Species

Montitega dealbata

Etymology

dealbata: whitened

Current Conservation Status

2012 - Not Threatened

Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2012
The conservation status of all known New Zealand vascular plant taxa at the rank of species and below were reassessed in 2012 using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS). This report includes a statistical summary and brief notes on changes since 2009 and replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants. Authors: Peter J. de Lange, Jeremy R. Rolfe, Paul D. Champion, Shannel P. Courtney, Peter B. Heenan, John W. Barkla, Ewen K. Cameron, David A. Norton and Rodney A. Hitchmough. File size: 792KB

Previous Conservation Status

2009 - Not Threatened
2004 - Not Threatened

Authority

Montitega dealbata (R.Br.) C.M.Weiller

Family

Ericaceae

Brief Description

Very low growing woody cushion to 0.5m wide bearing erect tight-packed small narrow pointy leaves that are dark green with a white underside and producing red fruit inhabiting open upland areas. Leaves 3-5mm long by 1-2mm wide, green strip up middle underneath. Flower white, tubular.

Flora Category

Vascular - Native

NVS Species Code

MONDEA

The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.

Structural Class

Dicotyledonous Trees & Shrubs

Synonyms

Cyathodes pumila Hook.f.; Styphelia minuta Sleumer; Cyathodes dealbata R.Br.

Distribution

Indigenous. Australia (Tasmania) and New Zealand (North, South and Stewart Islands).

Habitat

From sea level to alpine zones on poorly drained ground or peat bogs amongst other cushion-plants, shrubs and grasses. In northern part of its range this species is strictly alpine

Features

Prostrate, woody shrub forming dense cushion-like patches up to 400mm diameter and 30 mm tall; branches numerous, ascending at tips; branchlets numerous, ascending. Leaves subsessile, close-set, imbricate, erect, coriaceous, glabrous; lamina 3-5 × 1-2 mm, narrow-oblong to narrow-elliptic, minutely apiculate (sometimes not); adaxially glaucous to dark brown-green, abaxially white below except for midribs and margins (these same colour as adaxial leaf surface); margins more or less thickened towards base. Flowers minute, white, hairy, solitary, axillary and/or terminal. Bracts numerous, investing peduncle. Calyx-lobes broad-oblong, obtuse, ciliolate. Corolla-tube cylindric, much > calyx; lobes acute, densely hairy on upper surface. Style minutely 5-lobed. Fruit 4-6 mm diameter, globose, dark red; locules usually 5.

Similar Taxa

Most likely to be confused with Pentachondra pumila which grows in similar places and has a superficially similar growth habit. Pentachondra pumila differs from Montitega by its adaxially dark purplish-green leaves (abaxially finely striate) which lack mucronate apices, and larger (6-8 mm diameter) bright red to orange pyriform fruits.

Flowering

January - March

Flower Colours

White

Fruiting

January - April

Propagation Technique

Difficult - should not be removed from the wild

Threats

Not Threatened

Chromosome No.

2n = 24

Endemic Taxon

No

Endemic Genus

No

Endemic Family

No

Life Cycle and Dispersal

Fleshy drupes are dispersed by frugivory (Thorsen et al., 2009).

Taxonomic Notes

The New Zealand plant was long known as Cyathodea pumila Hook.f., though some considered our plant conspecific with the Tasmanian C. dealbata R.Br. Albrecht et al. (2010) show that New Zealand and Tasmanian plants are conspecific, and further, that they are misplaced in Cyathodes. As such the authors established a new, monotypic genus Montitega (M. dealbata (R.Br.) C.M.Weiller) for Cyathodes dealbata.

Attribution

Fact Sheet prepared by P.J. de Lange (30 December 2010). Description adapted from Allan (1961) and Albrecht et al (2010).

References and further reading

Allan, H.H. 1861: Flora of New Zealand. Vol. I. Wellington, Government Printer.

Albrecht, D.E.; Owens, C.T.; Weiller, C.M.; Quinn, C.J. 2010: Generic concepts in Ericaceae: Styphelioideae - the Monotoca group. Australian Systematic Botany 23: 320-332.

Thorsen, M. J.; Dickinson, K. J. M.; Seddon, P. J. 2009. Seed dispersal systems in the New Zealand flora. Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics 11: 285-309

This page last updated on 19 Nov 2014