Brachyglottis greyi
Biostatus
Native – Endemic taxon
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Trees & Shrubs - Dicotyledons
Simplified description
Rare small grey-green shrub inhabiting rocky sites of the southern North Island. Leaves few, 4-8cm long, oblong, with a blunt base joined to the leaf stalk, grey-green, white woolly underneath. Flowers with radiating yellow petals, in loose clusters.
Flower colours
Yellow
Detailed description
Spreading shrub up to approximately 2 m tall, with stout branches. Branchlets and petioles densely clad in soft white tomentum. Leaves rather distant; lamina 40-80 × 25-45 mm, coriaceous, oblong to ovate-oblong, obtuse, rounded to obliquely shallowly cordate at base, entire to shallowly sinuate; upper surface of very young leaves white-tomentose, of mature leaves glabrous and shining except on margins; lower surface densely clad in soft white tomentum, midrib prominent; petiole 15-40 mm long, rather stout, channelled above. Inflorescence of numerous terminal bracted branches; branchlets and pedicels densely glandular-pubescent, bracts foliaceous. Capitula up to 30 mm diameter, in large corymbs; phyllaries 12-16, lanceolate-oblong, acute to subacute, glandular-pubescent on back. Ray-florets approximately 15; ligules bright yellow, broad, spreading, approximately 10 mm long; achenes approximately 1.5 mm long, narrow-oblong, grooved, densely to sparsely scabridulous; pappus-hairs rather scanty, up to 4 mm long, slender, finely barbellate.
Similar taxa
B. compacta geographically these species do not overlap.
Distribution
Endemic. Confined to the southern North Island from near Flat Point south to the mouth of the Orongorongo River.
Habitat
Primarily a coastal species of rock outcrops and bluffs but may extend inland up river gorges and in suitably exposed bluff habitats
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: DPS, DPT, RR
Detailed taxonomy
Genus
Family
Synonyms
Senecio greyi Hook.f.
Endemic taxon
Yes
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Ecology
Flowering
December-March
Fruiting
December-April (-July)
Life cycle and dispersal
Pappate achenes are dispersed by wind (Thorsen et al., 2009).
Propagation technique
Very easy from fresh seed or semi-hardwood cuttings. Layers readily as well. Will hybridise with most other Brachyglottis, so if pure seed is wanted plant specimens well away from other species in this genus
Other information
Cultivation
Occasionally offered by specialist native plant nurseries. Most plants sold under this name are hybrids with either B. compacta or B. repanda.
Several hybrid groups of similar looking plants are sold in commercial nurseries under the names Brachyglottis ‘Sunshine’ and B. ‘Otari Cloud’.
Etymology
brachyglottis: Name comes from the Greek words brachus meaning “short” and glottis meaning “the vocal apparatus of the larynx”
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.
BRAGRE
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 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon | Qualifiers: Sp
2012 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon | Qualifiers: Sp
2009 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon
2004 | Not Threatened
Referencing and citations
References and further reading
Allan, H. H. 1961. Flora of New Zealand. Vol. 1. Wellington: Government Printer. pg. 751.
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 2009 Vol. 11 No. 4 pp. 285-309
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.