The New Zealand Plant Conservation Network

Species

Celmisia coriacea

Etymology

Celmisia: Apparently named after Kelmis, one of Idaean Dactyls, a group of skilled mythical beings associated with the Mother Goddess Rhea in Greek mythology. Kelmis, whose name means ‘casting’, was a blacksmith and childhood friend of Zeus, son of Rhea and later king of the gods. In Ovid’s ‘Metamorphoses’, Kelmis is described as offending Zeus who turned him into adamant so he was as hard as a tempered blade
coriacea: leathery

Common Name(s)

Fiordland mountain daisy

Current Conservation Status

2012 - Not Threatened

Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2012
The conservation status of all known New Zealand vascular plant taxa at the rank of species and below were reassessed in 2012 using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS). This report includes a statistical summary and brief notes on changes since 2009 and replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants. Authors: Peter J. de Lange, Jeremy R. Rolfe, Paul D. Champion, Shannel P. Courtney, Peter B. Heenan, John W. Barkla, Ewen K. Cameron, David A. Norton and Rodney A. Hitchmough. File size: 792KB

Previous Conservation Status

2009 - Not Threatened
2004 - Not Threatened

Authority

Celmisia coriacea (G.Forst.) Hook.f.

Family

Asteraceae

Flora Category

Vascular - Native

NVS Species Code

CELCOR

Structural Class

Dicotyledonous Herbs - Composites

Synonyms

Celmisia lanceolata Cockayne

Distribution

Endemic. South Island: Fiordland from about Nancy Sound to near Puysegur Point, generally most abundant in western Fiordland but extending east into Southland via the Hunter Mountains, the Hump and Longwood Range

Habitat

Montane to alpine. A common component of wet grassland and herbfield especially near timber line where it forms large patches in boggy grass-rush communities intermixed with low scrub.

Features

Stout woody-based herb with branchlets arising from a multicipital stock, usually hidden; living leaves in large rosettes at the tips of branchlets, the whole plant forming an irregular sward-like patch; leaf sheaths densely imbricate and compacted, forming a pseudo-stem. Leaf lamina 160-400 x 25-55 mm, coriaceous, older leaves somewhat patent, lanceolate or occasionally oblong; upper surface sulcate, somewhat rugose in some plants, bronze-green with a conspicuous orange stripe along the midrib, pellicle bronze, obvious, and deciduous in old leaves; lower surface densely covered in glistening appressed tomentum, midrib prominent; tip acute; margins entire, often slightly revolute; base more or less cuneate, occasionally abruptly narrowed to the petiole. Petiole short. Sheath up to 130 x 40 mm, yellowish, clad in floccose white hairs. Scape densely clad in floccose white hairs, stout, up to 450 mm long; bracts several in upper half, erect, up to 80 mm long, strongly revolute; monocephalous. Ray florets 160-200, ligulate, the limb narrow-linear, white. Disc florets 200-250, 7-8 mm long, funneliform, yellow, tube with long eglandular biseriate hairs in lower half. Achene fusiform to obovoid, strongly grooved, 4.5-5.0 mm long, moderately to densely hairy; hairs short, appressed, bifid. Pappus unequal, up to 6 mm long, of c.30 barbellate bristles.

Similar Taxa

Distinguished from C. armstrongii, with which it apparently does not grow by the leaves which are > 20 mm wide. Celmisia semicordata has long been confused with C. coriacea, from C. semicordata, C. coriacea (a Fiordland and western Southland endemic) differs by the presence of a orange-brown medial stripe on the leaf, and by the more or less evenly hairy achenes (rather than glabrous or with hairs confined to the upper half of the achene)

Flowering

November - February

Flower Colours

White,Yellow

Fruiting

January - April

Propagation Technique

Easily grown in a shaded site, planted within a permanently moist, free draining, acidic soil. Dislikes humidity and will not tolerate drying out. Best grown from fresh seed which should be sown immediately or stratified in a fridge or freezer for 1-3 months

Threats

Not Threatened

Chromosome No.

2n = 108

Endemic Taxon

Yes

Endemic Genus

No

Endemic Family

No

Life Cycle and Dispersal

Pappate cypselae are dispersed by wind (Thorsen et al., 2009).

This page last updated on 15 Aug 2014