Haastia pulvinaris

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]

Haastia pulvinaris
Haastia pulvinaris in Nelson Lakes National Park
Conservation status
Not Threatened (NZ TCS)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Asterids
Order:	Asterales
Family:	Asteraceae
Genus:	Haastia
Species:	H. pulvinaris
Binomial name
Haastia pulvinaris Laing

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. A 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:

• Haastia pulvinaris var. pulvinaris^[2]
• Haastia pulvinaris var. minor^[2]

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