Flowering periods of alpine plants at cupola basin, Nelson, New Zealand

Abstract

Summary The period and intensity of flowering among spermatophytes was observed from spring 1963 to autumn 1966 at Cupola Basin, an alpine tributary of the Travers River, Nelson. Flowers were present from October to May, depending on conditions of weather and snow-cover in the three seasons, and among monocotyledons were observed to be restricted to December to March. Seventy percent of all flowering occurred between December and February. Onset of flowering was delayed by heavy snow, late spring thaw, and persistent rain in 1964–65, and in species typically distributed over a wide altitudinal range was restricted and more intense at higher altitudes. Onset of flowering was also later and briefer on southerly and other shaded slopes.