Celmisia spedenii
Common names
Speden’s Mountain Daisy
Biostatus
Native – Endemic taxon
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Herbs - Dicotyledonous composites
Flower colours
White, Yellow
Detailed description
Woody-based perennial herb arising from a multicipital stock and forming small to large mats up to 1 m diameter. Leaf lamina linear, rigid, often curved; current seasons leaves soon becoming reflexed; 40.0-120.0 x 1.3-3.8 mm; upper surface corrugated, clad in persistent silvery pellicle; lower surface clad in cream appressed tomentum; margins entire, recurved but not right to midrib; tip acute and usually acicular with short hairs. Leaf sheath up to 35(-50) mm long, membranous, greenish or occasionally reddish, clad in a pellicle. Scape 100-150 x c.3 mm; bracts numerous, up to 35 mm long, densely white tomentose. Involucral bracts erect, linear-subulate, acute, up to 15 mm long, silvery- grey with white arachnoid hairs, venation simple. Receptacle obconic, surface alveolate. Ray florets up to 20 mm long, limb narrow, linear-lanceolate and glabrous, tube narrow and glabrous. In disc florets, tube gradually narrowed from apex to base, glabrous; stamen tip acute, anther tails short; style bifid, arms differentiated into a lower paralled- sided papillose portion about equal to the triangular appendage which bears short collecting hairs. Pappus bristles unequal, c. 30-35 in number, 5-6 mm long with closely spaced, short teeth. Achenes 3.0-4.5 mm long, fusiform, ribbed, glabrous.
Similar taxa
Could be confused with Celmisia markii which is a species of south Westland and Fiordland that is not known from ultramafic habitats, which differs from C. spedenii by its straight rather than curved leaves, with obtuse rather than acicular leaf tips. The involucral bracts of C. markii are glabrate, tawny-brown while those of C. spedenii are silver-grey and tomentose
Distribution
Endemic. South Island. West Dome and Livingston Range
Habitat
Montane to alpine. An ultramafic endemic of sparsely vegetated rock strewn ground, fell field and rock outcrops.
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 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon | Qualifiers: RR
Threats
A naturally uncommon ultramafic endemic that is localy abundant in its few known locations.
Detailed taxonomy
Family
Synonyms
None
Endemic taxon
Yes
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Ecology
Flowering
December - February
Fruiting
December - February
Life cycle and dispersal
Pappate cypselae are dispersed by wind (Thorsen et al., 2009).
Propagation technique
Difficult. Can be grown from seed but regular applications of magnesium to thrive.
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
spedenii: Named after James Speden who was a New Zealand explorer
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.
CELSPD
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 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon | Qualifiers: RR
2012 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon | Qualifiers: RR
2009 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon | Qualifiers: RR
2004 | Range Restricted
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 Data Deficient
Referencing and citations
References and further reading
Lee, W.G.; Given, D.R. 1984: Celmisia spedenii G. Simpson, an ultramafic endemic, and Celmisia markii, sp. nov., from southern New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Botany 22: 585–592.
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 from Lee and Given (1984)