The New Zealand Plant Conservation Network

Species

Plantago udicola

Etymology

Plantago: old Latin name for flat-leaved plants

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

Authority

Plantago udicola Meudt et Garn.-Jones

Family

Plantaginaceae

Flora Category

Vascular - Native

NVS Species Code

PLAUDI

Structural Class

Dicotyledonous Herbs other than Composites

Synonyms

None (first described 2012)

Distribution

Endemic. New Zealand: North and South Islands (Central Volcanic Plateau otherwise North-West Nelson south to Fiordland)

Habitat

Subalpine to alpine. In open or sheltered tussockland, herb fields, scrub seeps, creeks, flushes, bogs, damp hollows, swampy patches, wet ground and lake shores; at base of bluffs, on schist, greywacke, silt or peaty soil.

Features

Rosette plants; primary root 3-20 mm thick. Leaves all basal, 8-19 to per rosette, green or brown when dry, usually narrowly angular-obovate, rarely narrowly obovate, widest point above middle, 16-186 × 4-27mm wide; axillary hairs ferrugineous, slightly to very visible, up to 5-23mm long. Lamina narrowly elliptic, elliptic, narrowly rhombic, rhombic, narrowly angular-obovate or angular-obovate, widest point usually at middle, sometimes above middle, 13-175 mm long, usually not punctate, rarely punctate, usually with isolated hairs or sparsely hairy, rarely densely hairy adaxially, glabrous, with isolated hairs or sparsely hairy, especially along midrib and margins, rarely densely hairy abaxially; hairs patent and 0.5-3.6 mm; veins 1-5; lamina apex usually acute, rarely obtuse; base attenuate or cuneate; margins entire or subentire with wavy and irregular margins, with 4-12 minute, small, medium or large, obtuse, regular or irregular teeth up to 0.3-4.6mm long, with patchy isolated hairs to sparsely hairy; petiole usually distinguishable from lamina, 6.0-75.0 × 1.1-6.8 mm. Inflorescences erect, 3-18 per rosette, 62-266 mm long (including spikes); scapes elongating before anthesis, not ribbed, 3-250 × 4-8 mm thick at fruiting, sparsely to densely hairy, especially near top; trichomes patent (distally antrorse); spikes usually long and linear-ovoid, sometimes ovoid, rarely globose, 5-28 × 4-8 mm thick at fruiting. Flowers 2-32 per spike, usually densely crowded, rarely more distant below (up to 4 mm apart); bracts 1 per flower, ovate, broadly ovate or very broadly ovate, acute or obtuse, 1.8-3.5 × 0.8-2.2mm wide; bract margins with isolated hairs or sparsely hairy and outer surface glabrous or with isolated hairs along midrib; bract axils usually sparsely hairy, rarely with isolated hairs or densely hairy, 0.9-2.4 mm long; calyx usually shorter, rarely longer than capsule, 2.2-3.5 × 1.4-2.9 mm; calyx lobes 1.9-3.3 × 1.1-2.5 mm, ovate, acute or obtuse; calyx lobe margins scarious and usually with isolated hairs at apex, rarely glabrous, middle coloured part 0.3-0.9mm wide, outer surface glabrous or with isolated hairs on midrib; corolla tube 1.8-3.7 mm long, longer than lobes; corolla lobes 1.1-2.9 × 0.6-1.3 mm, usually narrowly ovate or ovate, rarely broadly ovate, acute; stamen filaments 2.0-7.5mm long, usually attached to lower half, rarely upper half of corolla tube 0.2-1.7 mm; anthers 1.5-2.2 mm long; style 2.2-6.4 mm long, densely hairy throughout; stigma filiform, undifferentiated from style; ovary 0.6-1.8 × 0.5-1.3 mm; ovules 4-5. Capsules 2.1-4.7 × 1.4-3.2 × 0.8-1.9 mm, ellipsoid, broadly ellipsoid or ovoid, rarely rhomboid, broadly rhomboid or broadly ovoid, widest at lower half or middle, septum usually reaching top of capsule, not forming an upper compartment to one side. Seeds 1-4 per capsule, 1.1-2.5 × 0.6-1.4 mm uniform, usually ellipsoid, rarely narrowly ellipsoid, rust, brown or dark brown, edges rounded.

Similar Taxa

Plantago udicola is distinguished from other species of Plantago by the following suite of characters: 1-4 ellipsoid, uniform seeds; scapes with type ‘i’ and type ‘g’ hairs (see Meudt 2012); bracts that are sparsely minute ciliate or with isolated hairs along the whole margin; sepal margins with one or few isolated hairs at apex only. It is also ecologically distinct from P. spathulata, P. picta and P. raoulii, being found in boggy habitats of tussock lands and herb fields above 600 m, and cytologically distinct, as it is a 16-ploid, whereas the other three species are octoploids.

Flowering

November - February

Fruiting

December - June

Propagation Technique

Easily grown from fresh seed and transplants.

Threats

Not Threatened but would warrant more survey to make sure this assessment is correct (Meudt 2012, p. 152)

Chromosome No.

2n = 96

Endemic Taxon

Yes

Endemic Genus

No

Endemic Family

No

This page last updated on 7 Nov 2013