Celmisia laricifolia
Common names
needle-leaved mountain daisy
Biostatus
Native – Endemic taxon
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Herbs - Dicotyledonous composites
Flower colours
White, Yellow
Detailed description
Small slender branched subshrub up to c. 150 mm tall; branches slender, diverging, clad in leaf-remnants; branchlets densely clad in imbricate, ascending, finally recurved, leaves. Lamina very narrow-linear, c.8.0-20.0 × 1.0-1•5 mm, subcoriaceous; upper surface dark, dirty-silvery-grey, with a delicate deciduous pellicle, lower clad in a very thin white to grey-white appressed tomentum; apex produced into a delicate acicular point c.2 mm long, easily broken off; margin recurved nearly or quite to midrib; base slightly narrowed to pale scarious ± pilose sheath 8.0 × 1.0-1•5 mm. Scape 5-10 mm long, very slender to almost filiform, ± clad in loose floccose deciduous hairs; bracts few, narrow-subulate, minute, sts absent. Capitula 10-20 mm diameter; involucral bracts subulate to linear-lanceolate, erect, membranous, c.7 mm long. Ray-florets several, prominent, up to c. 12 mm long, limb gradually widening to apex; disk-florets funnelform to campanulate, hardly > 5 mm long. Achenes slender, compressed-cylindric, ± 3 mm long, clad in ascending stiff hairs; pappus-hairs white, up to 4•5 mm long, very minutely barbellate
Similar taxa
Similar to C. similis. Celmisia similis differs from C. laricifolia by the darker distinctly red colour of the scapes, and by the stiffer and wider leaves which are silvery and pellicled on the upper surface (those of C. laricifolia being bronze-green and glabrous). Another distinction is that in fresh specimens the leaves of C. similis tend to be clustered towards the branchlet tips, whereas those of C. laricifolia are usually fairly evenly distributed along the branchlets
Distribution
Endemic. South Island: Widespread from Nelson south to Southland
Habitat
Montane to subalpine in open sparsely vegetated ground, on the margins of mires, in grassland, fellfield, and 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.
- 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
September - May
Fruiting
October - August
Life cycle and dispersal
Pappate cypselae are dispersed by wind (Thorsen et al., 2009).
Propagation technique
Easily grown from fresh seed and by the division of established plants. One of the few Celmisia that does well in cultivation. As with most Celmisia dislikes humidity and will not long 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
laricifolia: Larch leaf
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.
CELLAR
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
Regional conservation statuses
The regional threat classification system leverages off the national assessments in the NZTCS, providing information relevant for the regional context. Otago conservation status information is sourced from the “Regional conservation status of indigenous vascular plants in Otago” Jarvie S et al. (2024) report.
Otago: 2024 | Regionally 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.