New Zealand field trips October 2008

[art600]

Is it a form of TUFA   

[Lesley Cox]

I think it looks soft so maybe some kind of fungus?

I do like the climbing fuchsia. I hadn't realized it would have such a thick trunk, surely unusual on a climbing plant. Would it grow from cuttings of smaller material David?

Funny, I thought that was you at the DBG on Sunday morning. A lookalike apparently.

[David Lyttle]

Cliff, As usual you are correct. Since I was driving back to Dunedin to sell plants to Lesley the following day I had to forgo the beer. ( Life is tough at times)

Lesley, Fuchsia perscandens is very easy to grow from cuttings. In the open it forms a low mounding bush

The fungus is a species of spine or tooth fungus which I have not been able to name. Picture 1 shows the thallus.

Picture 2 is a large bracket fungus

Picture 3 is a mushroom called Pluteus muscicola

Picture 4 and 5 are of a strange shining fungus that was unfamiliar to any of our party. The consensus was that it was an extraterrestial fungus from outer space.

From outer space we go to European fairy tales. Picture 6 is an Eyelash Elf Cup.

Picture 7 is an aggregation of fruiting bodies of a small wood-rotting fungus.

Pictures 8, 9 and 10 are of Gyromitra tasmanicawhich is related to the European species Gyromitra esculenta.  Although this latter species is eaten by our Scandinavian friends it is highly toxic as it contains the chemical dimethylhydrazine which is used as rocket fuel.

[Maggi Young]

Super "musher" pix, David! 
The Gyromitra tasmanica does look suspiciously like a tasty morelle, though, doesn't it!!??!!

[Lvandelft]

Here is a little challenge for everyone - identify the mystery photo. All will be revealed on my next posting. I am sure someone  will be able to.

David, when you put the picture upside down it looks like Ramaria stricta, don't know an English name
for it, has something to do with coral??
Pictures from Down-under we should look more carefully at in future    

[Paul T]

David,

Well, that is another Fuchsia I need to find out a source for now.  That and the tree one are both very cool.  Even not on our quarantine list, I am hoping that the climber is here in Aus.  Anyone know whether either of these fuchsias are here in Aus?

[David Lyttle]

Paul,

The tree Fuchsia is pretty much neglected in horticultural circles here and the climbing one is totally unknown. The only species that is available is Fuchsia procumbens which is a prostrate trailing plant. I can supply you with seed if you are allowed to import it.

I will finish this posting with a few pictures of ferns and other plants.

Picture 1 is a patch of lichens on thee trunk of a beech tree. There are at least two different species there.

Picture 2 is Grammitis billardierei a small epiphytic fern. It is also found in Australia.

Picture 3 is Blechnum fluviatile. We also share this one with Australia.

Picture 4 is Histiopteris incisa. It is found on the forest floor on disturbed sites usually windfalls and is best avoided for this reason.

Picture 5 is an unfurling frond of Histiopteris incisa.

Picture 6 shows the scandent habit of the clubmoss Lycopodium volubile.

Picture 7 shows the fronds of Lycopodium volubile in greater detail.

Picture 8 is a Corybas species. I looked hard for a flower but was not able to find one. There is the remains of a flower on one plant on the left of the picture.

[David Lyttle]

Now winter has now arrived in the Northern Hemisphere I will post some picture I took last Monday at a place called Akatore Creek south of Dunedin. The weather was absolutely brilliant but has been a bit of a mixed bag since. The creek runs out to the sea through an estuary. When we arrived the tide was in so not wanting to get our feet wet we headed up through the bush to the fence line above that separates it from the surrounding farm land. It was quite steep where we climbed up but you can generally find a way through the tangle.

Picture 1 shows the forest looking back up the estuary towards the road where we came in. There are a few Southern rata (Metrosideros umbellata) trees here: this is the nearest place to Dunedin where they may be found. The large trees on the skyline are exotic eucalypts that have been planted.

Picture 2 shows the point of land where the Akatore Creek enters the sea. There is a little island at the end that is accessible at low tide.

