The New Zealand Plant Conservation Network

Species

Epilobium insulare

Etymology

Epilobium: From the Greek epi- 'upon' and lobos 'a pod', the flowers appearing to be growing on the seed pod.
insulare: From the Latin insula 'island', pertaining to or growing on islands

Current Conservation Status

2018 - At Risk - Declining

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

2012 - Data Deficient
2009 - At Risk - Declining
2004 - Not Threatened

Qualifiers

2012 - RR
2009 - DP, RR

Authority

Epilobium insulare Hausskn.

Family

Onagraceae

Flora Category

Vascular - Native

NVS Species Code

EPIINS

Structural Class

Dicotyledonous Herbs other than Composites

Distribution

Endemic. New Zealand: North (from the Waikato River mouth and Bay of Plenty south), South and Chatham Islands.

Habitat

Relatively open, marshy places; bogs, and about lake margins; sea level to 900m.

Features

Loosely matted flaccid perennial herb, often much-branched, the stems 30-400 mm tall, creeping and rooting near the base; stems usually straw-coloured, strigulose all round least in the upper portions, with an admixture of glandular hairs in the inflorescence. Leaves much shorter than the internodes they subtend, opposite, alternate in the inflorescence, dull bluish-green, paler and occasionally slightly glaucous beneath (often tinged reddish especially along the lamina margin), the lateral veins visible, usually 2-3 on each side of the midrib; lamina 4-26 × 4-14 mm, narrowly to overy broadly ovate, apex acute or obtuse, base rounded, margins remotely, shallowly or rarely prominently serrulate, usually with 3-10 teeth on each margin; petioles distinct, 10-30 mm long. Inflorescence erect. Flowers erect. Ovaries 10-18 mm long, glandular and strigulose, on a pedicel 2-11 mm long. Floral tube 0.9-1.2 × 1.3-1.7 mm. Sepals 2.0-3.5 × 0.8-0.9 mm, weakly keeled, glandular and strigulose. Petals 3.3-6.2 × 1.6-3.5 mm, notch 0.7-2.0 mm deep, white. Stamens filaments white, of two types: long (1.2-3.0 mm long) and short (0.45-1.5 mm long), Anthers 0.3-1.0 × 0.3-0.5 mm, cream. Style 1.7-2.3 mm long, white tinged pink near the base, stigma 0.8-1.8 x 1.0-1.7 mm, broadly clavate surrounded by both or occasionally only the longer stamens at anthesis. Capsule 25-55 mm long, sparsely strigulose and glandular, on a pedicel 5-65 mm long. Seeds 0.8-1.1 mm long, orange to orange-brown, elliptic-oblong to elliptic-obovate, finely reticulate and scarcely to distinctly mamillate; coma 4-6 mm long, white, caducous.

Similar Taxa

Epilobium insulare is most often confused with E. chionanthum especially as both species grow in similar habitats and are morphologically superficially similar. Indeed Raven & Raven (1976) venture the hypothesis that E. insulare is either a species that has evolved through hybridisation with E. alsinoides and E. chionanthum, or that it is an autogamous derivative of the mostly outcrossing, larger flowered and seeded E. chionanthum. From Epilobium chionanthum, E. insulare is distinguished by its young stems which are evenly strigulose hairy all round rather than mostly glabrous, and where strigulose then only along lines decurrent from the margins of the petioles, distinctly red-margined leaves, smaller, more prominently notched petals (3.3-6.2 × 1.6-3.5 mm with the notch 0.7-2.0 mm deep in E. insulare; 6.0-11.0 × 4.5-6.0 mm with the notch 0.8-1.3 mm deep in E. chionanthum), and by the smaller seeds (0.8-1.1 mm long in E. insulare 1.4-1.8 mm long in E. chionanthum), and a white rather than grey coma.

Flowering

November to March

Fruiting

January - April

Propagation Technique

Easily grown from fresh seed and rooted pieces. Does best when planted into a swamp or within a pot partially immersed in a pond.

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