Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
General Subjects => Travel / Places to Visit => Topic started by: David Lyttle on February 06, 2007, 10:01:50 AM
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I have just returned from a 4 day excursion into the Ohau Range which is on the south side of Lake Ohau near Mt Cook.
The first image is taken at the bushline in Freehold Creek looking down to Lake Ohau with the Ben Ohau Range in the background.
The second image isa photo taken from our first camp looking towards the head of Freehold Creek on the morning of our second day. It started raining shortly afterwards but cleared up later on that morning.
One plant in this posting, the orchid Gastrodia cunninghamii growing in the beech forest in Freehold Creek. This is a saprophytic orchid that has no chlorophyll.
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What super pics David. The sun and rainbow in no 2 are quite lovely. And an excellent image of the Gastrodia, so rarely seen in either photos or the flesh. I certainly never have (in the flesh). It looks very sinister. Hopefully more pics to come?
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Sinister, but glamorous, Lesley, like the Black Swan in Swan Lake! I'd never seen this orchid before, it is stunningly different.
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Poor Odile! I wonder did she ever have an inferiority complex, all that fear and loathing heaped upon her, compared to the much loved and cossetted (and rather insipid, don't you think?) Odette?
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Yes, for Odette think that Icelandic singer Bjork in the dead swan frock at the Grammies the other year !!
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David,
Beautiful photographs all three, enjoyed them, many thanks.
Paddy
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David --i wonder if you know this native Gastrodia sps. I was out at a friends place just last Saturday morning cutting up firewood for winter when i was invited to view the plant below growing up through gum leaf litter.
We carefully dug down to find the plant appeared to growing off a root of a nearby tree.Besides Gums being in the vicinity there was also a substantial native Beech .Looks similar in shape to your Orchid but lighter in colour.
Cheers Dave.
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Hi Dave,
Your plant is certainly a Gastrodia but as to the species I would be just guessing. It could be cunninghamii which can be a variable plant but there are other species recognised. Gastrodia orchids are not that rare and sometimes turn up in surprising locations. I have observed it growing in Dunedin in a shrub bed next to one of the University tower blocks in a completely urban environment.
A few more pictures, sorry about the drip feeding but it is past my bedtime. The first is a tarn at the head of Freehold Creek. The figure in the foreground slightly right of centre gives some idea of scale. It had stopped raining at this point but had not completely cleared but continued to improve over the next few hours. The bluffs on the upper left of the picture are absolutely covered with Raoulia eximia like daisies in a lawn. We crossed the ridge between the two bumps on the right. There is a big scree basin at the head of the creek which is obscured by the spur coming down from the central bump. We found Lobelia roughii and Haastia sinclairii growing in the screes there. They tend to be abundant localised areas. I think they are very sensitive to small changes in the environmental conditions
A couple of plants from lower down in the valley above our first campsite, Celmisia walkeri and a Euphrasia I have not been able to identify. I had to terminate this particular photographic session at that site because it started raining and we had to move on.
Also a picture of Haastia sinclairii found just below the pass on the ridge. Elevation was about 1800 metres. The plant was growing on a rock outcrop on the leftmost of the two patches of snow visible in the first picture.
Hope this gives people some idea of the enviroment in which these plants are found.
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If you want to photograph scree plants you first need to find them. Screes are not uniform as the photos show. The scree plants are fairly fastidious in their choice of habitats.
Photo 1 is looking down on Lake Ohau from the crest of the Ohau Range. Elevation shown in this series photos is from 1800 to 1900 metres
Photo 2 is looking back across our route from the saddle at the head of Freehold Creek that we used to gain access to the crest of the range. The reddish rock is highly weathered and supports very little in the way of vegetation. Plants are found on gravelly patches between the large angular boulders and on rock outcrops on the ridges.
Photo 3 is of a snow melt tarn occupying a little basin below another saddle up to the right.
Aciphylla dobsonii grows on these blocky screes and forms cushions up to a metre across. This year none of the plants were flowering.
Raoulia youngii is also a very characteristic plant of these high screes though it tends to favour finer debris.
