Species

Mitrasacme novae-zelandiae

Etymology

Mitrasacme: Mitre-tipped
novae-zelandiae: of New Zealand

Current Conservation Status

2012 - Not Threatened

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 - Not Threatened
2004 - Not Threatened

Authority

Mitrasacme novae-zelandiae Hook.f.

Family

Loganiaceae

Brief Description

Cushion-forming, dark green to green plant of tussock grasslands, cushion bogs and heaths. Cushions 100 × 30 mm, leaves tightly overlapping, 2.8–4.5 × 0.5–0.9 mm, linear-oblong, concavo-convex with pale glass-like margins and prominent, pale hair like tips. Flowers white, bell-shaped

Flora Category

Vascular - Native

NVS Species Code

MITNOV

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 Herbs other than Composites

Synonyms

Mitrasacme novae-zelandiae Hook.f. var. novae-zelandiae

Distribution

Endemic. New Zealand: North West Nelson to Fiordland. Stewart Island plants and some specimens from Fiordland whose leaves have ciliate bases may represent another, as yet undescribed entity

Habitat

Montane to alpine in wet tussock (Chionochloa) grassland, cushion bogs (often admixed with Donatia novae-zelandiae ) and heath land

Features

Perennial dark green, bright green to a;lmost glaucescent plants forming cushions up to 100 × 30 mm. Leaves sessile, tightly imbricate, glabrous with indistinct midrib; lamina 2.8–4.5 × 0.5–0.9 mm, linear-oblong, concavo-convex; margins minutely hyaline in distal half or for most their length; apex with apiculum 0.1–0.5 mm long. Bracts similar to leaves, glabrous; lamina 2.4–3.0 × 0.5–0.7 mm, linear to oblong; apiculum 0.2–0.3 mm long, hyaline. Flowers, white, pedicellate. Pedicels < 0.1 mm, glabrous. Calyx tube 0.4–0.6 mm long; lobes 1.1–2.1 × 0.4–1.0 mm, narrowly deltoid to deltoid unequal (with one pair slightly larger) or ± equal; apiculum 0.1–0.2 mm, glabrous, hyaline. Corolla campanulate; tube 1.7–3.0 mm long; lobes glabrous 0.6–1.0 × 0.8–1.2 mm, obtuse, ± acuminate. Styles 0.4–0.5 mm long. Capsule 2.2–3.4 × 1.9–2.5 mm; locules ± globular; wings distal, boat-shaped. Seed 0.6–0.7 × 0.4–0.5 mm, oblong-elliptic, buff, orange-brown to nut brown.

Similar Taxa

Distinguished from M. montana var. helmsii by the sessile rather than weakly petiolate, rigid leaves whose margins have a distinctly (rather than indistinct) hyaline margin and hyaline apiculus. Both varieties are sympatric in the Paparoa ranges, North Westland

Flowering

October - February

Flower Colours

White

Fruiting

January - May

Propagation Technique

Unknown.

Threats

Not Threatened

Endemic Taxon

Yes

Endemic Genus

No

Endemic Family

No

Taxonomic Notes

A full revision of the New Zealand Mitrasacme is required. When Dunlop (1996) erected the Australasian genus Schizacme they indicated that the New Zealand taxa Mitrasacme montana var. helmsii and M. novae-zelandiae var. novae-zelandiae were congeneric with Australian species of Schizacme but did not provide a formal treatment of them (Webb & Simpson 2001). Aside from the generic position, morphological evidence suggests that M. montana var. helmsii needs formal elevation to species rank, and further some Fiordland and Stewart Island populations currently attributed to M. novae-zelandiae var. novae-zelandiae may warrant segregation and formal taxonomic recognition.

Attribution

Fact sheet prepared for NZPCN by P.J. de Lange 12 November 2014. Description adapted from Allan (1961) and Webb & Simpson (2001), supplemented with observations made from dried material.

References and further reading

Dunlop, C.R. 1996: Schizacme. Pp. 58-59, 314 in Orchard, A.E. (ed.) Flora of Australia. Vol 28: Gentianales. Melbourne, CSIRO publishing and Australian Biological Resources Study.

Webb, C.J.; Simpson, M.J.A. 2001: Seeds of New Zealand Gymnosperms and Dicotyledons. Christchurch, Manuka Press.

This page last updated on 12 Nov 2014