Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
General Subjects => Alpines => Topic started by: David Lyttle on November 11, 2010, 10:08:53 AM
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I walked up to Swamp Summit from Leith Saddle a couple of days ago. Fine, hot day with virtually no wind. Still a bit early for flowering though some plants were out.
1-5 General scenic shots
6 ,7 Tarns on Swampy Summit Vegetation is a mixture of Chionochloa rubra var cuprea ( Red tussock) which favours wet boggy sites, Dracophyllum longifolium and Phormium tenax. The bogs contain Spaghnum and a couple of species of Drosera as well as other plants.
8 Shrubland dominated by Dracophyllum longifolium. As we were pushing our way through this which is in places shoulder high my companion remarked "at least it is not covered in snow".
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Now some plants;
1 A small Cardamine with Epilobium and Euchiton growing near a little creek.
2 Forstera tenella growing in a Spaghnum bog.
3,4 Kelleria dieffenbachii
5 Pentachondre pumila
6 Flowers of Melicytus aff flexuosus
7 A fungus growing on a dead branch
8 A little mushroom growing in a spaghnum bog. It is a lichenized basidiomycete.
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Spent the last three days in Mt Cook National Park and Ohau Ski Field with Dave, Steve, Ian and Ann.
Glorious weather and an abundance of flowers so early in the season.
The expedition team
Fields of Aciphylla aurea and Ranunculus lyalli were hevenly!
A hybrid we have named R tooliei - a possible cross of R godleyanus
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More R. lyallii and the views of the Hooker valley.
Ourisia caespitosa and Gingidia montana keep to the cooler shade.
Phyllocladus aspleniifolius in flower was dramatic.
Melicytus alpinus with an unusual colourfull paracite.
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Bulbinella angustifolia
Ranunculus haastii
Aciphylla dobsonii my new favourite plant!!!
An Aciphylla beetle.
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Chionohebe pulvinaris
Raoulia eximia
Celmisia hectorii
Myosotis uniflora
Raoulia heaven 4 species grow side by side in the Tasman valley. R. hookerii, R. haastii, R. australis, and R. tenuicalis
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Oh my, Oh my, Oh my ... these are SO worth the insomnia!!!!!!! Many, many thanks Doug.
Greetings to all your happy hikers!
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Chionohebe pulvinaris
Raoulia eximia
Celmisia hectorii
Myosotis uniflora
Raoulia heaven 4 species grow side by side in the Tasman valley. R. hookerii, R. haastii, R. australis, and R. tenuicalis
Raoulia heaven , something to dream of :D
What fantastic places to visit. You lucky people!!
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Cheers Cliff, Lvandelft, it's all here waiting for you!
Psychrophila obtusa, celmisia sessiliflora and Coprosma perpusilla in berry.
Ranunculus gracilipes?
Celmisia walkeri.
Haastia sinclairii.
Cardimine sp.
Anaphalioides bellidoides.
Dave, one I forgot to ask you for an id, any ideas?
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Dave, one I forgot to ask you for an id, any ideas?
It's a nice patch of Celmisia laricifolia Doug.
Yes a wonderful last 3 days --i was planning to join Steve Newall and the Christies tonight up at the hut on Mt Bee ,(Nrthn Southland), in their quest to locate Celmisia philocremna,however the rain has set in .Steve is going to call me on his cell,(shoe),phone at 5.30 am tomorrow from the hut if it's fine ,so i might meet up with them again.
Doug hasn't mentioned that he and a wet patch of snow grass had a disagreement yesterday morning at Lake Ohau--result, index finger broken in 3 places --knuckle floating off the bone :P :P --hand now in plaster and a bit of time off work--lucky my initial diagnosis of a dislocation, and the remedy ,wasn't followed through--(Hilda my wife is a nurse and when hearing later on of my diagnosis ,asked "when was it that i recently changed my occupation ?" ;D ; ).
Also there was talk among our little group of the possibility of a quick amputation ::)--luckily ? Steves whisky bottle was in his vehicle some distance away .........
I don't know how Doug continued plant locating, photographing, then driving 4.5 hours by himself back to Christchurch despite his obvious discomfort and swollen hand.
Cheers dave.
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A minor inconvenience for the chance to see that BEAUTIFUL Ranunculus tooliei, Dave!!! ;D
Get well soon Doug ... good job it wasn't your shutter release finger.
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Unfortunately it was Cliff, so I had to get used to holding and shooting with only my left hand.
You are right though, the amazing plants kept my mind on the job!
