The green sheep of the family

October 2025

Read more from

October 2025

Haastia minor is the species mostly likely to be mistaken for a sheep
All is not as it seems with the unique plant, the vegetable sheep. Neither vegetable nor sheep, they’re daisies. New Zealand is famous for having over 20 million sheep, but that’s only the mammalian ones. High in the mountains and in some river beds we also have vegetable sheep. These extraordinary plants belong to the […]
Jane Gosden

About the author

Jane Gosden

Jane Gosden is a Ōtautahi/Christchurch-based plant ecologist with a love of naturally treeless places. In her spare time, she enjoys photographing plants (occasionally birds), gardening and producing botanical art.

More From Natural history

Related Topics

Similar Articles

Bamboozling buttercups

Weka: more than a campsite kleptomaniac

Spectacular Celmisia

Trending Now

Pearson Hut, Kirkliston Range

Takorika, Havelock Water Supply Reserve

Zion Hill Track, Waitākere Ranges Regional Park

Taking on the Tin Range

A biking adventure to suit

Subscribe!
Each issue of Wilderness celebrates Aotearoa’s great outdoors — written and photographed with care, not algorithms.Subscribe and help keep our wild stories alive.

Join Wilderness. You'll see more, do more and live more.

Already a subscriber?  to keep reading. Or…

34 years of inspiring New Zealanders to explore the outdoors. Don’t miss out — subscribe today.

Your subscriber-only benefits:

All this for as little as $6.75/month.

1

free articles left this month.

Already a subscriber? Login Now