Damnamenia vernicosa
Common names
damnamenia
Biostatus
Native – Endemic taxon
Current conservation status
The conservation status of all known New Zealand vascular plant taxa at the rank of species and below were reassessed in 2022-2023 using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS) – more information about this can be found on the NZTCS website. This report includes replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants. Previous assessments can be found here.
- Conservation status of vascular plants in Aotearoa New Zealand, 2023. 2024. Peter J. de Lange, Jane Gosden, Shannel P. Courtney, Alexander J. Fergus, John W. Barkla, Sarah M. Beadel, Paul D. Champion, Rowan Hindmarsh-Walls, Troy Makan and Pascale Michel Department of Conservation. Source: NZTCS and licensed by DOC for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.
2023 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon | Qualifiers: RR
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Herbs - Dicotyledonous composites
Flower colours
Violet/Purple, White
Detailed description
Stoloniferous herb with thick woody multicipital basal stock. Living leaves densely imbricating and forming rosettes at tips of branchlets and sometimes at ends of leafy stolons. Leaves glossy as though varnished, glabrous; venation simple with lateral veins of sheath not extending into the lamina. Ptyxis plain. Inflorescence scapose and monocephalous. Receptacle obconic; phyllaries in several series, bearing eglandular uniseriate hairs only. Ray florets ligulate, female, white, occasionally pale rose especially near tips, limb and tube clad in scattered hairs. Disc florets tubular, pefect, purple or occasionally yellow, cyathiform above point of insertion of stamen filaments and usually cylindrical below, although occasionally gradually narrowing towards corolla base; corolla hairs eglandular biseriate and uniseriate; stamen tip usually obtuse or if acute then short, anther tails present but shorter than the basally narrowed filament collar; style arms short, terminal appendage broadly triangular and bearing long collecting hairs on back and margin. Pappus bristles unequal, in more than one series, plumose with long crowded teeth. Achene obconic, clad in duplex hairs.
Similar taxa
None
Distribution
Endemic. New Zealand: Auckland Islands and Campbell Island/Motu Ihupuku.
Habitat
A species of mostly upland cushion bogs and Pleurophyllum Hook.f. dominated meadows. Also grows at low elevations in exposed, inhospitable, sparsely vegetated sites.
Threats
A Naturally Uncommon, range-restricted endemic, abundant and under no obvious threats within its known sites. Both Auckland and Campbell Island are Nature Reserves and World Heritage Sites administered by the New Zealand Department of Conservation who exercises strict controls on landings to these islands.
Detailed taxonomy
Genus
Family
Synonyms
Celmisia vernicosa Hook.f.
Endemic taxon
Yes
Endemic genus
Yes
Endemic family
No
Ecology
Flowering
November - January
Fruiting
December - March
Life cycle and dispersal
Pappate cypselae are dispersed by wind (Thorsen et al., 2009).
Propagation technique
Difficult - should not be removed from the wild
Other information
Where To Buy
Not commercially available.
Etymology
vernicosa: Varnished
NVS code
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.
DAMVER
Chromosome number
2n = 108
Previous conservation statuses
The conservation status of all known New Zealand vascular plant taxa at the rank of species and below were reassessed in 2022-2023 using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS) – more information about this can be found on the NZTCS website. This report includes replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants. Previous assessments can be found here.
- Conservation status of vascular plants in Aotearoa New Zealand, 2023. 2024. Peter J. de Lange, Jane Gosden, Shannel P. Courtney, Alexander J. Fergus, John W. Barkla, Sarah M. Beadel, Paul D. Champion, Rowan Hindmarsh-Walls, Troy Makan and Pascale Michel Department of Conservation. Source: NZTCS and licensed by DOC for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.
2017 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon | Qualifiers: RR
2012 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon | Qualifiers: RR
2009 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon
2004 | Range Restricted
Referencing and citations
References and further reading
Given, D.R. 1973. Damnamenia gen. nov. A New Subantarctic Genus Allied to Celmisia Cass. (Astereae-Compositae). New Zealand Journal of Botany 11: 785-796.
Thorsen, M. J.; Dickinson, K. J. M.; Seddon, P. J. 2009. Seed dispersal systems in the New Zealand flora. Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics 11: 285-309
Attribution
Description from Given (1973).