New Zealand Journal of Botany abstracts

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A comparison of the cushion plant communities of New Zealand and Tasmania

NEIL GIBSON

Botany/Geography Departments
University of Tasmania
Box 252C GPO, Hobart 7001
Tasmania, Australia

J. B. KIRKPATRICK

Geography Department
University of Tasmania
Box 252C GPO, Hobart 7001
Tasmania, Australia

Abstract Communities dominated by species of cushion plants are widespread in the alpine and subalpine zones of New Zealand and Tasmania. In New Zealand this vegetation type contains six major associations. These are described as alpine herbmoor, cushion bog, high alpine cushion moor, alpine cushion herbfield, and rock and river shingle cushion communities, their distributions being closely related to particular geomorphic environ- ments. In Tasmania there are four major associa- tions. These are described as Abrotanella cushion heath, high mountain cushion heath, mosaic cush- ion heath, and Donatia cushion heath, their dis- tributions being most closely related to altitude, precipitation, and rock type. Of the six New Zealand cushion associations, herbmoor and cushion bog have the highest proportion of species also occur- ring in Tasmania. The differences between Tas- manian and New Zealand cushion associations largely result from differences in topography. Tas- mania lacks the rock and river shingle environ- ments, completely lacks the high alpine zone (Wardle 1964), and lacks the extensive alpine and subalpine snow tussock grasslands common in New Zealand.

Keywords bolster; cushion; Tasmania; New Zealand; alpine; bog; herbmoor; shingle; rock; cushion moor; herbfield; cushion heath

Received 28 January 1985; accepted 22 May 1985
New Zealand Journal of Botany, 1985, Vol. 23: 549-566
0028-825X/85/2304-0549$2.50/0 © Crown copyright 1985

PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (2079K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)

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