Celmisia monroi
Common name
Monro’s mountain daisy
Synonyms
Celmisia monroi var. conspicua W.Martin; Celmisia minor var. robusta W.Martin
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.
CELMON
Chromosome number
2n = 108
Current conservation status
The threat classification 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) – more information about this can be found on the NZTCS website 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. Please note, threat classifications are often suggested by authors when publications fall between NZTCS assessment periods – a suggested threat classification status has not been assessed by the NZTCS panel.
Source: NZTCS and licensed by DOC for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.
2017 | Not Threatened
Previous conservation statuses
2012 | Not Threatened
2009 | Not Threatened
2004 | Not Threatened
Distribution
Endemic. South Island: from the Wairau River southwards to Kaikoura, Mount Tinline, near Hanmer and Lake Tennyson. Outlying populations are at Mole Tops and on ranges adjacent to Lake Rotoiti (Nelson). North of the Clarence River it occurs on coastal sites (e.g., Flaxbourne River mouth)
Habitat
Coastal to alpine. Found mainly in the drier parts of the north-eastern South Island (especially those areas within the rain shadow). This is a common of screes, fellfield, narrow ledges on cliff faces, and rocky herbfield. It is also found within tussock grassland where there is naturally dry ground such as where rock outcrop, or where thin skeletal soils have developed over bed rock. Near the coast it frequents limestone rocks
Features
Stout woody-based herb with branchlets arising from a multicipital stock, usually hidden; living leaves in large rosettes at the tips of branchlets, the whole plant forming patches of few to many rosettes; leaf sheaths densely imbricate and compacted, forming a pseudo-stem. Leaf lamina 120-550 × 10-32 mm, coriaceous, stiff and erect, lanceolate to oblong; upper surface sulcate, concolorous, somewhat rugose in some plants, dark green but generally masked by a thick lead-coloured, dull pellicle which is sometimes partly deciduous on older leaves; lower surface densely covered in glistening appressed tomentum, midrib moderately prominent; tip acute; margins entire, usually slightly recurved; base gradually narrowed to the petiole. Petiole up to 30 mm long. Sheath up to 80-200 × 20 mm, greenish or rarely pale purple, clad in floccose white hairs. Scape densely clad in floccose white hairs, stout, up to 350 mm long; bracts very numerous, erect, usually up to 60 mm long and revolute, sometimes lowest bracts much larger and foliaceous; monocephalous. Ray florets 80-100, ligulate, the limb narrow-linear, white. Disc florets c.250, 8-10 mm long, funneliform, yellow, tube with sparse long, eglandular biseriate hairs at base. Achene fusiform-cylindric, strongly grooved, 3-8 mm long, usually slightly hairy; hairs short, appressed, bifid. Pappus unequal, 6-10 mm long, of c.50 barbellate bristles.
Similar taxa
Celmisia monroi is allied to Celmisia dubia, C. morganii, and C. semicordata. From these species it is most likely to be confused with C. semicordata from which it differs by the erect rather than open to spreading, leaves whose lamina pellicle is leaden rather than silver or golden-coloured. The achenes of Celmisia monroi are consistently hairy while those of C. semicordata are mostly glabrous
Flowering
October - February
Flower colours
White, Yellow
Fruiting
November - July
Life cycle
Pappate cypselae are dispersed by wind (Thorsen et al., 2009).
Propagation technique
Easily grown in a semi-shaded or sunny site, planted within a moist, free draining, soil. Dislikes humidity. Best grown from fresh seed which should be sown immediately or stratified in a fridge or freezer for 1-3 months
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
monroi: Named after Sir David Monro who was a 19th century New Zealand politician
Where To Buy
Occasionally available from specialist native plant nurseries.
Attribution
Description from Given (1980)
References and further reading
Given, D.R. 1980: A taxonomic revision of Celmisia coriacea (Forst.f.) Hook.f. and its immediate allies (Astereae-Compositae). New Zealand Journal of Botany 18: 127-140.
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