Brachyglottis buchananii
Biostatus
Native – Endemic taxon
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Trees & Shrubs - Dicotyledons
Simplified description
Poorly known small bushy subalpine shrub. Leaves leathery, tapering to a narrow tip, dark green with a white margin and white furry underneath. Flowers in loose clusters at tips of twigs, white furry body with an orange tip.
Flower colours
Yellow
Detailed description
Compactly branched shrub up to 3 m tall. Branchlets ribbed, clad as are inflorescence-branchlets in appressed whitish tomentum. Leaves 50-100 × 30-50 mm, on grooved petioles up to 50 mm long, elliptic, narrowed towards apex and base, subcoriaceous, glabrous and shining above, veins evident; below clad in appressed silvery-white to greyish tomentum, midrib rather prominent. Panicle up to 250 mm long, laxly branched, lower bracts foliaceous; pedicels up to 20 mm long, woolly-tomentose. Capitula campanulate, up to 10 mm diameter, discoid; phyllaries linear-oblong, subcoriaceous, subacute to obtuse, woolly-tomentose on back. Female flower up to 5, disk-florets numerous. Achenes 2.5-3 mm long, striate, rough-pubescent; pappus-hairs 3-5 mm long, finely barbellate.
Similar taxa
Similar to B. elaeagnifolia, which has leaves that are a different shape (obovate to lanceolate-oblong, obtuse); more compact inflorescence panicle (sub-pyramidal to sub-racemose), which is usually smaller (150 mm).
Distribution
Endemic. South and Stewart Islands (possibly an Outlier on Mount Taranaki, North Island as described by Armstrong 1879). Most of South Island, commonly west of main divide.
Habitat
Lowland to higher montane forest and scrub.
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: DPR, DPS, DPT
Detailed taxonomy
Family
Synonyms
Senecio buchananii J.B.Armstr., Senecio bennettii Simpson et J.S.Thomson
Endemic taxon
Yes
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Ecology
Flowering
January-March (-May)
Fruiting
February-April (-September)
Other information
Etymology
brachyglottis: Name comes from the Greek words brachus meaning “short” and glottis meaning “the vocal apparatus of the larynx”
buchananii: Named after John Buchanan (13 October 1819-1898) who was a New Zealand botanist and scientific artist and fellow of the Linnean Society.
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.
BRABUC
Chromosome number
2n = 60
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 | Not Threatened
2012 | Not Threatened
2009 | Not Threatened
2004 | Not Threatened
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 Not Threatened | Qualifiers: TL
Referencing and citations
References and further reading
Allan, H. H. 1961. Flora of New Zealand. Vol. 1. Wellington: Government Printer. pg. 755-756.
Armstrong, J. B. 1879: Descriptions of some new native plants. New Zealand Country Journal 3: 56-59.
Haase, P. 1986 An ecological study of the subalpine shrub Senecio bennettii (Compositae) at Arthur’s pass South Island, New Zealand, New Zealand Journal of Botany, 24:2, 247-262.
Attribution
Description adapted by M. Ward from Allan (1961).
Some of this factsheet information is derived from Flora of New Zealand Online and is used under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 New Zealand licence.