The New Zealand Plant Conservation Network

Species

Myosotis bryonoma

Etymology

Myosotis: mouse-eared
bryonoma: Meaning ‘dwelling in moss’ the epithet is derived from the Greek words 'bryon' (moss) and 'nomos' (place or condition for living).

Authority

Myosotis bryonoma Meudt, Prebble et Thorsen

Family

Boraginaceae

Brief Description

Minute herb of high-elevation bogs and wet places in mountain ranges of Otago, New Zealand. Rosette leaves fleshy, bearing hairs on the leaf underside orientated parallel to midrib. Inflorescences <50 mm long, bearing 1–3 white flowers per inflorescence; internodes generally <5 mm and shorter than or equal to the length of the lowest stem leaves.

Flora Category

Vascular - Native

Structural Class

Dicotyledonous Herbs other than Composites

Synonyms

None - first described in 2018

Distribution

Endemic. New Zealand, South Island, Otago

Habitat

In damp to saturated high-elevation (subalpine to alpine) bogs, seepages, flushes, hollows, swamps, wetlands, and snow-melt streams and banks; on silt, peat, schist, basalt in exposed, sunny, flat or gently sloping open areas of smooth, short mossy bog turf containing mixed bryophytes, cushions -plants and small herbs

Features

Single rosettes with fibrous roots. Rosette leaves 3–5, fleshy, petiolate; petioles sometimes wide, indistinct, not sheathing, 1.0–6.6 mm x 0.6–1.7 mm; lamina 2.5–7.4 mm x 1.5–4.5 mm, widest point usually at or above middle, rarely below middle, narrowly obovate to very broadly obovate, ovate to very broadly ovate, rarely narrowly elliptic, broadly elliptic, rotund, lanceolate, or oblanceolate; apex obtuse, with hydathode on abaxial side; trichomes 0.2–0.7 mm long, straight, antrorse, appressed, sparsely to densely distributed (but abaxially usually glabrous), adaxially and abaxially oriented parallel relative to the midrib. Inflorescences 1–5 per rosette, prostrate to ascending, unbranched (rarely once-branched), 10–45 mm long, wholly bracteate, with up to 3–7 cauline leaves per inflorescence (including all branches) and, of these, 1–3 associated with flowers and 2–4 not associated with flowers; adventitious roots lacking at tips; scape 0.4–1mm wide; trichomes 0.2–0.6 mmlong, straight, antrorse, appressed, sparsely to densely distributed, sometimes overlapping. Lowest cauline leaves generally petiolate; petioles 0.9–5.0 mm x 0.5–1.2 mm; lamina 2.7–6.9 mm x 1.6–3.3 mm, oblanceolate to narrowly obovate, rarely elliptic or obovate to broadly obovate; apex obtuse, with hydathode on abaxial side; trichomes as on rosette leaves. Uppermost cauline leaf sessile; lamina 2.5–6.0 mm x 0.9–2.6 mm, oblanceolate to narrowly obovate, lanceolate to ovate, or rarely elliptic or obovate; apex obtuse or acute, with hydathode on abaxial side. Flowers up to 1–3 per inflorescence (including all branches), each subtended by a cauline leaf. Internodes up to 0–1.6 mm long at flowering or 0–4.7 mm long at fruiting. Pedicels up to 0.4–1.1 mm long at flowering or 0.6–6.5 mm long at fruiting; trichomes 0.2–0.9 mm long, straight, antrorse, appressed to patent, densely distributed, sometimes overlapping. Calyx 1.1–3.3 mm long at flowering or 1.8–3.2 mm long at fruiting x 1.6–3.4 mm wide at the top at fruiting; calyx lobes 1.4–2.1 mm x 0.5–1.1 mm at fruiting, lobed to 0.5–0.9 the length of the calyx; trichomes 0.1–0.8 mm long, straight, antrorse, appressed, densely distributed, sometimes overlapping, and inside densely distributed and overlapping. Corolla 1.3–6.6 mm diameter, white with yellow faucal scales; corolla lobes 0.4–2.5 mm x 0.6–2.1 mm, obovate to very broadly obovate, rarely ovate or very broadly ovate); corolla tube 1.6–4.2 mm long from base to faucal scales, 0.5–2.2 mm wide at faucal scales. Stamens 1.7–4.8 mm long; filaments 0–0.3 mm long, attached to corolla tube below faucal scales, 1.0–3.8 mm above base of corolla tube; anthers 0.5–1.1 mm long, included, sometimes partially exserted, only tips reaching faucal scales. Style 1.1–5.9 mm long at flowering, 1.9–5.4 mm long at fruiting. Nutlets 4, 1.1–1.9 mm x 0.7–1.1 mm, ovoid, convex or keeled, winged or scarcely winged, smooth, shiny, light brown

Similar Taxa

Differs from M. tenericaulis by the shorter and wider petioles, smaller and fleshier leaves, abaxially glabrous rosette leaves, appressed parallel-oriented trichomes on the rosette leaves adaxially, and few-flowered inflorescences that have shorter internodes. Differs from M. colensoi and M. cheesemanii by the shorter rosette leaf petioles, abaxially glabrous rosette leaves, and the shorter calyx and corolla tube. Differs from M. brevis and all other M. pygmaea species-group species by the larger corollas, shorter calyx trichomes, and (except for M. glauca) straight, appressed trichomes on the rosette leaves adaxially. Distinguished ecologically from other New Zealand Myosotis by being restricted to mountain bog habitats.

Flowering

November - April

Flower Colours

White,Yellow

Fruiting

February - April

Propagation Technique

Myosotis bryonoma is not known to have been successfully cultivated.

Threats

Myosotis bryonoma was listed as M. aff. tenericaulis (AK 7570; Garvie), as Taxonomically Indeterminate At Risk–Naturally Uncommon RR, Sp (de Lange et al. 2013). Meudt & Prebble (2018) agreed with that assessment.  The species though occupying a large area is never particularly common, biological sparse and tied to small areas of suitable alpine bog habitat.

Endemic Taxon

Yes

Endemic Genus

No

Endemic Family

No

This page last updated on 3 Jun 2018