Celmisia dallii
Common names
Dall’s mountain daisy
Biostatus
Native – Endemic taxon
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Herbs - Dicotyledonous composites
Flower colours
White, Yellow
Detailed description
Robust tufted, somewhat viscid herb arising from usually simple, rarely multicipital stock up to 800 mm long, pseudo-stem 600-700 mm long. Lamina 80-200 × 30-50 mm, obovate-oblong to obovate-lanceolate, coriaceous, subacute to obtuse, usually apiculate; upper surface glabrous bright to dark green, midrib and main veins evident; lower densely clad in appressed satiny white to pale buff tomentum, midrib stout, grooved, main veins evident through tomentum. Margins slightly upturned, sharply minutely toothed, narrowed to base, then suddenly widened to thinly coriaceous, glabrous, prominently ribbed sheath 40-50 × 18-22 mm. Scape stout, ± flattened, strongly ribbed, 150-450 mm long. Bracts usually numerous, foliaceous, tomentum as in leaves, lower 25-50 × 6-12 mm; uppermost forming a pseudo-involucre. Capitula 35-70 mm diameter. Involucral bracts, ± viscid, 2-seriate, outer ovate-oblong, foliaceous, similar to upper bracts; inner ± 12 × 2 mm, membranous, viscid, ciliate. Ray-florets numerous, c.15 mm. long, white, tube slender, limb narrow, gradually widening to 3-4-toothed apex. Disk-florets narrow-tubular to narrow-funnelform, c.7 mm long, teeth triangular. Anthers distinctly tailed. Achenes compressed narrow-cylindric, 2-4 mm long, pilose on rather weak ribs. Pappus-hairs slender, up to c.7 mm long, minutely barbellate.
Similar taxa
Allied to Celmisia hieraciifolia and C. holosericea species with which C. dallii shares a a finely denticulate leaf margin that is not obscured by indumentum. From C. holosericea and C. hieraciifolia, C. dallii is distinguished by it smuch larger overall size, and scapes which bear leaf-like (foliaceous) bracts
Distribution
Endemic. South Island: Westerly, and mostly present in the mountains of North-West Nelson extending south to about Westport.
Habitat
Montane to subalpine grassland, herbfield. Often on calcareous rocks and soils derived from these.
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.
- 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 | Not Threatened
Detailed taxonomy
Family
Synonyms
None
Endemic taxon
Yes
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Ecology
Flowering
November - February
Fruiting
December - April
Life cycle and dispersal
Pappate cypselae are dispersed by wind (Thorsen et al., 2009).
Propagation technique
Best grown from fresh seed. Can be grown by dividing established plants. Does best in a shaded site planted within a permanently moist, free draining soil. As a rule difficult to maintain.
Other information
Cultivation
Occasionally available from specialist native plant nurseries.
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
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.
CELDAL
Chromosome number
2n = 108
Previous conservation statuses
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.
- 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.
2017 | Not Threatened
2012 | Not Threatened
2009 | Not Threatened
2004 | Not Threatened
Referencing and citations
References and further reading
Allan, H.H. 1961: Flora of New Zealand. Vol. I, Government Printer, Wellington.
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 2009 Vol. 11 No. 4 pp. 285-309
Attribution
Description adapted from Allan (1961)
Some of this factsheet information is derived from Flora of New Zealand Online and is used under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 New Zealand licence.