Celmisia petriei
Common names
Petrie’s mountain daisy
Biostatus
Native – Endemic taxon
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Herbs - Dicotyledonous composites
Flower colours
White, Yellow
Detailed description
Stout tufted herb with strict, rigid, coriaceous leaves; leaf-sheaths densely imbricate around stems. Lamina 150-500 × 10-30 mm, linear-lanceolate, acuminate, subpungent; upper surface glabrous, with a stout pair of ribs (sometimes doubled) parallel to rather obscure midrib (often with a further pair ± developed either side); lower surface completely clad in closely appressed white satiny tomentum, midrib and lateral pair evident; margins ± recurved, gradually narrowed to sheath or with very short petiole; sheath 40-80 mm long, coriaceous, finely grooved, midrib prominent, both surfaces clad in deciduous white satiny tomentum. Scape ± 200-500 mm long, stout, clad in dense floccose hairs; bracts narrow-linear; lower with lamina up to c.80 mm long. Capitula 30-40 mm diameter; involucral bracts linear-subulate, acuminate, up to c.17 mm long, pale brown, ± floccose-hairy on back, glabrous within, midrib evident. Ray-florets ± 17-20 mm long, white, tube narrow-cylindric, limb narrow-oblong. Disk-florets 6-7 mm long, tubular, teeth minute. Achenes cylindric, grooved, 2-3 mm long, with minute stiff white hairs on ribs. Pappus-hairs up to c.7 mm long, slender, minutely barbellate
Similar taxa
Allied to Celmisia armstrongii and C. lyallii. From Celmisia lyallii it is distinguished by the leaves which lack a sharp tip and which have a stout, parallel pair of veins either side of an obscure central midrib rather than a single prominent midrib. From Celmisia armstrongii, C. petriei differs by the absence of a broad yellow band either side of the midrib on the upper leaf surface.
Distribution
Endemic. South Island: Widespread from southern Marlborough and North Westland south, and becoming more abundant in the southern part of the South Island.
Habitat
Montane to subalpine. Inhabiting grassland, herbfield, damp seepages within rock outcrops and in damp boulder falls and talus
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
November - February
Fruiting
December - April
Life cycle and dispersal
Pappate cypselae are dispersed by wind (Thorsen et al., 2009).
Propagation technique
Easily grown in a shaded site, planted within a permanently moist, free draining, acidic soil. Dislikes humidity and will not tolerate drying out. Best grown from fresh seed which should be sown immediately or stratified in a fridge or freezer for 1-3 months
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
petriei: Named after Donald Petrie (1846 -1925), Scottish born Otago botanist
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.
CELPET
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.