The New Zealand Plant Conservation Network

Species

Epilobium forbesii

Etymology

Epilobium: From the Greek epi- 'upon' and lobos 'a pod', the flowers appearing to be growing on the seed pod.

Common Name(s)

Forbe's willowherb

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, Sp

Authority

Epilobium forbesii Allan

Family

Onagraceae

Flora Category

Vascular - Native

NVS Species Code

EPIFOR

Structural Class

Dicotyledonous Herbs other than Composites

Synonyms

None

Distribution

Endemic. South Island, eastern Marlborough on high greywacke mountains centred on the headwaters of the upper, Awatere, Clarence and Wairau Rivers. Also in north Canterbury (Mt Terako).

Habitat

Alpine (1300-1800 m a.s.l.). Inhabiting fine grained scree often just downslope of rock outcrops on sparsely vegetated mountains within the inner dry zone of eastern Marlborough.

Features

Stout, thick almost coriaceous-leaved perennial herb of fine grained scree slopes. Plants branched from woody base. Tap root deeply descending. Leaves subsessile to sessile, crowded on 40-150 tall stems; stems brown or purple, densely glandular-pubescent and with an admixture of shorter non glandular hairs. Leaves mostly opposite, becoming alternate and crowded in the inflorescence, 6-32 x 3-13 mm, dull green to purple-green, narrowly to broadly obovate, apex obtuse to subacute, base attenuate, lamina serrated (with 6-26 teeth), lateral veins evident, 2-4 on either side of midrib. Inflorescence and flowers erect. Ovaries 4-6 mm long, green or dark green, desnely glandular-pubescent, sessile. Floral tube 2 x 2.3 mm, abaxially densely glandular-pubescent with sparse long hairs near base. Petals 7-9 x 3.6-4.4. mm, white, notch 1.5-1.7 mm deep. Anthers yellow, 0.6-0.7 x 0.5-0.6 mm; filaments of longer stamens 2.1-2.5 mm long, those of shorter 1.6-1.7 mm long; stigma 2.0 x 0.7 mm, white, clavate. Capsules subsessile, 10-18 mm long, dark brown, initially glandular-pubescent maturing glabrate. Seeds 1.8-2.0 x 0.8-0.9 mm, purplish-brown, obovoid, smooth; coma 3.6-6.5 mm long, detaching readily, typically remaining in capsule until all seed have fallen out.

Similar Taxa

Distinguished from all other New Zealand Epilobia except E. astonii (Allan) Raven et Engelhorn and E. pubens A.Rich. by the leaves and inflorescences densely covered in glandular hairs. From E. astonii and E. pubens it is distinguished by the erect inflorescence and subsessile capsules. Epilobium forbesii is further distinguished by its restriction to the sparsely vegetated eastern Marlborough and north Canterbury fine-grained, alpine screes that are present only within the greywacke mountains of the dry zone east of the main divide.

Flowering

January - March

Flower Colours

White,Yellow

Fruiting

January - May

Propagation Technique

Difficult. Should not be removed from the wild

Threats

Not Threatened but extremely local hence its listing as Range Restricted.

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