The New Zealand Plant Conservation Network

Species

Epilobium hectorii

Etymology

Epilobium: From the Greek epi- 'upon' and lobos 'a pod', the flowers appearing to be growing on the seed pod.
hectorii: Named after Sir James Hector, 19th century New Zealand geologist and botanist who was originally from Scotland

Common Name(s)

willowherb

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

Epilobium hectorii Hausskn.

Family

Onagraceae

Flora Category

Vascular - Native

NVS Species Code

EPIHEC

Structural Class

Dicotyledonous Herbs other than Composites

Distribution

Endemic. New Zealand: North and South Islands from the Cental Volcanic Plateau and Kaimanawa Ranges south to Southland with a mainly easterly distribution

Habitat

Montane to alpine on open stony ground, within braided river beds, in tussock grassland, in frost flats and then often within ablation areas.

Features

Tufted, gracile, perennial herb 50-250 mm tall, often much-branched from base, perennating from basal buds; plants ± densely covered throughout with short, crisp, erect or appressed hairs, mostly confined to lines decurrent from the margins of the petioles, especially on upper part of stem. Leaves opposite, a few in inflorescence alternate, longer than or equal to the stem internodes; lateral veins not prominent, 2-3 on each side of the midrib; petiole 0-3 mm; lamina 3-20 × 1-4 mm, dull bluish-green to bronze-green, narrowly elliptic, base attenuate, apex subacute to rounded, serrulate with 0-10 weak teeth on each side. Inflorescence erect, the flowers often distributed well down the stem. Flowers erect. Ovaries 6-14 mm long, finely and uniformly stigulose, pedicellate, pedicels 1-6 mm long. Floral tube 0.6-1.3 × 1.2-2.0 mm, adaxially strigulose. Sepals 1.6-4.5 × 0.7-1.2 mm, ovate-lanceolate, not keeled, strigulose. Petals 2.5-8.2 × 1.8-4.3 mm, white, sometimes whitish-pink,if white then flushing pink after pollination, notch 0.9-1.4 mm deep. Stamen filaments white, of two types: long (0.5-3.2 mm long) and short (0.3-1.5 mm long). Anthers 0.5-1.2 × 0.3-0.5 mm, cream. Style 0.8-4.9 mm long, white; stigma 0.8-1.9 x 0.4-0.6 mm, white, clavate, surrounded by the longer or both sets of stamens at anthesis. Capsule 18-28 mm long, glaucescent, strigulose (rarely sparsely so) with denser lines of hairs conspicuous along edges of valves and sometimes with a green line along valve dehiscence, on a pedicel 13-27 mm long. Seeds 0.8-1.3 mm long, orange to orange-brown, oblong-obovate to obovate, apex rounded, base subacute, finely reticulate; coma 4-6 mm long, white, caducous.

Similar Taxa

Epilobium hectorii is distinguished from other epilobia by the glaucescent to bronze-green leaves which are longer or equal to the internodes and narrowly elliptic, bearing 0-10 weak teeth either side; erect inflorescences; white (rarely whitish-pink) petals at anthesis; abaxially glabrous floral tube; by the absence of glandular hairs on the ovary, which is otherwise invested in fine, uniformly strigulose hairs; by the glaucescent, strigulose, capsules ranging from 18-28 mm long; and by the finely reticulate seeds. It is most similar to Epilobium krulleanum which was included within it by Raven & Raven (1976) but which is maintained here as a species> From Epilobium hectorii, E. krulleanum differs by its larger pink flowers whose petals range from 5.6-9.0 × 3.8-5.5 mm, and with a deeper notch (1.2-1.6 mm cf. 0.9-1.4 mm in E. hectorii), and by the seeds which are 1.3-1.8 mm long, brown, obovate and rather conspicuously papillate, and furnished with a longer coma (6-8 mm cf. 4-6 mm long in E. hectorii). Epilobium krulleanum is less widespread than E. hectorii being chiefly found in the intermontane basins of the upper Awatere and Clarence Rivers, South Marlborough, as well as the intermontane basins of Canterbury.

Flowering

November - February

Flower Colours

White

Fruiting

December - April

Propagation Technique

Easily grown from fresh seed. Dislikes humid conditions.

Threats

Not Threatened

Chromosome No.

2n = 36

Endemic Taxon

Yes

Endemic Genus

No

Endemic Family

No

Life Cycle and Dispersal

Minute pappate seeds are wind dispersed (Thorsen et al., 2009).

This page last updated on 14 Sep 2014