Other plants found here are the forget-me-not Myosotis traversii and Epilobium pycnostachyum.
These high alpine plants are quite extraordinary and it would be very difficult to duplicate the conditions under which they grow anywhere else.
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Here are some more plants, not all high alpine specialists, but quite happy growing on ridge crests and rock outcrops at high elevations.
Melicytus alpinus, a shrub from the family Violaceae.
Hebe pinguifolia in one of its several iterations with a close up showing the flowers.
Hebe epacridea struggling a bit at this altitude.
The small vegetable sheep Raoulia eximia with a close up of a flowering plant showing the dark coloured flowers. This plant commonly grows in crevices in frost-shattered rocks but these particular plants were growing much lower down on an old lateral moraine. This made photographing them much easier needless to say
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Wonderful shots David !
Thanks for sharing - brilliant to let us have a walk in the NZ mountains sitting in our lazy chair like this. :)
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David,
Loving this walk on the NZ mountains, utterly brilliant. Many thanks, really enjoy it.
Aciphylla dobsonii is the plant I was most taken by, great shape, form and presence.
Paddy
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David,
Wonderful pictures with a super description. Thank you.
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Hi Luc, Paddy, Franz,
I have a few more pictures to post. Paddy, Aciphylla dobsonii is one of my favourites It is a most remarkable plant some of the specimens must be several hundred years old judging by their size.
First picture in this posting is Dumb-bell Lake. We camped on the shore of this lake in a very pleasant spot. They weather remained kind to us.
Second picture is the upper reaches of the Maitland Valley just downstream of the lake.
There were several species of Celmisia growing in the vicinity. Celmisia haastii which is usually a snowbank plant growing here amongst the tussock. Celmisia angustifolia an almost shrubby species generally growing amongst rock outcrops. Celmisia densiflora a very common and widespread species growing here in the tussock grassland. Another species that was common but I did not photograph was Celmisia lyallii or false spainard. The final celmisia is Celmisia glandulosa a charming little species growing in alpine bogs.
Picture 7 is a Dracophyllum - I find it difficult to identify the smaller creeping Dracophyllums
Picture 8 is the South Island edelwiess Leucogenes grandiceps These plants grow generally in crevices in rock outcrops as the photo shows. This specimen has only three flowers, usually they are completely covered.
Picture 9 is Raoulia grandiflora. Other plants in the picture are Anisotome flexuosa and Celmisia haastii.
The last picture is Fostera sedifolia usually more spreading than this specimen which has formed a neat clump.
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I will continue with some more plants, a hybrid Dolichoglottis with pale lemon flowers. Hybrids between the two species D. lyallii (yellow, narrow leaves) and D. scorzoneroides (white, broader leaves) are very common and flower shades are variable.
Brachyglottis haastii usually found growing on rock outcrops.
A Chionohebe either pulvinaris or thomsonii again very hard to identify in the field. Identification depends on the pattern of hairs on the leaves.
A small Raoulia, I will call it Raoulia apicinigra, if it is not that it is un-named. Raoulia apicinigra is found in the northern part of the South Island and is not recorded this far south. I think this area is a bit of a botanical black hole with not a lot of collecting having been done. There is a skifield on the other side of the ridge which gives some access.
Last plant is the stunning Aciphylla horrida, aptly named. During the walk down the valley we were dodging between these plants, any slip being punished by impalement. None of the plants in the valley were flowering in fact no species of Aciphylla seemed to have produced flowers this season.
Last picture is of the party on the move crossing the main stream. If you look closely you can see the Aciphyllas lurking in the tussock.
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David,
Again you have given us a great treat of excellent plant photographs along with the very informative views of the landscape. This prompts a question: The general landscape strikes me as being very dry; certainly the grasses are very browned off and the general appearance is one of everything being brown and dry, not a green stretch in sight, yet you come upon these little treasures among this, what appears to me, almost desert conditions. How does this happen? Are there small patched where there are somewhat different conditions, little wet patches by streams or whatever?
And again, I am taken by the aciphylla - and 'horrida' seems a perfect name for this species, lethal-looking it is. The few I have growing here at home are dangerous plants, the really can puncture the skin, and flesh, with great ease and to a great depth. Walking through patches of them would certainly be a time to be tread carefully.
