Glaucous Bidibid

Botanical name: Acaena caesiiglauca

Common name(s): Glaucous Bidibid, Piripiri

Plant facts:

A striking silvery-blue native groundcover that forms spreading mats up to 1 metre wide. Valued for its colourful foliage and decorative hooked seed heads, this hardy alpine species is excellent for dry gardens, rockeries, and erosion control plantings.

Natural habitat:

Occurs in montane to alpine environments, especially tussock grasslands and scree margins east of the South Island Main Divide.

Growing environment:

Sun, Frost, Wind, Drought & Free draining tolerant.

Endemic distribution:

Endemic to the eastern South Island of New Zealand.

Height:

Typically around 10 cm tall, spreading up to 1 m wide

Flowering:

November – January
Produces small white flower heads held above the foliage.

Fruiting:

December – May
Develops hooked, barbed seed heads that attach to fur, feathers, and clothing for dispersal.

Uses:

• Ground cover
• Rock gardens and alpine plantings
• Erosion control
• Texture and colour contrast in dry gardens

Appearance:

Growth habit:
A low-growing, trailing perennial herb that spreads via creeping stolons and roots at the nodes, forming loose mats.

Leaves:
Leaves are finely divided and bluish-green to silvery in colour, often with contrasting pink, purple, or bronze-toned toothed margins. Leaflets are soft and hairy beneath.

Flowers:
Rounded white flower heads are borne on hairy stems above the foliage during summer.

Fruit:
Seed heads mature into firm, brown hooked burrs with barbed spines that cling to clothing and animals.

How to grow:

Best grown in full sun and very free-draining soil. Performs well in dry, exposed sites and alpine-style gardens. Easily propagated by division or rooted stem sections.