The New Zealand Plant Conservation Network

Species

Gentianella astonii subsp. astonii

Etymology

Gentianella: Little Gentiana (named after Gentius, 6th century king of Illyria, who found the roots of the yellow gentian to have a healing effect on his malaria-stricken troops)
astonii: after Aston

Common Name(s)

Astons Gentian

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
2009 - ST

Authority

Gentianella astonii subsp. astonii (Petrie) T.N.Ho et S.W.Liu

Family

Gentianaceae

Flora Category

Vascular - Native

Structural Class

Dicotyledonous Herbs other than Composites

Synonyms

Gentiana astonii Petrie, Chionogentias astonii (Petrie) L.G.Adams

Distribution

Endemic. South Island, Marlborough from the upper Waima (Ure) River south to Mt Alexander

Habitat

Montane to subalpine on limestone bluffs, gorges, scree and talus. often amongst low shrubs or in silver tussock grassland

Features

Tufted perennial up to 150 mm tall when flowering. Flowering stems, 5-18 per plant, green or purple-black. Rosette leaves absent. Leaves linear, 16-32 x 1.4-2.8 mm, green to purple-green, flat, margins smooth; apex acute. Pedicels 1.5-22 mm long. Flowers 16-63 per plant, 13.5-24 mm long. Calyx 7-10 mm; lobes, green tinted purple-black, 5.2-6.2 x 1.3-2.3 mm, plane, margins smooth or minutely toothed. Corolla 10.4-17 mm, white, tube 2.7-4.0 mm; lobes 7.5-11 x 4.0-5.7 mm, margins minutely denticulate. Nectaries 1.9-2.9 mm from corolla base, widely V-shaped with a flap with an uneven margin. Filaments 6.0-7.2 mm from corolla base. Anthers 1.7-2.5 mm, anther wall yellow or blue-black. Ovules 27-30 per ovary. Capsule 8.4-15 mm.

Similar Taxa

Distinguished from G. astonii subsp. arduana by the larger and narrower leaves (16-32 x 1.4-2.8 cf. 8.6-25 x 1.1-3.9 mm in subsp. arduana), larger anthers (1.7-2.5 cf. 1.1-2 mm in subsp. arduana), and 27-30 ovules per ovary cf. 13-28 ovules per ovary in subsp. arduana. From G. calcis Glenny et Molloy, G. astonii differs by the shorter leaves (9-32 cf. 30-83 in G. calcis), which are plane and without a recurved apex.

Flowering

March-April (-May)

Flower Colours

White,Yellow

Fruiting

April-August

Propagation Technique

Can be grown but with some difficulty. Seems to do best in a lime-enriched, free draining potting mix within pot kept in semi-shaded.

Threats

Abundant within the Waima River catchment, otherwise rather localised. There is some evidence to suggest that some of the smaller populations may be at risk from the spread of weeds

Endemic Taxon

Yes

Endemic Genus

No

Endemic Family

No

Life Cycle and Dispersal

Seeds dispersed by ballistic projection, wind and water (Thorsen et al., 2009)

This page last updated on 26 Sep 2014