Celmisia clavata
Common names
Stewart Island silver cushion daisy
Biostatus
Native – Endemic taxon
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Herbs - Dicotyledonous composites
Flower colours
White, Yellow
Detailed description
Densely branched, semi-woody, subshrub forming small forming loose patches, cushions or mats up to 700 × 100 mm; branches up to 400 mm long, clothed with persistent leaf-remnants, rebranching closely at the tips; branchlets, densely leafy 30 × 10 mm, clavate, rounded at the tips. Leaves erect, extremely rigid, and closely imbricating, ascending; lamina 5-7 × 1 mm, linear-subulate, coriaceous, irregularly thickened and ridged on both sides, distinctly broadening toward apex before abruptly and bluntly narrowing to an obtuse tip clad on both surfaces in a fine silky, silvery appressed tomentum, apex. Sheath 7.0-9.0 × 1.0-1.8 mm, membranous, hyaline, mostly pale brown, apex purple, floccose, with dense weft or tuft of silky hairs at leaf-sheath junction. Capitula 15 mm diameter , sessile to subsessile, terminal and solitary, sunken amongst apical leaves; involucral bracts 23-28, 8-10 mm long, subequal, linear-lanceolate, scarious, pale except at dark tip membranous, apex surmounted by a tuft of silky hairs. Ray-florets 6-8 mm long, white; tube slender, limb lanceolate, 3-toothed, veins evident. Disk-florets 5.8-6.0 mm long, yellow, very narrow-funnelform, teeth minute, triangular. Achenes 2.6-3.0 mm long, narrow-cylindric, subcompressed, ± evenly clad in silky, antrorse hairs (especially along ribs and toward apices). Pappus-hairs 5.2-6.0 mm long, off-white, slender, finely barbellate.
Similar taxa
Distinguished from Celmisia argentea by the semi-woody and densely leafy clavate branches, and by the erect, rigid, closely imbricating leaves with abruptly narrowed, obtuse apices. Celmisia clavata is considered by many New Zealand botanists as part of the natural variation within C. argentea. Because of this interpretation its exact distribution is unknown. As treated here, C. clavata is a Stewart island endemic but similar forms occur in Central Otago where they grow with and appear to intergrade with C. argentea. As with most Celmisia taxonomic delimitation is unclear and further study, perhaps using appropriate discriminating DNA markers is probably necessary to resolve the status of this species.
Distribution
Endemic. Stewart Island:
Habitat
Subalpine to alpine, in peat bogs, mires and poorly draining herbfield and fellfield.
Current conservation status
The conservation status of all known New Zealand vascular plant taxa at the rank of species and below were reassessed in 2022-2023 using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS) – more information about this can be found on the NZTCS website. This report includes replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants. Previous assessments can be found here.
Please note, threat classifications are often suggested by authors when publications fall between NZTCS assessment periods – these interim threat classification statuses has not been assessed by the NZTCS panel.
- Conservation status of vascular plants in Aotearoa New Zealand, 2023. 2024. Peter J. de Lange, Jane Gosden, Shannel P. Courtney, Alexander J. Fergus, John W. Barkla, Sarah M. Beadel, Paul D. Champion, Rowan Hindmarsh-Walls, Troy Makan and Pascale Michel Department of Conservation. Source: NZTCS and licensed by DOC for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.
2023 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon | Qualifiers: RR
Threats
A naturally uncommon species that does not appear to be actively threatened
Detailed taxonomy
Family
Asteraceae
Synonyms
None
Endemic taxon
Yes
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Ecology
Flowering
October - January
Fruiting
November - April
Life cycle and dispersal
Pappate cypselae are dispersed by wind (Thorsen et al., 2009).
Propagation technique
Difficult. Best grown from fresh seed but can be grown from cuttings. Should be planted in a free draining, moist soil. Excellent in a pot in an alpine house, or planted in a south-facing rockery. Dislikes humidity and will not tolerate drying out.
Other information
Where To Buy
Not Commercially Available
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
clavata: From the Latin clavatus ‘club-shaped’
NVS code
The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.
CELCLA
Chromosome number
2n = 108
Previous conservation statuses
2017 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon | Qualifiers: DP, RR
2012 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon | Qualifiers: RR
2009 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon | Qualifiers: IE
2004 | Range Restricted
Referencing and citations
References and further reading
Thorsen, M. J.; Dickinson, K. J. M.; Seddon, P. J. 2009: Seed dispersal systems in the New Zealand flora. Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics 11(4): 285-309.
Attribution
Description based on herbarium specimens