The New Zealand Plant Conservation Network

My wife and I visited Borland Saddle in mid-January, and found two plants which have us puzzled. We use Mark and Adams, and think that one of the plants is Centrolepis ciliata (though no grass-like leaves are visible).
The other plant leaves us completely baffled. I have attached photographs of the two, and would greatly appreciate any help in determining just what they are. They were both located close together in the same patch of bog close to one of the first tarns that you reach coming up from the Saddle.

We have been visiting New Zealand from the UK each Summer for two months, and are reasonably familiar with your alpine plants, which makes this situation very frustrating.

I expect that they will turn out to be very common and familiar plants!

Thank you in advance for any help that you can provide.

Hi Alan I am pretty sure the plant with white flowers in this photo is Donatia novae-zelandiae, and second one possibly as you suggested Centrolepis ciliata.

Thanks for that. We were just a little doubtful about the Centrolepis due to the lack of visible leaves, plus we had never seen it before. Presumably the leaves were suppressed by the Donatia.

There was supposed to be another image of a second different plant, but I seem only to have got the one through. It was this other plant which really has us puzzled. I will try again with this second image, added to this post.

Thanks again.

I have the same question - i found the plant on the Keppler trail. But i am quite sure that it is not Centrolepis ciliata - it is no a gras. The flower belong to the fleshy leaves other than the leaves from Donatia novae-zelandiae.

Hi again i think the other plant in the first photo is a male Coprosma perpusilla ssp. perpusilla.

Yeah I agree,male C.perpusilla sub perpusilla.

The blue green leaves in the second photo are Pentachondra pumila

Thank you Mike. My first thought was Cyathodes pumila. In my copy of Mark and Adams, they show a fruiting specimen, with a black and white drawing of the flower. But then I lost confidence in that! Mark and Adams do comment that the two are easily confused seen from above.

John and Matt, thank you - having spent a fair bit of Sunday trawling the internet, I think that the Coprosma is more likely than Centrolepis. I was never comfortable with the lack of grassy leaves. I think Norbert is correct, and the pointed fleshy leaves are those of the spectacular flower.

Thank you all for your help!

I agree with Mike and Matt, the first image shows Donatia novae-zelandiae (left) and male flowers of Coprosma perpusilla on the right.
In the second image Pentachondra pumila is in the centre (blue-green leaves) and possibly Phyllachne colensoi on the left. On the right (out of focus) you could have Dracophyllum prostratum.