Species
Dracophyllum marmoricola
Etymology
Dracophyllum: dragon leaf, from its likeness to the dragon tree of the Canary Islands
marmoricola: From the Latin marmor 'marble' and cola 'colour', meaning marble-coloured
Common Name(s)
Marble Inaka, Marble Turpentine Shrub
Current Conservation Status
2012 - At Risk - Naturally Uncommon
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 - At Risk - Naturally Uncommon
2004 - Range Restricted
Qualifiers
2012 - RR
Authority
Dracophyllum marmoricola S.Venter
Family
Ericaceae
Brief Description
Low-growing sprawling blue-green shrub with short grass-like leaves crowded at twig tips inhabiting limestone areas in Northwest Nelson. Leaves blue-green, 6-32mm long by 1-2mm wide. Flowers white, tubular, crowded at tip of twigs.
Flora Category
Vascular - Native
DRAMAR
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
None (described in 2002)
Distribution
Endemic. New Zealand: South Island, restricted to North-West Nelson (Kahurangi National Park)
Habitat
Subalpine to alpine (1310-1790 m a.s.l.). Confined to marble exposures where it grows on dark sandy loam in open and exposed sites or in rock crevices in low cliffs in alpine tussock-herbfield.
Features
Shrublet 2-15 cm tall, multi-stemmed, decumbent to prostrate and sometimes forming compact cushions; bark grey and smooth to finely fissured. Leaves spreading, crowded at the tips of branches, sheathing at base; sheath glaucous, 2.2-6.5 x 3-4 mm, subcoriaceous, shoulder rounded to truncate, margin ciliate; lamina coriaceous, glaucous, linear-triangular to broadly linear-triangular, 5.6-32.0 x 0.75-2.00 mm, slightly concave, surfaces minutely verrucose, margin serrulate, with 12-13 teeth per cm, apex triquetrous. Inflorescence an oblong raceme terminal on branches, dense, 9-24 mm long with 3-8 flowers; inflorescence bracts persistent, longer than flower, coriaceous, light green to glaucous, subulate, 7.5-10.5 x 0.6-1.4 mm at base, verrucose with serrulate margin; flower bract persistent, shorter than flower, coriaceous, broadly ovate, 5-7 x 3.0-4.5 mm, glabrous, margin ciliate, subacute to acute. Flowers sessile. Sepals green to reddish brown, ovate-lanceolate, 4.5-5.5 x 1.5-2.0 mm, equal to shorter than corolla tube, glabrous, ciliate; apex subacute to acute. Corolla white; tube cylindrical, 4.0-6.5 x 2.0-2.5 mm, glabrous; lobes spreading to reflexed, broadly triangular, shorter than corolla tube, 1.5-2.2 x 1.5-1.8 mm, acute to subacute, adaxial surface papillate, abaxial surface glabrous. Stamens epipetalous, 0.4-0.5 mm long; in upper third of corolla tube, anthers light yellow, oblong, 0.6-0.8 mm long, included. Nectary scales separate, rectangular, 0.7-0.8 x 0.4-0.8 mm, apex truncate and emarginate to variously toothed, glabrous; ovary obovate, 1.4-1.5 x 1.3-1.5 mm, apex truncate, glabrous; style enclosed, 1.5 mm long, glabrous; stigma 5-lobed. Capsule sessile, light brown, 2.5-3.5 x 1.8-2.0 mm, obovoid, glabrous, enclosed in persistent sepals; style persistent; seed light brown, ovoid, 1 mm long, surface slightly reticulate.
Similar Taxa
Similar to Dracophyllum recurvum but differs in the leaves being minutely rugose to verrucose, not recurved at the apices, flower bracts shorter than flower, sepals glabrous, and apex of ovary truncate. It differs from Dracophyllum kirkii in the narrower verrucose leaves with triquetrous apices and the racemose inflorescence.
Flowering
December - March
Flower Colours
White
Fruiting
April - May
Propagation Technique
Difficult. Should not be removed from the wild
Threats
Not Threatened. Listed because it is a narrow-range, marble endemic confined to few mountain ranges within Kahurangi National Park.
Endemic Taxon
Yes
Endemic Genus
No
Endemic Family
No
Life Cycle and Dispersal
Minute seeds are wind dispersed (Thorsen et al., 2009).
Where To Buy
Not commercially available.
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared for NZPCN by P.J. de Lange (4 January 2004). Description adapted from Venter (2002)
References and further reading
Venter, S. 2002: Dracophyllum marmoricola and Dracophyllum ophioliticum (Ericaceae), two new species from north-west Nelson, New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Botany 40: 39-47
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 30 Jul 2014