Picture 3 shows the tidal channel between the mainland and the island.

Picture 4 shows the rocks round the side that we had to negotiate.

Picture 5 shows my wife Belinda in transit. About this point she decided to take to the water and got her feet wet.

Picture 6 shows a little holiday cottage or crib as they are known in this part of the country on the other side of the estuary.

Picture 7 shows a white-faced heron wading in the creek

[ranunculus]

Beautiful area, superbly captured, David...

[David Lyttle]

Thanks for you kind comments, Cliff. Here are a few plant photographs.

Picture 1 is the maidenhair spleenwort, Asplenium hookerianum. It is a small fern that grows in dryish forest.

Picture 2 is another spleenwort, the coastal spleenwort Asplenium obtusatum. It is growing in a rock crevice not far above high tide mark.

Picture 3 is the coastal ice plant Disphyma australe.

Picture 4 is Clematis foetida growing it its natural habitat which is the forest margin. ( Take note Lesley).

Pictures 5 and 6 is a form of Melicytus alpinus flowering. This particular variant is quite common in these coastal situations. In sheltered positions this species tends to be shrubby but in exposed positions it is a flattened spreading rather spiny cushion.

Picture 7 and 8 are Melicytus flexuosus. This is on of the strangest shrubs in the NZ flora and is quite rare and localised in it distribution. I found only three plants at Akatore two males and one female all in danger of being eroded into the estuary. Picture 7 shows the tangled mass of slender interlacing branches that is characteristic of this species. Picture 8 shows a close up view of the flowers.

[Lvandelft]

Beautiful pictures David. The Melicytus flexuosus is indeed a very interesting plant.
I always thought only Cercis flower out of the stem on shrubs. Now I know there are more like
this plant and Fuchsia arborescens.
Never knew there are iceplants (Disphyma australe) in your area too. Are the as hardy as some Delosperma?

[Paddy Tobin]

David,

I haven't been following your postings very diligently for the past while and so have spent a good while catching up, going back over the four pages of this thread.

I've said it before but it is worth repeating, these postings of yours from the southern hemisphere bring us a range of plants which are almost out of the world for us, things completely new, though it is also nice to see some we grow here.

Delighted with the photographs and your commentary but more than a bit jealous of that last posting showing your summer weather. When I came in from the garden today my fingers were so incredibly cold and pained me for ages - several barrow loads of wilted, wet and cold hosta leaves picked up and put on the compost heap. So, jealous though I am , it is still lovely to see such nice photographs.

Many thanks, Paddy

[David Lyttle]

Our summer has not lasted. Today was very windy. First from the northwest (warm) and then from the southwest (cold). There were a couple of showers but what little precipitation reached the ground blew away again. All my plants in pots dry out rapidly under these conditions and I need to keep watering in case I lose things.

Maggi, you will of course realise you are only six months behind us so the boot will be on the other foot come June!

Luit, Cauliflory or flowering from old wood is not uncommon perhaps it is more a feature of tropical/subtropical genera than northern temperate genera. The tree kohekohe, Dysoxylum spectabile (Meliaceae) is the species usually given as the textbook example. Disphyma austale would be similar in hardiness to Delosperma though it would be unlikely to tolerate frost as it is confined to the coast. The South African species Carpobrotus edulis has become naturalised here and grows in similar situations to Disphyma australe.

Paddy, Thanks for your kind comments, I am pleased that you are enjoying my postings. I attempt to select what I think might be interesting and different but you might have noticed almost every landscape shot in this thread has gorse  which I am sure is very familiar to you somewhere in the photo. It is becoming a major problem in coastal Otago

[Lvandelft]

Disphyma austale would be similar in hardiness to Delosperma though it would be unlikely to tolerate frost as it is confined to the coast. The South African species Carpobrotus edulis has become naturalised here and grows in similar situations to Disphyma australe.

Thank you David, sounds it is only hardy in the Mediterranian climate then.

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Thanks for taking us along on a wonderful walk in another amazing area David ! 
Beautiful plants - scenery and great holliday atmosphere ... something we have to dream of for another while...