I find that pale yellow on the flowers of the Dolichoglottis very appealing. It would be a very welcome plant in the garden. The Brachyglottis, on the other hand, has that very striking, glaring yellow. But then, flowers are not coloured in nature for our benefit. It obviously works for the brachyglottis!
The Chionohebe sp. is a fascinating looking thing. What are the flowers like? Obviously small, I imagine. Lovely plant.
Great display of plants, David, many thanks.
Paddy
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David its really time for me to say thank you for all those photos!
I especially enjoy the landscape photos and please please you:
Keep on posting!!!!
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David, just to say how much I am enjoying your pictures. New Zealand is a place I have always wanted to visit but perhaps never will so this is, in a way, a replacement.
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More great plants and great landscapes David !
Shows why Lord of the Rings was shot in New Zealand ;D it really is another world !
Thanks again David !
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David is probably at work right now but I'm wasting time here, so I'll have a few words about David's pictures.
The Chionohebe is closely related to Veronica and Hebe and so has flowers typically veronica-shaped, though quite small in these little montane species. When in full bloom they rival any of the high alpine Androsaces for beauty.
Paddy, the brown-ness is quite misleading. Almost always except after months of drought conditions (and even then, sometimes,) these slopes above the treeline or in the great river valleys are quite moist underneath. The tussock and scrub hold the moisture and of course where there is a patch of scree the soil under the rock is often quite wet. So the typical tawny colour is made by the many plants which are themselves of that colour; the tussock grasses, the snow grasses, the Aciphyllas and many more species including a selection of divaricating shrubs. The whole east coast landscape, once one leaves the cultivated farmland, is of this wonderful glistening, golden brown shade, right up to the mountains. I often think that lions and other big cats would be very much at home here.
Sometimes through the brown there will be a thin trickle of bright green where snowmelt is seeping
and there will be plants like Caltha, Ranunculus, Gunnera, Nertera and others, but even these don't make an impression on the overall brown-ness.
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Greetings All,
Paddy, in answer to your question what appears to be uniform tussock grassland is in reality a mosaic of different habitats, bogs, screes rock outcrops. It hosts a wide variety of plants. Adding to Lesley's comments it can be quite wet from rain and snowmelt. Many smaller plants shelter under the tussocks which may not be apparent from some of the photos as I tend to select subjects which stand out from the background. Tussocks tend to retain their dead outer leaves and hence their very distinctive straw -yellow colour. Their growing parts are quite green.
The landscape that you see in this series of photographs has largely been shaped by erosion and ice. We are just east of the main Southern Alps which sit on an active tectonic zone between the Australian and Pacific plates that is a present being uplifted at a high rate. The corollary of this is what goes up also comes down. The graywacke rocks in this part of the country erode rapidly through the action of frost and water. This gives rise to the extensive screes that you can see in the pictures. The large glaciers flowing from the main Divide formed Lake Ohau, its associate moraines and outwash terraces. In these smaller valleys to the east there was some ice which formed features like Lake Dumb-bell and the cirques at the heads of the valleys. Since then the rivers have been eroding down through the glacial moraines and gravel deposits, a process that is still very active.
Here is a picture of Chionohebe thomsonii flowering. I have decided it is the species I showed earlier on the thread.
Second picture is a small waterfall in the upper Maitland valley.
Third picture is Dolichogllottis lyallii growing in its favoured habitat by a stream. Also a closeup of the same.
Fifth picture is view looking down the main Maitland Valley towards the beech forest that fills the lower part of the valley. Foreground is an old moraine now covered in snow tussock (Chionochloa sp ) Aciphylla horrida and the shrub Dracophyllum uniflorum.
Sixth picture is the only plant of Aciphylla horrida out of the thousands/millions in the valley that I found flowering.
Picture 7 is Raoulia subsericea
Picture 8 is the Maitland Hut, a little four bunk hut where we stayed for one night. If you look carefully you can see the moon setting behind the peak in the centre of the picture.
