Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
General Subjects => Travel / Places to Visit => Topic started by: t00lie on March 04, 2007, 07:38:48 AM
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A few pics from yesterdays trip into Fiordland .Part one.
Tarns showing the effects of our current dry spell.I've never seen the water levels so low.
Gentiana montana .
I love the way the flowers of Donatia novae zealandiae seem to sit on top of the cushion.
Aciphylla congesta flower head.
Ourisia sessilifolia --hairy mat.
I think this one with the touch of purple is O. confertifolia?.
Cheers Dave.
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Part two--
Brachyglottis bellidoides
Anisotome capillifolia --and one plant with pink tinge to the flower stalk.
I found small groupings of the following snow marguerites--
Dolichoglottis lyallii
D. scorzoneriodes
and their hybrid.
Then botanising a bit further east to where i normally poke around i came across this wonderful sight.In a small stream bed hundreds of D scorzoneriodes in full bloom :o.A terrific end to a great day.
Cheers Dave
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Dave, great stuff, keep 'em coming
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Dave,
Wonderful plants and photos. I am happy to see them.
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Wonderful Dave, it is a pleasure to "walk" with you! :)
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The pink anisotome and Ourisia confertifolia are both new to me Dave. Are they confined to the wetter parts of Fiordland or what? The ourisia isn't mentioned in the Flora (H.H.Allan, 1961) at all.
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Dave, another super jaunt through the NZ mountains. I especially love the Ourisias. Thanks for the show and keep on trekking (used to be keep on trukking in the old days!)
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Thanks for the encouragement folks --David Lyttle , John Fitzgerald and i are away again in a couple of weekends up into the 'hills',so there will more pics. to follow from the three musketeers . :D
A follow up to the posting above on water levels in the tarns--Our daily newspaper has as it's main front page feature the following----"Rain forecast-bring it on.Parched Southland on verge of drought ''.
We woke this morning to steady rain here on the coast with Fiordland forecast to receive over 100 mm in the next few hours so it seems all's back to normal. 8)
Lesley i have seen the Anisotome with the pink flowering stem before and presume as they come in male or female forms that is the difference.I don't know which sex it is however,maybe David can comment.
Ourisia confertifolia is described in 'Mark and Adams '--found along the main divide from South Westland to Fiordland .Was previously identified as a form of O.sessilifolia.
Cheers Dave.
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Judging from the portrait at the left of your post Dave, the pink one is probably the male.
We are having steady and very cold rain here this morning too. Thankfully. But those in the north needn't take too seriously the possibility of drought in Southland. It's well known that people who go to church pray for rain in Southland following 3 days of dry. ;D ;D ;D (I owed you that one Dave!)
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Dave,
Im a little puzzled by your Ourisia confertifolia. I have been trying to key it out from your picture and have not been able to get an entirely satisfactory identification. It certainly is not Ourisia sessilifolia and I have not seen it before. Your plant has a purple corolla throat, O. confertifolia has a corolla throat entirely yellow or yellowish green according to Alan Mark's key. All this leaves me in a quandry - while I have some doubts about your identification I cannot offer a better one.
It certainly is a most attractive plant - well seen.
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Dave
great pics!
As for the questionable Ourisia, perhaps a new species: O.tooliei ssp lycra?
cheers
fermi
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Oh yes, that's very good Fermi.
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David thanks for your comments.
Ive just sent a pic of the Ourisia to a Dept. of Conservation Botanist.He informs me he knows of a woman further up the country who's currently completing a study of Ourisia sps. so hopefully we will have a name soon,unless you have already spoken to the 'man himself' (Alan Mark).
Fermi--(sigh )--if only!!!!. 8)
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Trying my hand at posting some pics of our trip up to Mt Cheeseman, an hour and a half's drive west of Christchurch, the weekend before last. About 18 of us, blessed with sunshine and stupendous views, and some super plants in good condition. It was my first field trip with the NZAGS, and it made a huge difference to be with a crowd of people who could put names to all these green buns and white daisies, instead of struggling alone with a picture book or a flora!
Walked up to the ridge on Saturday morning, so first off is the view looking back down at the ski lodge in the morning mist. Spotted some nice clumps of Gnaphalium mackaui and Celmisia argentea among sheets of Celmisia viscosa, then on top of the ridge lots of Leptinella dendyi and Haastia recurva.
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Pretty nearly the whole group - some age 80 plus - made it to the ridge. Hope any of you coming over for the Study Weekend next January are already in training! Heading down into a damp hollow where the snow would lie late, we found Phyllachne colensoi and Neopaxia sp. On the rocky outcrops cushions of Raoulia grandiflora, Leucogenes grandiceps,Raoulia subsericea and Raoulia mammillaris, whilst very common all day was the beautifully fragrant Pratia macrodon.
