Celmisia laricifolia
Common name
needle-leaved mountain daisy
Synonyms
None
Family
Asteraceae
Flora category
Vascular – Native
Endemic taxon
Yes
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Structural class
Herbs - Dicotyledonous composites
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
Current conservation status
The conservation status of all known New Zealand vascular plant taxa at the rank of species and below were reassessed in 2017 using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS). This report includes a statistical summary and brief notes on changes since 2012 and replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants. Authors: By Peter J. de Lange, Jeremy R. Rolfe, John W. Barkla, Shannel P. Courtney, Paul D. Champion, Leon R. Perrie, Sarah M. Beadel, Kerry A. Ford, Ilse Breitwieser, Ines Schönberger, Rowan Hindmarsh-Walls, Peter B. Heenan and Kate Ladley.
2012 | Not Threatened
Previous conservation statuses
2009 | Not Threatened
2004 | Not Threatened
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.
Features
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
Flowering
September - May
Flower colours
White, Yellow
Fruiting
October - August
Life cycle
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.
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
Where to Buy
Not commercially available.
Attribution
Description adapted from Allan (1961)
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