Picture 9 is of me carrying my pack on the way out. We crossed the scree that you can see in the photo too low and had to climb back up a steep rubbly slope to regain the marked route, our worst route finding error in four days.
Picture 10 is leaving the Maitland Valley. View is looking up the glacier-formed valleys of the Dobson River on the right and the Hopkins River on the left flowing into the head of Lake Ohau. During the last ice age the flats in middle distance would have been entirely covered by the Ohau glacier.
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More great shots David !
That Chionohebe is stunning !
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A super selection of photos David. It looks like a very interesting area but a bit much for the OAGG on a weekend trip I'd say?
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David thanks very much for sharing your experiences lovely plants and scenery beautifully shot
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David & Lesley,
Many thanks for the informative account of the mountaineous environment in which the plants are growing. The appearance from the protographs is misleading. I certainly thought it was almost an arid landscape and wondered then how so many of the plants growing seemed to be ones which would enjoy conditions more moist than portrayed. All is now clear.
It seems a wonderfully interesting way to spend one's time; you certainly have a great expanse to explore and when you sometimes mention that such a plant had not yet been named or that there were such a range of species of a particular plant that definite identification was challenging, it brings home the great variety you can experience on your walks.
At this distant remove I am thoroughly enjoying your experiences. NZ is indeed a wonderful country and also the source of many plants which grow well here in Ireland. Pittosporum, phormium and Senecio species and cultivars are particularly common.
Many thanks.
Paddy
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The small Raoulia I posted earlier on this thread is not Raoulia apicinigra. It appears that it is an un-named species. It differs from apicinigra in that the involucre scales are black all the way down wheras in apicinigra the involucre scales are black only on the tips. I found similar plants on the North Dunstan Range earlier in the month and did not realise they were the same until I looked at the photos again yesterday.
Paddy , there is quite a differentiation in relative dryness southwards along the eastern side of the Alps. The Southern Alps are quite wet especially at the heads of the alpine valleys up against the main divide, and the further east you go the dryer it becomes. This more pronounced at lower levels in the montane basins of Central Otago and the Mackenzie Basin further north. If you go higher on any of the ranges there is more precipitation. The alpine regions of Fiordland above tree line is one gigantic bog. There are bogs on slopes that you would not believe.
As for Phormiums they make excellent shelter belts for livestock especially in windy coastal areas- but they are too big and untidy for a garden. I planted a variegated one several years ago and am now faced with the task of digging it out- about three days hard work. I should post a few plants sometime that would do well in Ireland.
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I've found this photo of a sign from somewhere in NZ... the scenery may be fabulous and the flowers out of this world, but it seems the signmakers are pretty much on a different planet, too:
[attachthumb=1]
Note the small print at the bottom, between the no walking and no cars logos!
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Northern Southland -- part 1.
Wonderful shots of the Lake Ohau area David.
I finally managed yesterday to take the bike on a run up on to the southern end of the Eyre Mtns.
It was a nice clear day ,so warm in fact i had to do a bit of a strip tease upon reaching the end of the road. :o
It is a very poor flowering season compared to last years brillant display.I'm mindful i have posted pics of this area on the old forum so i'll concentrate more on the habitat in which various sps. grow.
The vegetation on the ridge line is short snow tussock--Chionochloa sps.
All around are higher slopes ,some with small snow patches.The abrupt change from beech forest to snow tussock is so typical of the New Zealand mountain scene.
Further along the ridge depleted vegetative slopes appear.Pic 4 shows 4 distinctive habitats--Rock pinnacles--grassland strips--larger rock rubble --surrounded on either side by fine clay screes.
Firstly --the fine clay screes may appear dry however an inch or two below the surface is moisture.
A few gems like this area --
A creeping fern sps.
Epilobium sps.
Stellaria roughii
It's root system typical of scree plants.Growing upslope some considerable distance from the above ground growth. Able to reshoot if sheared off by moving rock.
Parts 2 and 3 to follow
Cheers Dave.
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Part 2.
Secondly ---the large rock rubble supports different species.
Gentian bellidifolia not yet in bloom but attractive all the same.
