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  4. Centipeda cunninghamii

Centipeda cunninghamii

Eastern Wairarapa. Jan 2008.<br>Photographer: John F. Hobbs, Licence: All rights reserved.
Eastern Wairarapa. Jan 2008.<br>Photographer: John F. Hobbs, Licence: All rights reserved.
Lake Waikato, near Waverley, Taranaki.<br>Photographer: Colin C. Ogle, Date taken: 01/03/2013, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Lake Waikato, near Waverley, Taranaki.<br>Photographer: Colin C. Ogle, Date taken: 01/03/2013, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Abaxial surface of leaf. Lake Waikato, near Waverley, Taranaki.<br>Photographer: Colin C. Ogle, Date taken: 01/03/2013, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Capitulum. Lake Waikato, near Waverley, Taranaki.<br>Photographer: Colin C. Ogle, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Lake Waikato, near Waverley, Taranaki.<br>Photographer: Colin C. Ogle, Date taken: 01/03/2013, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Lake Waikato, near Waverley, Taranaki.<br>Photographer: Colin C. Ogle, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Cypselas from a specimen collected at Pahaoa, eastern Wairarapa by Pat Enright.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 27/01/2011, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
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Common name

sneezeweed

Synonyms

Myriogyne cunninghamii DC.

Family

Asteraceae

Authority

Centipeda cunninghamii (DC.) A.Braun & Asch.

Flora category

Vascular – Native

Endemic taxon

No

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.

CENCUN

Chromosome number

2n = 20

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) – more information about this can be found on the NZTCS website. This report includes a statistical summary and brief notes on changes since 2012 and replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants.

Please note, threat classifications are often suggested by authors when publications fall between NZTCS assessment periods – an interim threat classification status has not been assessed by the NZTCS panel.

  • Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2017 . 2018. 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. Department of Conservation. Source: NZTCS and licensed by DOC for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.

2017 | Not Threatened | Qualifiers: SO

Previous conservation statuses

2012 | Not Threatened

2009 | Not Threatened

2004 | Not Threatened

Distribution

Indigenous. North and South Islands.

Also present in Australia and New Caledonia.

Habitat

Coastal to montane (up to 600 m a.s.l.). Especially common in muddy/sility ground left by receeding waters along lake, pond, stream and river margins. Also in muddy hollows within rough pasture, paddocks, tussock grassland, in damp depressions within dune swales and sometimes in similar sites within urban areas.

Wetland plant indicator status rating

Information derived from the revised national wetland plant list prepared to assist councils in delineating and monitoring wetlands (Clarkson et al., 2021 Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research Contract Report LC3975 for Hawke’s Bay Regional Council). The national plant list categorises plants by the extent to which they are found in wetlands and not ‘drylands’. The indicator status ratings are OBL (obligate wetland), FACW (facultative wetland), FAC (facultative), FACU (facultative upland), and UPL (obligate upland). If you have suggestions for the Wetland Indicator Status Rating, please contact: [Enable JavaScript to view protected content]

FACW: Facultative Wetland

Usually is a hydrophyte but occasionally found in uplands (non-wetlands).

Features

Erect or ascending perennial (sometimes when stressed annual) up to 300 mm tall, new growth commonly resprouting from base, glabrous or cottony. Leaves 7.0-30 x 2.5-7.0 mm, yellow-green or green, somewhat glaucescent, concolorous (rarely paler below); lamina oblong or narrowly obovate, serrate, glabrous, resin-dotted on both surfaces. Inflorescence a single sessile, cauline, capitulum, not leaf-opposed, often in branch axils. Capitula at anthesis biconvex, hemispherical or subglobular, 4-8 mm diameter; involucral bracts 3-5-seriate, obovate, 1.5-3.0 mm long, entire or with minutely ruminate membranous margins, glabrous to lightly (rarely densely) cottony; receptacle strongly convex; female (outer) florets c.200-350 in 7-12 rows, corollas narrowly cylindrical 0.3-0.7 mm long (including lobes 0.1 mm long); bisexual florets 20-70, corollas funnelform, 0.7-0.8 mm long (including lobes 0.3 x 0.3 mm), pale green, rarely reddish. Fruiting heads usually remaining intact until stems senesce; bracts of fruiting heads widely spreading; fruiting receptacle 1.8-3.5 mm diameter with a pith layer entirely contained within the dome of the receptacle; cypselas 1.2-2.0 mm long, oblong, apex truncate or rounded; body with 4 prominent ribs, occasionally with 1-2 minor ribs, the ribs smooth or scabridulous, united at or above 3/4 of the cypsela length into a thickened, spongy or corky apical portion, the pericarp between the ribs in the lower part thin with the brown testa of the seed apparent; vesicular trichomes scattered over faces of cypsela between the ribs. Hairs on ribs antrorse to antrorse-appressed, 0.1-0.2 mm long, usually tightly inrolled at their apices.

Similar taxa

Most likely to be confused with C. elatinoides and C. aotearoana. Centipeda elatinoides differs by its hairless or slightly cob-webbed branchlets, shortly stalked capitula, and narrowly obovate cypselas with rounded apices. Centipeda aotearoana differs by its mostly prostrate, widely spreading growth form, leaves up to 12 mm long, 8-17 rather than 20 or more bisexual florets in the capitula, and smaller (0.9-1.3 mm cf. 1.8-3.5 mm) fruiting capitula.

Flowering

September - February

Flower colours

Green, Red/Pink

Fruiting

October - June

Life cycle

Cypselae dispersed by wind, attachment and granivory (Thorsen et al., 2009).

Propagation technique

Easily grown from fresh seed and cuttings. Inclined to become invasive.

Etymology

centipeda: From the Greek word for one hundred feet

cunninghamii: Named after Allan Cunningham (1791–1839) who was an English botanist and explorer, primarily known for his travels to Australia (New South Wales) and New Zealand to collect plants. Author of Florae Insularum Novae Zelandiae Precursor, 1837–40 (Introduction to the flora of New Zealand).

Notes on taxonomy

Collectively the four species now recognised from New Zealand were all regarded by Allan (1961) as C. orbicularis, a later synonym of C. minima. Webb et al. (1988) were the first to recognise C. minima and C. cunninghamii as present in New Zealand. However they regarded C. cunninghamii as introduced. NZPCN does not because it is just as likely it was introduced naturally to New Zealand by waterfowl.

Attribution

Fact sheet prepared for NZPCN by P.J. de Lange (5 May 2005). Description adapted from Walsh (2001).

References and further reading

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: 285-309.

Walsh, N.G. 2001: A revision of Centipeda (Asteraceae). Muelleria 15: 33-64.

Webb, C.J.; Sykes, W.R.; Garnock-Jones, P.J. (eds). 1988: Flora of New Zealand. Vol. IV. Christchurch, Botany Division, D.S.I.R. 1365 pp.

NZPCN Fact Sheet citation

Please cite as: de Lange, P.J. (Year at time of access): Centipeda cunninghamii Fact Sheet (content continuously updated). New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/centipeda-cunninghamii/ (Date website was queried)

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