Brachyscome longiscapa
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.
BRALON
Chromosome number
2n = 18
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.
2018 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon
Previous conservation statuses
2012 | Data Deficient
2009 | Not Threatened
2004 | Not Threatened
Brief description
A small, perennial rosette forming herb with petiolate, dark green leaves with entire or sparingly lobed margins. The white and yellow flowers are composite and daisy like.
Distribution
South Island: Owen Range (Kahurangi National Park), then more common in inland South Canterbury and North Otago, extending as far south as northern Southland
Habitat
Montane to high alpine. Mostly found in tussock grassland and on rock outcrops
Features
The plant is a perennial rosette forming herb. The leaves are spathulate, or cuneately narrowed to a winged petiole, and ovate to obovate, mostly entire, sometimes with 1 to 6 pairs of shallow lobes. The leaf tips are obtuse to subacute. The leaves are glabrous, but sometimes with few hairs on upper surface and with many stalked glandular hairs on lower surface and margin. The leaves are between 12mm and 60mm (usually between 30mm and 60mm) in length and between 3mm and 15mm (usually between 7mm and 15mm) in width. The peduncles are usually leafless, sometimes with 1 scale-like leaf, and usually sparsely to moderately clothed in glandular hairs at least near capitulum, but rarely glabrous. The peduncles are between 50mm and 200mm (usually between 120mm and 200mm) in length, and between 0.5mm and 1.2mm in diameter at flowering, extending up to 300mm in length at fruiting. The involucral bracts are lanceolate to elliptic-oblong in shape, and obtuse to acute and fimbriate at their apex. The involucral bracts are glandular hairy and between 3mm and 6mm (usually between 4mm and 6mm) in length. The ray florets are numerous and usually white, sometimes tinged pink on the reverse side, and are between 5mm and 8 mm long. The disc florets are greenish yellow. The achenes are obovoid, compressed, and eglandular, and are between 1.5mm and 2mm long. These have a pappus of a few bristles, between 0.1mm and 0.3mm long.
(Description adapted from Webb et al., 1988)
Similar taxa
The species is most similar to B. lucens which also has entire leaves, but B. lucens is only found on a few limestone hills in eastern Marlborough and is not sympatric with B. longiscapa. Brachyscome sinclairii can be similar looking and is sometimes sympatric with B. longiscapa. While entire-leaved specimens are sometimes found in B. sinclairii, and lobed-leaved specimens in B. longiscapa, B. longiscapa can usually be readily distinguished by its entire or sparingly toothed leaf form and by its long thin peduncles.
The species is also similar in appearance to some species of Lagenophora, but as most of these are not alpine species it is only likely to be sympatric with L. cuneata, which differs from B. longiscapa by having significantly smaller and shorter ray florets, and leaves that are notched rather than lobed.
Flowering
Ocober to April (Webb et al., 1988)
Flower colours
White, Yellow
Life cycle
Pappate cypselae are dispersed by wind (Thorsen et al., 2009).
Substrate
On substrates including greywacke, schist, marble, ultramafic rocks and others
Etymology
brachyscome: From Greek brachys ‘short’ and comus ‘hair’, refers to the lack of papys on the fruit
Taxonomic notes
Some plants resembling B. longiscapa from Otago and Southland have entire leaves but much shorter peduncles than typical of B. longiscapa, and it is unclear where these entities sit in relation to existing species. Some regard them as variants of B. sinclairii and others lump them in with B. longiscapa.
Attribution
Page updated by Rowan Hindmarsh-Walls (29 May 2022)
References and further reading
Simpson, G.; Thomson, J. S. 1943: Notes on Some New Zealand Plants and Descriptions of New Species. Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand 73: 155–171.
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 11(4): 285-309.
Webb, C.J.; Sykes, W.R.; Garnock-Jones, P.J. 1988: Flora of New Zealand. Vol. IV. Naturalised Pteridophytes, Gymnosperms, Dicotyledons. Botany Division DSIR, Christchurch.