A nice sized patch of Leucogenes grandiceps.
Lycopodium fastigatum --a creeping fern like sps having a preference here for a shadier spot.
Thirdly---The grassland strips are home to the impressive Celmisia semicordata ssp stricta.Unfortunately i didn't find any plants in bloom. :'(
Cheers Dave.
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Part 3.
The 4th and last habitat are the rock pinnacles.
Home of Celmisia philocremna (which is endemic to the Eyres).
I was lucky to find a plant with 14 flowering stalks.
Succulent like foliage with a large flower for the size of the cushion that appears well above the greenery.
Raoulia buchananii in varying shades of green.
Some almost the colour of R.exima but i don't think that sps. grows this far south.(David L. any comments?.)
Not all that impressive when in flower .
A common feature --a couple of different species surrounding each other.
The weather forecast was for afternoon thunderstorms so i kept a close eye on the skyline.Sure enough clouds started forming down south so thought it prudent to head down.
A view back to the area in which i had been botanising.
State Highway 99 :-\
Thanks for all your patience in reaching the end. :)
Cheers Dave
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Hi Dave,
Good that you were able to get out - I presume it was Mt Bee you went back to. I think you are looking at Raoulia buchananii in different shades of green. Raoulia eximia is not meant to occur further south than North Otago, the Hawkduns and Ida Range being the southern limit. Love your pictures of Celmisia philocremna.
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Hi Dave,
Beautiful pictures of a very beautiful plants. Love your picture of Leucogenes grandiceps. Thanks
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Great show Dave !
Thanks a lot !!!
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Hello David.
Thanks for a wonderful trip with beautiful views and informative plantphotos.
Some Celmisias and Hebe can grow up here but seldom survive our wet-cold winters.
Gunne-Bert Bromma - 25C
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Dave, marvellous photographs, I really enjoyed them. It's like hiking without the effort ;D
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Jeepers, Dave,
I'm exhausted just from looking at those mountains.
A fabulous show entirely. It's just brilliant to be able to see all these plants and the habitats in which they grow.
Many thanks, Paddy
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I love the sign Maggi. I haven't seen it myself but would suggest that someone was "taking the Michael" as those poor Australian cricket commentators said yesterday as yet another 6 was hit off Glenn McGrath. Oh dear, 4 straight one-day losses in a row and loss of their top world ranking. Poor Australians! (I do love that wonderful German word!)
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Lesley we in Sweden have the same word but then it is called skade glädje.
It means missery happines and implies someone else´s missery offcourse.
So up north a lot of peoples have that in the vocabulary. 8)
Joakim
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Today John Fitzgerald and I made a quick trip to the Ida Range inland and north of Dunedin. We reached the crest of the range but did not continue to the highest point We spent some time botanising on some rocky outcrops there. There was a strong northwest wind blowing which made conditions a bit unpleasant but otherwise we had a very succesful day finding the incomparable Raoulia petriensis and a couple of undescribed plants.
The first picture is a view from the crest of the Range looking down the Kyeburn more or less in the direction of the access road. Beyond is the farmland of the upper Strath Taieri.
The second picture is looking across the Kyeburn towards the Kakanui Range. The Kakanui Range is 1600 metres at its highest point. The Ida Range is about the same height.
The third picture is looking down Blue Duck Creek across to the St Mary Range to the north.
This is one of the locations where Ranunculus acraeus is found. The area between the Ida Range, Hawdun Range and St Mary Range is a huge dissected plateau draining north to the Waitaki River. It is completely unihabited. The Kyeburne drains south to the Taieri River which ultimately reaches the coast south of Dunedin.
The fourth picture is of Raoulia petriensis. This is a rare plant and is growing here on wind eroded scree on a ridge crest.
The fifth picture is of a Wahlenbergia which I believe is not described. It grows on scree and is more robust and fleshier than Wahlenbergia albomarginata which is the common grassland species and also common in the area. It was a hit and miss affair getting a photo of this paricular specimen as the flowers were getting blown around in the wind. Our vehicle was rocking in the wind gusts at the time.
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Fantastic photos - what a trip! What a glorious country!
