Celmisia walkeri
Common names
Walker’s mountain daisy
Biostatus
Native – Endemic taxon
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Herbs - Dicotyledonous composites
Flower colours
White, Yellow
Detailed description
Sprawling, sometimes lianoid, shrub with main stems up to ± 2 m long and 5-15 mm diameter; branches and branchlets stout, woody, ± invested by persistent leaf-sheaths and leaf-remnants. Leaves slightly viscid, numerous, densely imbricated along branchlets. Lamina 20-50 × 3-5 mm, erect but becoming patent and finally reflexed; narrow-oblong to narrowly obovate-oblong, slightly narrowed to sheath, coriaceous; upper surface glabrous, ± viscid, grooved, midrib impressed; lower surface clad in soft white appressed tomentum, midrib evident; apex ± acute; margins flat, rather obscurely toothed; sheath pale, slightly wider than lamina at apex, 15 × 4 mm, pale brown, thinly coriaceous. Scape 100-200 mm long, slender, ± glandular-pubescent; bracts several, linear-subulate, up to 20 mm long. Capitula 20-40 mm diameter; involucral bracts linear, 6-8 mm long, pale, ± glandular-pubescent to glabrous, margins ciliolate, midrib distinct. Ray-florets numerous; claw ± compressed, 6 mm long, white; limb 6 mm long, elliptic-oblong. Disk-florets 6-7 mm long, narrow-funnelform; teeth minute, triangular. Achenes c. 5 mm long, subcompressed-cylindric; ribs rather obscure, with minute ascending hairs. Pappus of sordid-white minutely barbellate hairs up to ± 6 mm long
Similar taxa
One of a small group of subshrub Celmisia which includes C. brevifolia, C. gibbsii, C. rupestris, C. lateralis and C. ramulosa. From these species C. walkeri is distinguished by the scape which is 100-200 mm long; by the lamina which is 20-50 x 3-5 mm, and by the leaf undersides which is clad in soft white tomentum.
Distribution
Endemic. South Island: widespread from about south Marlborough and the Paparoa Range south
Habitat
Montane to subalpine rocky places, rock-clefts and fellfield
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
October - February
Fruiting
November - April
Life cycle and dispersal
Pappate cypselae are dispersed by wind (Thorsen et al., 2009).
Propagation technique
Difficult. Best grown from fresh seed but can be grown from cuttings. Should be planted in a free draining, moist soil. Excellent in a pot in an alpine house, or planted in a south-facing rockery. Dislikes humidity and will not tolerate drying out.
Other information
Cultivation
Occasionally available from specialist native plant nurseries.
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
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.
CELWAL
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.