Celmisia haastii var. haastii
Common names
Haast’s mountain daisy
Biostatus
Native – Endemic taxon
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Herbs - Dicotyledonous composites
Flower colours
White, Yellow
Detailed description
Rather stout low-growing branching grey-green subshrub forming small to large patches; branchlets ascending to erect, lower parts covered by leaf remnants, upper part obscured by rosette-leaves. Lamina 30-80 × 10-28 mm, broadly elliptic-oblong to obovate-spathulate, subcoriaceous to coriaceous; upper surface glabrous, usually longitudinally furrowed, pale green; lower surface clad in closely appressed ± satiny tomentum, midrib tomentose but ± evident; apex obtuse to subacute; margins slightly recurved, very minutely distantly denticulate, cuneately narrowed to winged petiole c. 5 mm long. Sheath delicate, pale yellowish green, ± 20-30 × 5 mm; veins evident. Scape c. 50-150 mm long, densely tomentose to almost glabrous, rather stout to slender; bracts several or numerous, linear-subulate, acute to subacute, up to c. 2 mm long or more. Capitula 25-40 mm diameter; involucral bracts linear-lanceolate, membranous, softly hairy without, up to c. 12 mm long. Ray florets 15-20 mm long; limb narrow-oblong to narrow obovate-oblong, 3-5 toothed. Disk-florets funnelform, shortly 5-toothed, 6-8 mm long. Achenes narrow-cylindric, glabrous, 3-4 mm long. Pappus-hairs up to 5-6 mm long, very finely barbellate.
Similar taxa
Allied to C. discolor, C. incana, C. angustifolia, C. durietzii, C. lindsayi, C. bonplandii, C. hectorii and C. cockayneana. Of these Allan (1961) considered it closest to C. durietzii and C. cockayneana. From C. durietzii, C. haastii differs by the glabrous achenes and longer, wider leaves (30-80 × 10-28 mm cf. 30-60 × 7-10 mm) and pale yellowish-green rather than translucent sheath. From C. cockayneana it differs by the glabrous rather than hairy ahcenes and shorter, broader leaves (30-80 × 10-28 mm cf. 40-100 × 10-15 mm). Celmisia cockayneana is a Marlborough endemic that grows well north of the range of C. haastii. For distinctions between C. haastii var. haastii and var. tomentosa see the factsheet for C. haastii var. tomentosa.
Distribution
Endemic. South Island, occurring south from about North Canterbury.
Habitat
Montane to alpine. Inhabiting grassland, herbfield, fellfield and other moist rocky places.
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 | Not Threatened
Detailed taxonomy
Family
Asteraceae
Synonyms
None
Endemic taxon
Yes
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Ecology
Flowering
October - January
Fruiting
December - March
Life cycle and dispersal
Pappate cypselae are dispersed by wind (Thorsen et al., 2009).
Propagation technique
Difficult. Best grown from fresh seed. Dislikes humidity.
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
haastii: Honours the New Zealand geologist and botanist Sir Julius von Haast (1822-87)
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.
CELHVH
Chromosome number
2n = 108
Previous conservation statuses
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 11: 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.