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More pictures,
Lunch at Blue Duck Creek hut. This hut has most certainly seen better days. It would have been used to accomodate musterers. Sheep are grazed on this high country over the summer and are brought back down before the winter snow arrives.
The second picture is of Aciphylla aurea growing amongst snow tussock (Chionochloa)
The third picture is of Raoulia subsericea growing in tussock grassland. This species is resistant to grazing and is very common at low to mid altitudes.
Back on the rock outcrops we found Raoulia eximia growing as magnificent flowing cushion. The closeup shows the details of the flowers and foliage. This species is at its southern limit here.
Helichrysum intermedium - the plant was blowing about in the wind while I was taking the photo and I was not too steady myself. The photo is a little blurred but not too bad. This species characteristically grows on rock outcrops and can be white flowered as in this specimen or yellow flowered.
Leucogenes grandiceps the South Island edelweiss - always attractive in flower.
Lobelia roughii growing on scree. This plant is well comouflaged and we were fortunate to find it.
Another scenic shot looking across to the Mt Buster gold workings. The diggings are the conspicuous white areas in the middle distance. Gold was recovered from the quartz gravels by sluicing. The area is still used for grazing sheep.
Final picture is of the Mt Buster gold workings
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David, not only that South Island edelweiss is always attractive – your all pictures are always attractive!
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David, you're really making all of our mouths water - if sealevels rise even more than predicted, don't blame global warming .... ;D
Great show again, thanks a million !
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Great pictures David, thank you.
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He's a great photographer, isn't he?
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He's a great photographer, isn't he?
He sure is!
Seems that all the NZers I know called David or Dave are all (david) Baileys!
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Thank you for the kind comments everyone. I am very fortunate in that I am able to undertake these trips and hope you all can share some of the enjoyment I get from them.
Last postings from this particular excursion.
Mt Buster gold workings showing gravel enscarpments left by sluicing.
Raoulia hectori showing a large cushion and a closeup of the flowers. This is the most common alpine cushionfield Raoulia.
The tiny eyebright Euphrasia zelandica growing in a cushion of Celmisia sessiliflora. This species is an annual and is partially parasitic on the roots of other plants - in this case one assumes that the Celmisia is serving as the host.
Celmisia sessiliflora. There were literally acres of these cushions growing amongst the tussocks in moderately boggy ground. Most had finished flowering but I found a plant growing up against a snow tussock that still had a couple of flowers remaining.
Pentachondra pumila in fruit. The superficially similar Cyathodes pumila was also present but I did not photograph the first plant I saw anticipating I would find another one. I did not.
Gentiana bellidifolia growing in a damp boggy area. If you look closely a the picture you can also see Kelleria paludosa and Celmisia alpina which has flowered and set seed.
Final picture is of a Celmisia hybrid. One parent was Celmisia sessiliflora and the other was probably Celmisia lyalli. We also found hybrids between Celmisia sessiliflora and Celmisia alpina that were similar but much smaller than the hybrid pictured.
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David, is all the gold exhausted now or if I hitch up my mule and dig out my pan would I make a fortune? The Gentiana bellidifolia is my favourite from this batch. If you keep taking 'em we will keep looking at 'em, absolutely marvellous!
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I'm for the Pentachondra David. Many years ago I had in my mind to make an alpine lawn of berry-bearing plants only: Pentachondra pumila, Myrsine nummularia, assorted Gaultheria/Pernettya species, Vacciniums, Coprosmas etc etc not necessarily natives. I can't think of any with a yellow berry but there is every other colour imaginable including several shades of blue. It would have been a lovely thing to behold in the late summer and autumn when the fruit was ripe. But there it is, still in my mind and no closer to being on or in the ground.
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David,
If you mean gold in the literal sense there is still the odd bit around. There was someone working a claim in the Kyeburn with a small dredge. As for a fortune you might stand more chance buying a lottery ticket.
In the figurative sense I found two undescribed plants on the same rock outcrop. Botanical gold!
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David,
Greatly enjoyed, again fabuously enjoyable to view the photographs, transporting us to the southern hemisphere.
Many thanks, Paddy