The New Zealand Plant Conservation Network

Species

Azorella macquariensis

Etymology

macquariensis: From Macquarie Island

Common Name(s)

none known

Current Conservation Status

2009 - 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

2004 - Range Restricted

Qualifiers

2009 - RR

Authority

Azorella macquariensis Orchard

Family

Apiaceae

Flora Category

Vascular - Native

Structural Class

Dicotyledonous Herbs other than Composites

Synonyms

Azorella selago auctt. non Hook.f.

Distribution

Endemic to Macquarie Island.

Habitat

The dominant species of the feldmark vegetation community and also common in other windswept situations. Forming dense, extensive cushions and tight mats through which little other vegetation can penetrate.

Features

Perennial herb forming extensive compact mats, cushions, or in exposed situations button-like balls; main branches prostrate, woody to 5 mm in diameter; lateral shoots erect, herbaceous, freely branched, crowded, 30-150 mm tall, clothed in old leaf remnants. Leaves alternate, imbricate, appressed to stems, persistent; petioles white 3-10 mm long, thickened at apex, 3-5-veinned, with a membranous wing outside the veins, the wings fused to form a sheath around the stem in the lower 1/4-1/2 and produced above to form a very short runcate ridge-like ligule at the base of the lamina; lamina 3-5-partite, lobes divided almost to base of leaves, lanceolate, 1.7-4 x 0.6-1.4 mm, thick and more or less fleshy, acute with a terminal setose apiculum, margins thickened, glabrous or with 1-5 bristle-like hairs 1.4-4 mm long on the undersides. Flowers terminal, solitary or paired, hermaphrodite, peduncles short with the flowers enclosed by the upper leaves. Involucral bracts 2, fused at the base to form a small cup, leaf-like or lanceolate. Sepals 5, 0.5-0.9 mm long white, linear, unequal. Petals 5, 1.5-2 mm long, pale reddish brown, incurved, somewhat cucullate, acute. Stamens 5, 1.7-3 mm long. Styles 2, 0.75-1 mm long, with a swollen stylopodium at the base. Ovary slightly laterally compressed. Fruit yellow-brown, sessile or on a pedicel 1 mm long (so hidden amongst leaves); body of fruit obovoid and slightly flattened laterally 1.3-1.7 x 1-1.5 mm, 0.9-1 mm thick, weakly ribbed, styles persistent, sepals deciduous.

Similar Taxa

Azorella selago Hook.f. which is known from Tierra del Fuego, the Falklands, Marion, Crozet, Kerguelen and Heard Islands but not Macquarie A. macquariensis differs from A. selago by its smaller size and leaf shape. The current seasons leaves are 3-lobed compared to the 4-7-lobed seen in A. selago; in A. macquariensis the lobes are divided almost to the leaf base, the apices are acute and bristle-tipped rather than blunt and rounded as in A. selago. The ligule also differs in A. macquariensis in that it is a short, ridge-like truncate or slightly rounded structure while in A. selago it comprises two distinct, rounded auricles. The flowers of A. macquariensis are solitary or rarely paired rather than in groups of 3, the fruits 1.7 cf. 1.7-2 mm long and are sessile or virtually so, therefore they are hidden in the upper leaves rather than exserted from the leaves as in the dsitcntly pedicellate A. selago, finally the sepals are deciduous in A. macquariensis and persistent in A. selago.

Flowering

December - February

Flower Colours

Red / Pink,White

Fruiting

January - April

Propagation Technique

Unknown

Threats

None evident. Endemic to Macquarie Island where it is locally common.

Endemic Taxon

Yes

Endemic Genus

No

Endemic Family

No

This page last updated on 29 Aug 2017