Aciphylla hookeri

Botanical name: Aciphylla hookeri

Common name(s): Hooker’s Speargrass

Plant facts:

A distinctive alpine speargrass with sparse, sharply divided foliage and an open tufted growth habit. This uncommon South Island species is adapted to cool alpine herbfields and produces upright flower stems carrying clusters of small pale flowers.

Natural habitat:

Found in low alpine snow tussock herbfields and open mountain slopes.

Growing environment:

Frost, Sun, Wind & Free draining tolerant.

Endemic distribution:

Endemic to the South Island of New Zealand, from north-west Nelson south to Arthur’s Pass, mainly on the western side of the Alps.

Height:

Up to 30 cm tall

Flowering:

December – February (occasionally into March)

Fruiting:

January – April

Uses:

• Alpine rock garden specimen
• Specialist alpine collections
• Structural foliage plant for scree gardens

Appearance:

Growth habit:
A sparse tufted alpine herb with a stout taproot and relatively open rosettes compared to larger speargrass species.

Leaves:
Leaves are stiff, sharply pointed, and divided into narrow grooved segments that create a spiky, squarrose appearance.

Flower stems:
Flowering stems are stout and grooved, often carrying leaf-like bracts below the narrow flowering clusters.

Fruit:
Produces small winged fruits adapted for wind dispersal across exposed alpine habitats.

How to grow:

Best grown in full sun with sharply drained alpine soil. Ideal for cool-climate rock gardens and scree plantings. Requires good airflow and dislikes humid or poorly drained conditions.