Brachyglottis hectorii
Common names
Hector’s tree daisy
Biostatus
Native
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Trees & Shrubs - Dicotyledons
Simplified description
Large shrub with conspicuous white daisy flowers of north-western South Island. Leaves with distinctive feathery base, crowded at top of twigs, thin, margin with small teeth. Flowers around 5 cm wide, with radiating white petals and a yellow centre, sticky, in large clusters.
Flower colours
White, Yellow
Detailed description
Shrub up to 4m tall. Branches stout, spreading, brittle, tomentose; leaves close-set towards tips of branchlets. Lamina 100-250 x 40-120 mm, membranous, broadly oblanceolate, more or less scaberulous above, thinly clad in cottony white tomentum below when young, coarsely acutely dentate serrate, pinnatifid to pinnate towards base and on short petiole up to 40 mm long; petiole clad in brownish hairs below. Corymbs large, terminal, lax, pedicels densely clad in stiff glandular pubescence. Capitula up to 50 mm diameter; phyllaries in two series, outer lanceolate, inner oblong-lanceolate, acute, margins membranous Ray-florets 8-12, ligules white, broad, spreading, approximately 20 mm long; achenes 4.5 mm long, linear, strongly grooved, glabrous; pappus-hairs up to 9 mm long, slender, rather rigid, finely barbellate.
Distribution
Endemic. South Island. North-west Nelson to Rapahoe Range in Westland.
Habitat
Lowland to montane stream-sides and forest margins.
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.
Please note, threat classifications are often suggested by authors when publications fall between NZTCS assessment periods – these interim threat classification statuses has not been assessed by the NZTCS panel.
- 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 | Not Threatened
Detailed taxonomy
Family
Asteraceae
Synonyms
Senecio hectorii Buchanan
Endemic taxon
Yes
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Ecology
Flowering
December - February (-June)
Fruiting
January - April (-July)
Life cycle
Pappate achenes are dispersed by wind (Thorsen et al., 2009).
Other information
Etymology
brachyglottis: Name comes from the Greek words brachus meaning “short” and glottis meaning “the vocal apparatus of the larynx”
hectorii: Named after Sir James Hector, 19th century New Zealand geologist and botanist who was originally from Scotland
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.
BRAHEC
Chromosome number
2n = 60
Previous conservation statuses
2017 | Not Threatened
2012 | Not Threatened
2009 | Not Threatened
2004 | Not Threatened
Referencing and citations
References and further reading
Allan, H. H. 1961. Flora of New Zealand. Vol. 1. Wellington: Government Printer. pg. 747-748.
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.