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#2654 - Aciphylla montana - Mountain Speargrass
Not a grass. It's actually in the Carrot family. There are two subspecies (unless they can folded back into one) but I'm not sure if this in A. m. montana or A. m. gracilis.
Endemic to the South Island, where it grows in subalpine and subarctic grasslands, rocky outcrops, and at the base of stabilised scree slopes.
Lake Tekapo, Aotearoa New Zealand
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Aciphylla spp. of South Island New Zealand.
#1914 - Aciphylla scott-thomsonii - Giant Spaniard
The Aciphyllas are from the carrot family, and endemic to New Zealand with one exception. This particular species is one of the largest, forming dense tussocks up to 2m high, with the flower spikes twice that.
It grows in the hills and mountains of the southeastern part of the South Island of New Zealand, where they get snow. Aoraki Mt Cook is about as far north as it grows. The seeds need exposure to light frost for at least a month, before they’ll germinate - although germination may still take months, and sometimes over a year.
Aciphylla crosbysmithii flowering on Mt Burns at about 1200m asl In Fiordland National Park Southern Alps New Zealand
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#2737 - Aciphylla subflabellata
The specific mean 'somewhat fan-like' but I don't know which part of the plant that's referring to.
Endemic to the SE of the South Island from south-eastern Marlborough to Southland (yes, the southernmost part of the South Island is called Southland. There's also Westland, which means there's northern Southland, eastern Westland, and as an added bonus Seaward Downs which is 20km up the slope from the beach).
The plant grows but is never common in montane to subalpine habitats, usually in dry sites on alluvial terraces, on gentle rolling slopes or at the bottom of slopes, in intermontane tussock grasslands, and on the margins of grey scrub. Sometimes on or near rocks and boulders. Possibly more threatened than currently believed, because many of its lowland habitats are weed-infested and filled with browsing mammals.
Orokonui Ecosanctuary, Aotearoa New Zealand.
“Aciphylla scott-thomsonii, the giant spaniard… New Zealand’s ultimate Apiaceae. This was one of the most astonishing and beautiful plants I’ve ever had the privilege to observe. Bright glaucous blue spear like foliage, ice crystal needle-like flower bracts surrounding huge bunches of yellow flowers. These stood about 6 feet tall, though can reach up to 9 feet, growing in the rocky wet meadows surrounding New Zealand’s highest glacier encrusted peaks. This is what can happen to humble carrot family members when isolated on islands and put under selection pressure from gigantic herbivorous birds. Incredibly, the lineage that contains the genus Aciphylla (tribe Aciphylleae) contains mostly small ordinary looking parsley-herbs. Genera like Anistome, Gingidia and others, all endemic to New Zealand and a few on nearby temperate southeast Australia. Despite looking so vastly different, some of the large leathery Aciphylla species can form intergeneric hybrids with members of the small herbaceous genus Anisotome. It always blows my mind that humble little herbaceous plants have the capacity to evolve into strange forms on islands where selection pressures are often very different from their mainland ancestors. In the presence of only large avian herbivores, a parsley-like plant can become a huge, spiny, leathery thing like Aciphylla, or more commonly, into shrub or tree forms on islands lacking any large herbivores. I wish I could travel forward into time after humans are extinct to see what all the isolated populations of dandelions and other weeds we introduced to all the words oceanic islands will evolve into.”