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Just want to finish off (it is after midnight, after all) by saying a big hello to all the Cheesemanites, it was great to meet the ones I didn't already know and put faces to names. I had a birthday (ending in a Big '0') on the Saturday, so a special hello and thanks to Ann and Dolina and their co-conspirators who really pushed the boat out, making it a very special surprise celebration for me. A big thank you, Ann, and the cake was delicious, Dolina, and I never even noticed you'd had to repair the icing after travelling up those twisty hairpin bends! Good place to stay, yummy food, superb weather, special plants and great company ... when's the next trip?!
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Doreen what wonderful pictures! Thank you! Amazing a woman of only thirty can be such an accomplished photographer and hiker!! ::) ;D
How delightful to celebrate your birthday among friends and with such a great trip. So glad that the SRGC cake tradition is enjoyed by other NZAGS, too!!
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Super pictures Doreen. I enjoyed the armchair trip.
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Beautiful plants and photographs, enjoyed them, many thanks.
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Brilliant Doreen - thanks a million for letting us participate in this small "walk"...
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Great to have you back Doreen, and about time too. Where have you been all this time?
Wonderful pictures of super plants. Obviously a great time was had by all. Who among them up there lurks here, do you know? I want to contact some of them privately.
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Doreen,
What a delight to have another New Zealander posting these wonderful photographs. I have been enjoying Dave's, David's, Lesley's and Fermi's over the past while and am delighted to have one more send these great images northwards. It really is a thrill to view these.
Looking forward to more!
Paddy
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Thank you all (but I have to say, Maggi, it's a v-e-r-y long time since I was 30!) I recently made a wonderful discovery with this camera, the voice memo. Now I can speak the plant's name into the camera and play it back later, saves fishing around for pen and paper, but you do get some funny looks walking around reciting plant names to yourself!
Great to have you back Doreen, and about time too. Where have you been all this time?
Wonderful pictures of super plants. Obviously a great time was had by all. Who among them up there lurks here, do you know? I want to contact some of them privately.
Lesley, where have I been? Well, gardening, mowing the lawns, repotting bulbs, sowing seeds, collecting and cleaning seeds for the seedexes, and tripping about, in between cooking, cleaning and keeping body and soul together - might as well wear away as rust away! I've hardly even done any lurking on the Forum lately, but I dare say I'll get back into the fold now the nights are drawing in, the clocks will be going back shortly, and processing photos is a good job for winter's evenings.
Couldn't really say who else is looking in regularly - maybe like me they're all out all hours working in their gardens too! - so sorry I can't be of much help there. Word seems to get around by some sort of osmosis, but maybe a note in the Trillium or Frit Group newsletters would put you in touch?
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I have a reply from D.O.C. regarding the questionable Ourisia.I'm told it is most likely to be O.remotifolia, (described in 1984).
It should have 3 lines of hairs in the corolla throat--unfortunately none of my pics show that area of the plant in fine detail so i guess i'll have to go hunting for it tomorrow week.
Blow!!I was just getting used to the name Fermi had suggested for it.
Doreen --nice pics ,especially the shot of the Haastia with the Hebe and snow ridge in the background.
Cheers Dave.
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Dave,
Ourisia remotifolia would seem a good possibility. I considered it but the leaves did not seem sufficently remote in the photo. I think you would need a hand lens and fresh material to see the hairs in the corolla throat - I looked at some of my pictures of Ourisia sessiliflora which also has hairs in the corolla throat and it is not possible to see them on photos. Making identifications in the field can be fairly challenging at times. We were looking at Dracophyllum sp on Maungatua on Saturday. Alan Mark said D longiflium, D politum and D. prostratum were all present there. However there are a large number of plants that do not fit into any of the three species and he was not willing to assign a name to any of these. One can always say they are hybrids which is not necessarily the case with everything one has difficulty identifying.
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Doreen,
I have to agree completely with your preferences. In the northern hemisphere at present we still have our early nights, gardening to 7p.m. is as late as it is possible and so there is some time for the internet. However, in the summer with the longer evenings who wants to be in front of a computer when the weather and light permits gardening outside.
Good find, Dave. Looking forward to new photographs when you visit again.
Paddy
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The following picture were taken on Saturday on an Otago Botanical Society field trip to the Maungatua Range the easternmost range of Otago block mountains. Summit is 897 metres.
First picture is a view of Saddle Hill looking across the Taieri Plain. The township of Mosgiel is barely visible centre left.
