The New Zealand Plant Conservation Network

Species

Gentianella filipes

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)
filipes: Thread-like stalks

Common Name(s)

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

Authority

Gentianella filipes (Cheeseman) T.N.Ho et S.W.Liu

Family

Gentianaceae

Flora Category

Vascular - Native

NVS Species Code

GENFIL

Structural Class

Dicotyledonous Herbs other than Composites

Synonyms

Gentiana filipes Cheeseman, Chionogentias filipes (Cheeseman) L.G.Adams

Distribution

Endemic. New Zealand: South Island (north-west Nelson)

Habitat

Alpine grasslands dominated by Poa colensoi, marble scree and talus, rock crevices, peat bog, gravel riverbed. Mainly overlying marble, where it is usually found in skeletal soils.

Features

Plants annual, monocarpic, height in flower 20–140 mm. Caudex unbranched, 25–35 mm long. Root 0.5–0.9 mm diam. at stem base. Flowering stems terminal and lateral, 2–8 per plant, central flowering stem 0.9–1.9 mm diameter at base; stem colour green, tinted crimson or purple-black, lateral flowering stems erect to decumbent, flowering stem leaves 1–5 pairs per stem, lowest pedicels from near base of flowering stem to near apex of flowering stem. Rosette of leaves absent from flowering plants, basal leaves narrowly elliptic or elliptic or ovate, 9–20 × 2.6–6.4 mm wide, green, flat, not recurved, apex acute or rounded; petiole distinct or indistinct, 3.5–8.8 mm long, 1.0–2.6 mm wide at leaf base. Flowering stem leaves elliptic to ovate, apices rounded or acute. Pedicels 1 per leaf axil, 4.5–32 mm long, 0.7–1.8 mm diameter, 0.5–0.7 mm diameter. Flowers 1–81 per plant, 8.2–13 mm long, sometimes female. Calyx 6.0–8.5 mm long, green tinted purple-black, at lower lobe margins, hairs at calyx–corolla fusion line absent or present; 4–5-lobed, lobes 2.6–5.0 mm long, 2.2–5.2 mm wide at base, strongly ridged between the lobes, plane or recurved, margins smooth, apices acute, sinus hairs abundant. Corolla 7.6–12 mm long, white, sometimes tinted purple at corolla tips; tube 2.6–4.6 mm long; lobes 4.5–8.3 × 3.3–5.9 mm wide, hairs below sinus absent or present; nectary 0.4–1.1 mm from corolla base. Filaments 4.3–7.8 mm long from corolla base, 0.6–0.9 mm wide. Anthers 0.8–1.4 mm long, anther wall blue-black, occasionally pale blue, mouth yellow, extrorse or horizontal at anthesis. Stigma colourless. Ovules 11–32 per ovary. Capsule 8–9 mm long.

Similar Taxa

Recognised by its gregarious growth habit, annual life cycle, abundant flowers, absence of basal rosettes in flowering plants, and small tap root. The base of each calyx lobe is recurved and there is a prominent ridge on the calyx below each sinus. The calyx lobes are mostly short and wide, and very unequal. The flowers are small (12–13 mm long) as are the basal leaves (to 20 mm long).

Flowering

January – April

Flower Colours

Violet / Purple,White

Fruiting

March - May

Propagation Technique

Difficult. Should not be removed from the wild

Threats

A Naturally Uncommon, range-restricted endemic which is sparsely to locally abundant. There are no known threats. All the known populations occur within Kahurangi National Park.

Chromosome No.

2n = 36

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