Brachyglottis rotundifolia var. rotundifolia
Common name
mutton-bird scrub
Synonyms
Senecio puffinii Allan ex. Rehder, Senecio reinoldii Endl. Senecio rotundifolius (J.R.Forst et G.Forst) Hook.f. nom. illegit.
Family
Asteraceae
Flora category
Vascular – Native
Endemic taxon
Yes
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Structural class
Trees & Shrubs - Dicotyledons
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
Brief description
Large leathery shrub inhabiting coastal shrub in the southern South Island southwards. Leaves thick and leathery, 4-10cm long, widest part of leaf towards base, dark green and glossy, white or tan fuzz underneath. Flowers a white furry body with a yellowish tip in loose leafy clusters at tips of twigs.
Distribution
Endemic. South, Stewart and Solander Islands.
Habitat
Coastal cliffs, banks to treeline.
Features
Shrub or tree up to 6 m or more tall. Branches, stout, grooved; branchlets and inflorescence-branchlets clad in dense pale buff to whitish tomentum. Leaves very coriaceous, entire, obliquely broadly oblong to suborbicular, midrib and main veins prominent below; glabrous above, clad in dense appressed tomentum below; lamina 40-100 x 40-90 mm, on stout grooved petiole up to 50 mm long. Panicles up to 200 mm long, lower bracts foliaceous. Capitula campanulate, up to 10 mm diameter, discoid, on stout tomentose pedicels. Phyllaries linear, obtuse, coriaceous, woolly-tomentose on back. Female flowers few, disk-florets numerous. Achenes angled, 2.5 mm long, linear-oblong, glabrous or with sparse hispid hairs; pappus-hairs up to 6 mm long, rigid, barbellate.
Similar taxa
Brachyglottis rotundifolia var. ambigua which is a smaller shrub (3 m); has leaves which are longer than wide (70-150 x 30-60 mm) and less coriaceous; and only found in Westland.
Flowering
December - January
Flower colours
Yellow
Fruiting
January - February
Life cycle
Pappate achenes 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”
rotundifolia: Round leaf; from the Latin rotundus and folium
Attribution
Description adapted by M. Ward from Allan (1961).
References and further reading
Allan, H. H. 1961. Flora of New Zealand. Vol. 1. Wellington: Government Printer. pg. 754.
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