Centrolepis minima
Common names
centrolepis
Biostatus
Native
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Herbs - Monocots
Detailed description
Annual, rather gracile and fine-leaved, loosely tufted, often partially or fully submerged herbs forming diffuse patches up to 20 mm high in fine sand and silt. Roots numerous, fine, > upper part of plant. Leaves 5–20 mm long, < 0.5 mm. wide, green or wine-red, crowded at stem base; sheaths transparent, glabrous, slightly wider than lamina. Flowering stems slightly < leaves, c. 0.5 mm wide, bright red. Glume-like bracts 2, ± opposite, ovate, papillose, the outer mucronate, almost completely enclosing the smaller obtuse one; each bract enclosing 1, rarely 2 pseudanthia; hyaline scales 0. Male flower 1 or 0 in a pseudanthium, usually only 1 within each glume-like bract. Female flowers 2–6, superposed in 2 series; styles connate at the base.
Similar taxa
Recognised by the diffuse, tufted rather than cushion forming, annual rather than perennial growth habit and very fine, gracile, green or wine red, densely crowded glabrous leaves. Plants are easily overlooked as they are usually buried in sand or silt such that only the leaf tips are visible.
Distribution
Endemic. New Zealand: South Island (Westland, Canterbury, Southland, Fiordland).
Habitat
Lowland to subalpine. Aquatic or semi-aquatic, usually partially buried such that only the leaf tips are visible in fine sand and silt along the margin of lakes and small tarns.
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.
Please note, threat classifications are often suggested by authors when publications fall between NZTCS assessment periods – these interim threat classification statuses has not been assessed by the NZTCS panel.
- 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 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon | Qualifiers: Dp
Threats
A Naturally Uncommon, sparsely distributed, range-restricted endemic. There are no obvious threats though potentially it is threatened by introduced aquatic weeds at some sites.
Detailed taxonomy
Family
Restionaceae
Synonyms
Gaimardia minima (Kirk) Cheeseman; Pseudalepyrum minimum (Kirk) Dandy
Taxonomic notes
Centrolepis was formerly in the family Centrolepidaceae, which was shown by Briggs et al. (2014) to be embedded within Restionaceae. Based on these findings, the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group adopted an enlarged concept of Restionaceae that included Centrolepidaceae (APG IV 2016), which is followed by NZPCN.
Endemic taxon
Yes
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Ecology
Flowering
January–March
Fruiting
March–April
Life cycle and dispersal
Seeds are wind dispersed (Thorsen et al., 2009).
Propagation technique
Difficult. Should not be removed from the wild.
Other information
Etymology
centrolepis: Pointed scale
minima: Very small
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.
CENMNM
Previous conservation statuses
2012 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon | Qualifiers: Sp
2009 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon
2004 | Range Restricted
Referencing and citations
References and further reading
Angiosperm Phylogeny Group. 2016. An update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification for the orders and families of flowering plants: APG IV. Botanical Journal of the Linnaean Society 181: 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1111/boj.12385.
Briggs BG, Marchant AD, Perkins AJ. 2014. Phylogeny of the restiid clade (Poales) and implications for the classification of Anarthriaceae, Centrolepidaceae and Australian Restionaceae. Taxon 63: 24–46. https://doi.org/10.12705/631.1.
Moore LB, Edgar E. 1970. Flora of New Zealand, Volume II. Indigenous Tracheophyta: Monocotyledones except Gramineae. Government Printer, Wellington, NZ. 354 p.
Thorsen MJ, Dickinson KJM, Seddon PJ. 2009. Seed dispersal systems in the New Zealand flora. Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics 11: 285–309.
Attribution
Fact sheet oprepared for NZPCN by P.J. de Lange 14 August 2006. Description adapted from Moore & Edgar (1970)
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.
NZPCN Fact Sheet citation
Please cite as: de Lange, P.J. (Year at time of access): Centrolepis minima Fact Sheet (content continuously updated). New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/centrolepis-minima/ (Date website was queried)