Brachyscome sinclairii
Biostatus
Native – Endemic taxon
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
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Herbs - Dicotyledonous composites
Simplified description
Found in a wide range of habitats this small perennial herb has petiolate, dull to bright green leaves with lobed margins, the lobes often extending down the petiole. The white and yellow flowers are composite and daisy like.
Flower colours
White, Yellow
Detailed description
The plant is a perennial rosette forming herb. The leaves are spathulate or cuneately narrowed to winged petiole and elliptic-oblong to obovate, with 3 to 9 (usually 5 to 9) pairs of round teeth or lobes (often lyrate-pinnatifid). Sometimes a few leaves are entire. The leaves are obtuse, usually glabrous, sometimes sparsely to moderately clothed in short-stalked glandular hairs on both surfaces or just on the margins. The leaves are 10mm to 45mm long (usually 10mm to 30mm) long, and 4mm to 15mm (usually 4mm to 10mm ) wide. The peduncles are usually naked, sometimes with 1 scale-like leaf, sparsely to moderately clothed in glandular hairs at least near the capitulum. Peduncles 30mm to 110mm long and 0.8mm to 1.2mm in diameter at flowering, extending up to 150mm to 180mm long at fruiting. The involucral bracts are elliptic-oblong to spathulate, obtuse and fimbriate at their apex, and glandular at least at their base. The involucral bracts are 3.5mm to 6 mm long. The numerous white ray florets are 6mm to 12mm (usually 6mm to 10mm) long. The disc florets are yellow. The achenes are obovoid, compressed, eglandular and 2mm to 3mm long with a pappus of few bristles that are 0.1mm to 0.3mm long.
(Description adapted from Webb et al, 1988)
Similar taxa
Species in the genus Brachyscome are not well defined and can be hard to distinguish from each other. Brachyscome sinclairii is most similar to B. radicata and B. montana, with some features overlapping with both these two species. B. sinclairii is clearly distinguished from the other common species, B. radicata by its the strongly compressed, eglandular achenes. B. radicata has glandular achenes, a more branched habit, and leaves which generally have fewer teeth, these generally being close to the apex of the leaf. B. montana is apparently distinct from both B. sinclairii and B. radicata due to its diversiform, greyish green, glandular hairy and somewhat fleshy leaves, but both B. radicata and B. sinclairii can have glandular hairy leaves, so this is not a good distinguishing trait.
Distribution
South Island; throughout the island
Habitat
The species is found in a wide range of habitats from sea level to the high alpine zone. Habitats include tussock grassland, frost flats, herbfield, forest margins, cliffs, rocky places, and riverbeds.
Substrate details
Many rock types and substrates including alluvium, greywacke, schist, sandstone, and others.
Detailed taxonomy
Genus
Family
Endemic taxon
Yes
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Ecology
Flowering
August to May, but predominantly from November to March (Webb et al., 1988)
Life cycle and dispersal
Pappate cypselae are dispersed by wind (Thorsen et al., 2009).
Other information
Etymology
brachyscome: From Greek brachys ‘short’ and comus ‘hair’, refers to the lack of papys on the fruit
sinclairii: After Sinclair (c. 1796–1861). Colonial Secretary and naturalist.
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.
BRASIN
Chromosome number
2n = 18
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
Regional conservation statuses
Otago: 2025 | Regionally Not Threatened
The regional threat classification system leverages off the national assessments in the NZTCS, providing information relevant for the regional context. Otago conservation status information is sourced from the “Conservation Status of Indigenous Vascular Plants in Otago, 2025” Jarvie S et al. (2025) report.
Referencing and citations
References and further reading
Hooker, J.D. 1864: Handbook of the New Zealand Flora: a systematic description of the native plants of New Zealand and the Chatham, Kermadec’s, Lord Auckland’s, Campbell’s and Macquarie’s Islands. Part I. Reeve, London.
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
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.
Attribution
Page edited by Rowan Hindmarsh-Walls (29 May 2022)