Brachyglottis haastii
Synonyms
Senecio haastii Hook.f.
Family
Asteraceae
Flora category
Vascular – Native
Endemic taxon
Yes
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Structural class
Herbs - Dicotyledonous composites
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.
BRAHAA
Chromosome number
2n = 60
Current conservation status
The conservation status of all known New Zealand vascular plant taxa at the rank of species and below were reassessed in 2017 using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS). This report includes a statistical summary and brief notes on changes since 2012 and replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants. Authors: By Peter J. de Lange, Jeremy R. Rolfe, John W. Barkla, Shannel P. Courtney, Paul D. Champion, Leon R. Perrie, Sarah M. Beadel, Kerry A. Ford, Ilse Breitwieser, Ines Schönberger, Rowan Hindmarsh-Walls, Peter B. Heenan and Kate Ladley.
2012 | Not Threatened
Previous conservation statuses
2009 | Not Threatened
2004 | Not Threatened
Distribution
Endemic. South Island. Found mostly east of the Main Divide from Arthurs Pass to the Blue Mountains.
Habitat
Lowland to subalpine grassland.
Features
Stock and bases of petioles clad in long pale buff hairs. Leaves; lamina 30-150 x 20-60 mm, oblong to broad-oblong or suborbicular, obtuse, cordate to truncate at base, sub-membranous, clad when young on both surfaces in dense white sub-appressed tomentum, sometimes becoming nearly glabrous above when mature. Petioles 30-150 mm long, clad in dense soft white tomentum, finally nearly, glabrous. Scapes up to 350 mm long, usually slenderly branched above, clad in dense tomentum of soft whitish hairs mingled with glandular ones, becoming nearly glabrous with age; lower bracts spathulate, floral bracts linear. Capitula 20-40 mm diameter, ligules yellow, up to 20 mm long; phyllaries tomentose on back, linear, obtuse. Pappus-hairs up to 5 mm long, barbellate; achenes approximately 4 mm long, linear.
Flowering
December – March (-April)
Flower colours
Yellow
Fruiting
January – April (-May)
Life cycle
Pappate cypselae are dispersed by wind (Thorsen et al., 2009).
Etymology
brachyglottis: Name comes from the Greek words brachus meaning “short” and glottis meaning “the vocal apparatus of the larynx”
haastii: Honours the New Zealand geologist and botanist Sir Julius von Haast (1822-87)
TAXONOMIC NOTES
Cheeseman (Man. N.Z. Fl. 1906, 368) remarked of the genus in New Zealand: “The herbaceous species are exceedingly variable, and some of them difficult to determine; but the shrubby varieties are remarkably distinct.” The complex of forms found in the herbs with leaves in rosettes and scapose inflorescences is still far from resolved, especially as to how far the linking forms are due to hybridism and how far to true-breeding varieties. There is good evidence that hybrids occur of the origins B. haastii x B. southlandica. It is probable that detailed study of the occurrences of glandular hairs and of trichomes would yield evidence of “introgression”, as Wall’s examination of the populations on Banks Peninsula (T.N.Z.I. 50, 1918, 198) suggests.
Attribution
Description adapted by M. Ward from Allan (1961) and Mark (2012).
References and further reading
Allan, H. H. 1961. Flora of New Zealand. Vol. 1. Wellington: Government Printer. pg.740 & 756.
Cheeseman, T. F. 1906. Manual of the New Zealand Flora. Wellington, Government Printer.
Mark, A. F. 2012. Above the Treeline: A Nature Guide to Alpine New Zealand. Craig Potton Publishing, Nelson. pg. 231.
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
Wall, A. 1918. On the distribution of Senecio saxifragoides Hook. f., and its relation to Senecio lagopus Raoul. pg. 198-206