Brachyglottis rotundifolia var. rotundifolia
Common names
mutton-bird scrub
Biostatus
Native – Endemic taxon
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Trees & Shrubs - Dicotyledons
Simplified 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.
Flower colours
Yellow
Detailed description
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.
Distribution
Endemic. South, Stewart and Solander Islands.
Habitat
Coastal cliffs, banks to treeline.
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 | Not Threatened
Detailed taxonomy
Family
Synonyms
Senecio puffinii Allan ex. Rehder, Senecio reinoldii Endl. Senecio rotundifolius (J.R.Forst et G.Forst) Hook.f. nom. illegit.
Endemic taxon
Yes
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Ecology
Flowering
December - January
Fruiting
January - February
Life cycle and dispersal
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”
rotundifolia: Round leaf; from the Latin rotundus and folium
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
Referencing and citations
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
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.