Celmisia similis
Biostatus
Native – Endemic taxon
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Herbs - Dicotyledonous composites
Flower colours
White, Yellow
Detailed description
Small slender cushion-forming subshrub with branchlets up to 60 mm long. Living leaves tending to be near the tips of the branchlets and sometimes forming small rosettes. Leaf lamina linear, apiculate, rigid, reflexed at the base, 10-20 × l-2 mm; upper surface covered with a silvery to grey pellicle; lower surface with a loose scurfy grey tomentum; sheath ± 10 mm long. Scape 40.0-60.0 × 1.5mm, reddish, clad in deciduous eglandular hairs. Involucral bracts erect, up to 9 mm long, margins fringed with short hairs, abaxial surface bearing many eglandular hairs. Receptacle obconic and alveolate. Capitulum 10-15 mm diameter. Ray florets ± 10 mm long, tube glabrous. In disc florets, corolla tube gradually narrowed from apex to base, glabrous; stamen tip acute, anther tails short; style bifid, the arms differentiated into a lower parallel-sided papillose portion and an upper attenuate portion bearing long collecting hairs. Pappus bristles unequal, up to 4.5 mm long, with distant or sometimes moderately close fine teeth. Achene 1.5-2.0 × 0.4 mm, fusiform, compressed, weakly ribbed and clad in bifid hairs.
Similar taxa
Similar to C. laricifolia from which C. similis differs in 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: North-West Nelson, north of the Buller Valley and west of the Motueka Valley and tributaries.
Habitat
Alpine and subalpine. Usually associated with with Chionochloa australis, Celmisia traversii, and C. spectabilis.
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 (first described in 1969)
Endemic taxon
Yes
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Ecology
Flowering
December - February
Fruiting
January - April
Life cycle and dispersal
Pappate cypselae are dispersed by wind (Thorsen et al., 2009).
Propagation technique
One of the few Celmisia that is easily grown in most climates though it dislikes high humidity. Best grown in a moist, free draining soil, within some afternoon shade. Plants can be raised from division but are best grown from fresh seed.
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
similis: Similar to another species
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.
CELSIM
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
Referencing and citations
References and further reading
Given, D.R. 1969: Taxonomic notes on the genus Celmisia (Compositae). New Zealand Journal of Botany 7: 389-399.
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 based on Given (1980)