Botrychium australe
Common names
parsley fern, pātotara
Biostatus
Native
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Ferns
Flower colours
No flowers
Detailed description
Red-green (bronze) to bright green, fleshy to succulent plant. Roots thick, fleshy, distinctly ridged and contracted. Sterile laminae 1–(2), stalked, broadly ovate or 5-angled, divided 3–5-times, 30–250 × 30–150 mm, the ultimate segments blunt-ended, 1–7 mm wide. Fertile laminae 1–(2) borne on a narrower but longer stalk, fertile portion shorter and narrower than sterile laminae, divided 3–5-times, bearing numerous, spherical, yellow-brown sporangia up to c. 10 mm diameter.
Similar taxa
Closest to Botrychium biforme ColensoBotrychium biforme Colenso from which it differs mainly by its less divided, blunt-ended sterile frond segments. The roots of B. australe are distinctly ridged and contracted. Those of B. biforme are not.
Distribution
Indigenous. North Island, South Island throughout, with one old Chatham Island record. Present in Australia, Papua New Guinea and South America.
Habitat
Lowland to alpine. A species of open ground, short and tall tussock grassland, forest clearings, shrubland, river flats, reverting pasture and seasonally flooded ground. It has also been collected from the margins of peat bogs in the Huntly Basin, lower Waikato.
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 – Declining | Qualifiers: Sp, DPS, DPT, SO
Threats
Generally uncommon and of sporadic distribution. In some habitats it can be locally abundant, but in many places it is now scarce. There is some evidence of losses happening in the northern part of its range but as yet this seems insufficient to warrant a worse conservation status.
Detailed taxonomy
Family
Synonyms
Botrychium ternatum var. australe (R.Br.) Domin; Botrychium australe var. erosum (Milde) Prantl; Botrychium cicutarium var. virginicum (Hook.f.) Linds.; Botrychium ternatum var. erosum (Milde) Milde; Botrychium virginicum sensu Hook.f.; Sceptridium australe (R.Br.) Lyon; Botrychium australe var. typicum R.T.Clausen; Botrychium cicutarium sensu Hook.f.; Botrychium erosum Milde; Botrychium ternatum sensu F.Muell.
Endemic taxon
No
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Ecology
Flowering
Not applicable—spore producing
Fruiting
Not applicable—spore producing
Life cycle and dispersal
Minute spores are wind dispersed (Thorsen et al., 2009).
Propagation technique
Difficult. Should not be removed from the wild.
Other information
Etymology
botrychium: Bunch of grapes; from the Greek botrus; grape like spore clusters
australe: Southern, from the Latin australis
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.
BOTAUS
Chromosome number
2n = 90
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: DP, EF, SO, Sp
2012 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon | Qualifiers: DP, EF, SO
2009 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon | Qualifiers: DP, SO, EF
2004 | Sparse
Regional conservation statuses
The regional threat classification system leverages off the national assessments in the NZTCS, providing information relevant for the regional context. Otago conservation status information is sourced from the “Regional conservation status of indigenous vascular plants in Otago” Jarvie S et al. (2024) report.
Otago: 2024 | Regionally Data Deficient
Referencing and citations
References and further reading
Brownsey PJ, Smith-Dodsworth JC. 2000. New Zealand Ferns and Allied Plants. David Bateman, Auckland, NZ. 168 p.
Thorsen MJ, Dickinson KJM, Seddon PJ. 2009. Seed dispersal systems in the New Zealand flora. Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics 11: 285–309. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ppees.2009.06.001.
Attribution
Fact Sheet by P.J. de Lange 6 June 2005. Description from Brownsey & Smith-Dodsworth (2000).
NZPCN Fact Sheet citation
Please cite as: de Lange, P.J. (Year at time of access): Botrychium australe Fact Sheet (content continuously updated). New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/botrychium-australe/ (Date website was queried)