Find out on Monday wether it needs to be pinned, fingers crossed ;)
Now I have to try and sweet talk my wife to drive me up the mountains for the next few weeks!!! :-*
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Not an alpine but very interesting all the same --On our way home Steve spied what looked like to me to be some dead growths on a Beech tree.However upon stopping it became obvious that the beech mistletoes ,(Paraxilla sps),were in bloom.
Although these are normally found on Southern Beech ,(Nothofagus sps),i located it on another host ,the shrubby Matagourui,(Discaria toumatou), commonly known as wild Irishman.
Cheers dave.
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Fantastic pictures thanks so much for sharing them with us. :)
Looks as if Ann and Ian are having a great time.
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Great pictures Doug, and obviously a good season for many plants.
It would have been a kindness of those taking part to have invited or informed the other Forumists so that we could have had a chance to meet Ian and Ann, even if only for an evening meal at Ohau or somewhere.
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Lesley, having been invited on the trip ourselves it would have been impolite for us to make our own arrangements or suggestions. There are many other people I would have loved to take on that trip. :-\
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It would have been a kindness of those taking part to have invited or informed the other Forumists so that we could have had a chance to meet Ian and Ann, even if only for an evening meal at Ohau or somewhere.
Lesley ----last weekends trip was organised by a non forumist .I myself only knew the final details late last week.
While Steve and the Christies are currently away in the mountains today in wet weather i am unaware of their plans beyond that.
Dave.
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Lesley, I know Ian and Ann would love to see as many Forumists and other SRGC Members as possible on their trip.... as parts of their itinerary are being arranged by others that may not be possible, what a shame.
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Fantastic pictures thanks so much for sharing them with us. :)
Looks as if Ann and Ian are having a great time.
They appear to be Julia.
I managed to head out again mid afternoon once the weather improved .
Celmisia spedenii is not far away from flowering -- however the show belonged to hundreds of clumps of Myosotis sps,( i'm not sure of it's correct name),in bloom.
Cheers Dave
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Doug and Dave, many thanks for showing us these NZ floral gems, many of them we saw during
Alpines 96 with Steve as our guide. Ii is also nice to see him on the photo again after his last visit
to Waiblingen. Doug, my best wishes for you,that you get well soon!
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Just back from a field excursion in Northern Southland hosted by Environment Southland. Expected to see Dave Toole there but it was a no show on his part. Pity as I found some nice buttercups. :D
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Pity as I found some nice buttercups. :D
Nice? Nice??? Magnificent! :D :D :D
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Just back from a field excursion in Northern Southland hosted by Environment Southland. Expected to see Dave Toole there but it was a no show on his part. Pity as I found some nice buttercups. :D
I think t00lie's transport is sick --- that is.... almost dead truck!
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Picked up the truck last Tuesday after it spent 4 days in a garage just outside Dunedin receiving a new clutch ....... >:( ,(the steep hills around that area are very tough on a vehicle ........ :), so i was mobile ,however the weather wasn't that flash here on Sat ,so i had a look further down the coast yesterday.
Saw some interesting plants in bloom but nothing as wonderful :-* :-* :-*as your Ranunculus pilifera David.
I hope to locate that sps and maybe some hybrids with R.buchananii up Gorge creek next weekend --thankfully the weather forecast is for cooler temps later this week--i struggled working in the 20c + heat this morning :P :P
Cheers dave.
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David, what an incredible plant, the perfect specimen.
Another one I have to add to the must see list!!!
Cheers mate.
Doug. :o
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David, that Ranunculus was absolutely stunning.
Susan
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Hello everyone
Pleased you all liked the buttercup. Susan, I think you need to get out and climb a few mountains - the flowering this season is exceptional. I have just finished editing my pictures from Mid Dome so will post a few.
The trip to Mid Dome was to control wildling pines (Pinus contorta originally planted for erosion control but now spreading over thousands of hectares of tussock land). About 50 volunteers were out cutting and hand pulling pine seedlings. The day was hosted by Environment Southland who transported us up the hill and provide is with lunch.
1 Volunteers working - we all are wearing high visibility vests so no one gets lost. At this point I had strayed from the party I was attached to as I saw a Hebe that was new to me and stopped to take a photo. By the time I had finished the whole group had vanished so I just took a few more picture while I waited for them to turn up again.
2,3,4 Hebe biggari which is a very attractive plant.
5,6 Pimelea oreophila. Very common and flowering profusely
7 Hebe hectori ssp demissa
8 Myrsine nummularifolia The plant is flowering. The plant form large mats and has attractive blue berries.