Mt. Richmond
(Richmond Ra.), Mt. Ajax, near Lake Sumner (helicopter).
1975 Jan. 3 with American friends Dick and Herb Redfield: Kirkliston Ra., South Canterbury. Feb. with
Ian Tweedy: Mt. Hutt (3). Feb. (mid) 2 days with Alpine Enterprises: Nardoo Mts., between Glenroy
and Matakitaki Rivers. Mar. 22 Mt. Potts. Oct. talked to the Canterbury Botanical Society ("Some
notes on the genus Aciphylla")
1976 New Year holidays Banks Peninsula. Feb. (mid), 3 days with Alpine Enterprises: Mt. Mueller, Mt.
Cann, head of Glenroy River. Mar. - April with J W Dawson: Pisa Ra. Hakatarameas, Richmond Ra.,
Grampians, Old Man Ra., Nevis Valley, Coronet Peak, Eyre Mts., Mt. Hutt. June 30-Aug. 15, USA and
British Columbia, where he gave an invited talk to the Fifth International Rock Garden Conference at
Seattle on "American Plants in Cultivation in New Zealand" and spoke to the Northwest Ornamental
Horticultural Society (Seattle), and other groups, on New Zealand plants.
1977 May with family: Te Anau. Nov. visit from Hugh Wilson and Colin Webb.
1978 Jan. 11 with Alpine Enterprises: Rocky Tor (Lyell Ra.). Feb 2 - 6 with Alpine Enterprises: The
Haystack (Matori Ra.), Mt. Newton (Newton Ra.) Rocky Tor (Lyell Ra.), Glasgow Ra. Mar. (early) with
J W Dawson: Mavora Lakes, Eglinton-Milford, Hector Mts, Treble Cone (Harris Mts.), Crown Ra. In
this year Dawson and Le Comte published a progress report in Tuatara on their work on Aciphylla.
This commentary marks an important advance on the previous monograph by W R B Oliver (TRSNZ
84, 1956) and includes a division of the New Zealand mainland plants into large and small species with
6 groups in the latter.
1979 Jan. 4 "Have not been into the mountains and looks like I'll be too busy to do so until Feb. Feb with
Alpine Enterprises: brief trip to Brunner Ra. May - June two months in the USA including one month
in the eastern states and attending a conference in Vancouver and judging Rhododendrons at the
Portland (Oregon) Show. In this year Dawson described Aciphylla lecomtei choosing type specimens
from material collected by him and Le Comte on the Hector Mts. in March, 1978; and Le Comte
described his rediscovery of Aciphylla trifoliolata on Rocky Tor (Lyell Mts.) in 1978, the first gathering
since its discovery in 1906 (NZJB 17, 1979).
1980 April 20 "apart from having no spare time, the weather has been so lousy this summer that I did not
get into the mountains at all and lost quite a few of my garden grown specimens too."
1981 March 13 "just couldn't get away this season." Mar. 20 - May 22 in UK and Europe where he spoke
to the Alpines '81 Conference at Nottingham on New Zealand alpine plants and visited Switzerland and
Austria, before spending 6 days as a guest of the Czechoslovakia Alpine Garden Society. In this year
Le Comte and Webb showed that Aciphylla townsonii was based on a juvenile or sheltered habitat form
of A. hookeri. This resulted from Jim's field work on Mt. Stevenson (1974), Lyell and Glasgow Ranges
(1978) and the Brunner Ra. (1979) as well as garden observations.
1982 No information.
1983 March 4 with Alpine Enterprises: "had a quick trip to Reefton recently and had 21/2 hours on a spur
that connects the Victoria Ra. with the Brunner Ra."
1984 In this year Jim had a massive heart attack with no chance of recovery. He spent his last 3 years on
medication with frequent spells in hospitals (2).
1985 July 11 "Always too busy to get away to the Mts but must make the effort because I really want to
pick up where I left off".
Jim Le Comte died at Princess Margaret Hospital, Christchurch, on 11 September, 1987, at age 60, after
a short illness. His wife, Jean, continued to run the nursery until 1991 when she chose to sell it and retire
to Ashburton.
I met Jim Le Comte only once, and then briefly. Characteristics often mentioned are his forthright
approach, enthusiasm and energy. He once wrote to John Dawson: "When I travel to the mountains I like
to move fast from place to place - sometimes at night so as not to waste the days". His talent for descriptive
writing is shown in his excellent series "In search of Aciphylla" which also gives interesting information
about other alpines, particularly celmisia.
Gordon Collier remembered that "an evening with Jim was one to be savoured; plant talk a-plenty, books
and slides, and more slides until the early hours of the morning. On such occasions Jim revealed his warm
nature and the full extent of his horticultural knowledge. He was a real enthusiast. As well as being one
of the most accomplished nurserymen in the country, Jim Le Comte was an authority on New Zealand
alpine plants and in particular the genus Aciphylla. Aciphylla lecomtei perpetuates this interest and his
memory. Jim was also a keen philatelist, and above all a family man. He will be greatly missed by all his
customers and by all who knew him. His passing leaves a tremendous gap in gardening ranks" (4). And
- we could add - in the ranks of botanists as well.
Acknowledgments
I am particularly indebted to Mrs Jean Le Comte (Ashburton) and Dr J.W. Dawson (Victoria University,
Wellington) for help with this note, as well as to Mr Ian Tweedy (Christchurch), and Mr Charlie Challenger
(Banks Peninsula).
References
(1) Death Certificate; (2) Jean Le Comte pers. comm.; (3) Ian Tweedy pers. comm.; (4) Gordon Collier:
Jim Le Comte N Z Gardener Nov. 1987; (with portrait of Jim and Jean in the garden at Alouette, 1984);
(5) Anon. Obituary - James Ronald Le Comte. Ashburton Guardian 5 October, 1987; (6) Letter to J.W.
Dawson; (7) James R. Le Comte: In search of Aciphylla American Rock Garden Society Bull. 1973; ditto
1974 ARGS Bull. 1974; ditto 1974-75 ARGS Bull. 1975; ditto 1975-76 ARGS Bull. 1976; ditto 1977-78 ARGS
Bull. 1978.
by:
E.J. Godley, Research Associate, Manaaki Whenua - Landcare Research, PO Box 69, Lincoln