The Mountains of New Zealand
From Left: The Mark Range near Haast on the West Coast and The Eyre mountains in Northern Southland. The Eyre Mountains are the furtherest from the coast of any mountains in New Zealand and therefore the dryest.
The mountains of New Zealand are geologically young. Today the mountains of the Southern Alps are still being thrust upwards at a slightly greater rate than erosion can wear them down. New Zealand is made up of two main islands the South and the North. The North Island's mountains are mainly volcanic and support a much lower diversity of alpine plants than the South Island. The South Island is dominated in the West by the Southern Alps which form a backbone along the length of the Island. These mountains form a barrier to the prevailing westerly weather systems. This means that the Western side of the Southern Alps receive the majority of any rain coming off the Tasman Sea. The Western side is dominated by herbs and rossete plants such as Ranunculus Bulbinella Celmisia and Aciphylla. Tall tussocks: Chionochloa sp. (bunch grasses) are also important. Tree line is usually mountain Beech except where its absent and then a variety of scrub forms the treeline in which case its not such a clear boundry.
The center of the South Island is in contrast relativly arid. In other words a large variety of climates and landscapes exist in a very small area. The Central Otago block mountains are an important area for alpine plants. They are flat topped mountains usually with quite short vegetation. These mountains have lost there tall tussocks (Chionocloa species) through burning and grazing of sheep. Now they are dominated by Dracophyllum muscoides which is resistant to the high winds by being uniformly short.
From Left: The Pisa Range Central Otago, The Blue Mountains in Eastern Otago and The Remarkables Range, Aciphylla simplex in the foreground.