New Zealand’s most well known alpine plant, the Mount Cook lily (which is actually a buttercup)

Mt Cook lily in the rain - Rees Valley

The Mount Cook lily (Ranunculus lyallii) is one of the most popular icons of New Zealand’s Southern Alps.

It’s fragile look belies a strength that is to be wondered at, as when flowering in Nov. the blooms literally bend in the usually extreme wind and rain, and do not break. With the onslaught of these spring storms and weather [remember spring times comes later at altitude, and 45 degrees latitude] it simply seems to always produce the most delicate yet indestructible flowers.

A few years ago part of the agenda on trips into the Routeburn and Rees valleys was to get these images:

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