Bulbinella and Macquarie Island Cabbage

Anne and I are just back  from a trip to Antarctica from Bluff to Hobart via the Snares, Auckland Is (Enderby) Macquarie and Commonwealth Bay (Mawson's hut etc). Whilst the trip failed to land anywhere near Commonwealth Bay  due to the pack ice and we missed Macquarie Island to pick up the French yachtsman adrift in a life raft we still had an "interesting" time seeing lots of ice, icebergs, ice, icebergs, ice, the odd penguin - Gentoos - fleeting glimpses of whales - Sei, Fin, and Humpback, and lots of pelagic bird species (Albatrosses, Petrels, etc). One thing I wanted to see was the Bulbinella in flower on Enderby but once again our luck was out as high winds made it too  risky to walk to the area where  it mainly thrives.  However the Macquarie Island Cabbage was in flower near the landing site:

Stilbocarpa polaris - Macquarie Island cabbage

This photo of the Bulbinella in flower was one we took on our last visit to Enderby Island:

Bulbinella rossii

There are some really interesting megaherbs on the subantarctic islands and it is a privilege to be able to visit and see them in their natural environment.