Second picture is a bog on the summit plateau. The white colour is due to the lichen Thamnolia vermicularis. The surrounding vegetation is mixed tussock grassland/ subalpine scrub. The dominant tussock species is Chionochloa rigida. The dominant shrub in the picture is Dracophyllum longifolium.
Two more picture of tarns on the summit plateau.
Now for some plants. The cushion celmisia, Celmisia argentea. It is in many respects similar to Celmisia sessiliflora but is smaller. It is generally found growing in bogs.
Next, the large species Celmisia semicordata var aurigans showing golden tomentum on the upper surface of the leaf. Growing alongside is a grey form of the same species.
The subalpine bog orchid Lyperanthus antarcticus still flowering.
The little bog epacarid Cyathodes pumila. The superficially similar Pentachondra pumila was also present as was the larger Cyathodes empetrifolia.
Last a group of Gentiana patula.The gentians were in full flower. An annual species, Gentiana grisebachii, is also present.
It was hot and sunny all day not the best conditions for photography but very enjoyable. Not a lot is still flowering. The large celmisias are being destroyed by wild pigs who are digging them up to eat the roots. The young men of New Zealand these days apparently find computer games more entertaining than pig hunting.
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David,
The general landscape photographs continue to enthrall me. In the general views it seems that there should be nothing growing there but the close up photographs reveal a wealth of treasures. It just amazes me each time you post these photographs. It starts of so unpromising and then reveals beauty.
Many thanks for the photographs.
The Lyperanthus antarcticus is very similar to a plant I am growing at home, described to me when I was given it as a terrestial orchid from Australia. Must take a photograph and post for your comments.
Paddy
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David, thanks for taking us on another jaunt in the muntains. Paddy is right about you having the botanists eye, pickng out the lttle beauies from what looks to be an unpromising background. I particularly love the Celmisia semicordata var aurigans with its beautiful golden sheen. I have admired it on the show bench.
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If anyone is interested, in David's top picture here, of Saddle Hill, the double hill on the left is Saddle Hill and the blip or hump on the right is Scroggs Hill. I live in the middle of the dip between the two. You can see why I live in a very healthy atmosphere with every wind that blows, either from the north and west or over the hill from the sea, to the east and south. Great views though.
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I thought you were there somewhere, Lesley, with the reference to Mosgiel.
By the way, the other day, when it took you so long to remember where you had parked the car after you came out of the post office: was it because you had got a lift?
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'Fraid not Maggi. Just totally forgot where. I met a sort of friend, (someone who used to work in a local shop and who knew me on that basis) and we walked up and down the raod together for a few mins. Found it quite near the PO actually, but no recollection of parking there, as I'd been other places as well. We had a good laugh about it, but it's really not that funny.
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Oh yes, Lesley,
I can see the house now. Is that you outside in the garden?
Paddy
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That's me all right Paddy. Do you like my gardening hat with the feather in it?
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Lesley,
My visits to the forum have been sporadic of late - busy days. However, in reply to your query re hat and feather I must quote the old saw, 'fine feathers make fine birds' and add that it is particularly borne out in this case.
Paddy
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Thank you Paddy, I THINK that is a compliment though I've always thought of that "old saw" as along the same lines as "handsome is as handsome does, with a distinct, nose-in-the-air sniff, at the end of it. But hey, I'm happy to be thought of as a "fine bird." :D
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Lesley,
You think correctly. Fine bird indeed!
Brings to mind an incident some years ago when a gardening group were here visiting the garden. As might be exected, the garden was in pristine condition. A visiting lady asked how I managed to keep the garden so weed free. I replied that I put my wife out into the garden each morning for an hour before breakfast and that that seemed to work for me. Her jaw dropped as she looked at me and wondered if I was being serious.
Paddy
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Paddy, you seem to have a lot in common with Roger. When I thanked him appreciatively for putting a light in my rather dingy potting shed, he said it wasn't necessarily to make things easier to see, he just wanted to make sure I could work out there 24 hours a day instead of only in daylight.
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While Ian was in Denmark, he showed pix of the electric cement mixing machine that we use for mixing potting compost. Later, visiting with some of the charming people he met there who invited him to see their gardens and eat delicious meals, his host pointed out the smart cement mixer he had, telling Ian that his wife had bought him the machine for a present. Ian was quick to point out the differences between Denmark and Scotland, explaining that in Scotland, it is the husband who buys the heavy machinery for the wife. Bless that BD, he thinks I should want for nothing! When we had grass to mow, he bought me a really super lawn-mower and I have a fab shredder, too. Yes, a lot of these chaps know how to give a girl a good time! :P
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They certainly do Maggi. I got the weedeater for Christmas and Roger got the bottle of single malt.