Haastia pulvinaris

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Haastia pulvinaris
Haastia pulvinaris - Leon Perrie - 247735646.jpeg
Haastia pulvinaris in Nelson Lakes National Park
Status NZTCS NT.svg
Not Threatened (NZ TCS) [1]
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Genus: Haastia
Species:
H. pulvinaris
Binomial name
Haastia pulvinaris
Laing

Haastia pulvinaris, or vegetable sheep, is a species of perennial alpine plant that grows in a bizarre, sheep-like formation on scree slopes in the South Island of New Zealand. [2] [1] [3]

Contents

It is not actually a sheep; but from far away, the vegetable sheep can look like a flock of them on the rocky slopes where they live.

Description

Haastia pulvinaris is a stout, white perennial that grows in thick mats. These mats give the appearance of felting together, with each section having a 1" or so wide circular felted leaf, and sometimes with a black dot or an orange flower in the middle. The mats can grow up to a few metres in length, and they give the appearance of a flock of sheep from far away.

Range

Known only from the South Island. Another species of Raoulia forms vegetable sheep on the North Island.

Habitat

Scree slopes and alpine rock fields.

Ecology

The dense wool-like branchlets enable this plant to form tough mats on otherwise inhospitable scree fields. It is often found in isolation, although Epilobium and other grasses and flowers can sometimes grow near them.

Taxonomy

Haastia pulvinaris contains the following varieties:

These varieties were only recently split out into two species. [4]

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References

  1. 1 2 "Haastia pulvinaris". New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. Retrieved 2025-02-03.
  2. 1 2 3 "Haastia pulvinaris". iNaturalist. Retrieved 3 February 2025.
  3. "Haastia pulvinaris Hook.f. | Plants of the World Online | Kew Science". Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 2025-02-03.
  4. Nicholls, Callum C.; Breitwieser, Ilse; Ward, Josephine M.; Pelser, Pieter B. "Morphometric analyses of New Zealand giant vegetable sheep lead to the recognition of its two varieties as species: Haastia pulvinaris and Haastia minor (Senecioneae: Asteraceae)". New Zealand Journal of Botany. 0 (0): 1–21. doi:10.1080/0028825X.2024.2350457. ISSN   0028-825X.