Craspedia diversicolor
Common name
Wakanui woollyhead
Synonyms
None - first described in 2022
Family
Asteraceae
Flora category
Vascular – Native
Endemic taxon
Yes
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Structural class
Herbs - Dicotyledonous composites
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 | Threatened – Nationally Critical | Qualifiers: OL
Brief description
Rosette-forming herb with oblanceolate leaves varying in colour from olive-green, grey to dark red. Leaf hairs very thin, appressed to flocculent. Flowers heads on stems up to 250 mm tall. Flower head (capitula) white with dark red-purple anthers.
Distribution
Endemic. New Zealand: Canterbury Plains, formerly scattered over the plains in a few locations but now only known from Wakanui Beach (Wakanui Gully) (Breitwieser & Ford 2022).
Habitat
Known from one site where it grows on the edge of a terrace on coastal cliffs in exotic grassland and shingle, at 20 m a.s.l. However, within its historic range it once grew within short tussock grassland and waste land with patches of bare soil, from 10 to 180 m a.s.l. (Breitwieser & Ford 2022).
Similar taxa
Allied to Craspedia lanata from which it differs by the rosette leaves which ary in colour from olive-green, grey to dark red, and are covered with a thin, appressed to flocculent, lanate indumentum, and whose florets have a white corolla and dark red-purple anthers (Breitwieser & Ford 2022).
Flowering
Early November to early December
Flower colours
White
Fruiting
Late November to mid-December
Threats
Craspedia diversicolor as Craspedia (qq) (CHR 167368; Wakanui)] was assessed as ‘Threatened-Nationally Critical’ (Criteria A1, Population <250 mature individuals, with a decline rate of 10%–30%), with the qualifier ‘OL’ (one location) by the New Zealand Indigenous Vascular Plant Threat Listing Panel (de Lange et al. 2018). Breitwieser & Ford (2022) provide evidence of historic decline and local extinction from five other sites on the Canterbiury Plains. Beyond documenting these local extinctions, the assessment of de Lange et al. (2018) was not challenged by Breitwieser & Ford (2022).
Etymology
craspedia: Craspedia is named for the Greek ‘Kraspedon’, meaning an edge, hem or border, because of the woolly fringes of the leaves of the type species.
diversicolor: Derived from Latin. Epithet is in reference to the colour variation exhibited by the leaves of Craspedia diversicolor.
Extra information
See brief article in July 2022 Trilepidea Four new species of woollyhead (Craspedia) described from the eastern South Island (p. 2).
Attribution
Fact Sheet prepared for NZPCN by P.J. de Lange (17 July 2022). Description from Breitwieser & Ford (2022).
References and further reading
Breitwieser I, Ford KA. 2023. Four new species of Craspedia (Compositae/Asteraceae, Gnaphalieae) from the South Island of New Zealand, all characterised by dark red-purple anthers. New Zealand Journal of Botany 61(2–3): 131–157. https://doi.org/10.1080/0028825X.2022.2095919.
de Lange PJ, Rolfe JR, Barkla JW, Courtney SP, Champion PD, Perrie LR, Beadel SM, Ford KA, Breitwieser I, Schonberger I, Hindmarsh-Walls R, Heenan PB, Ladley K. 2018. Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2017. New Zealand Threat Classification Series 22. Department of Conservation, Wellington, NZ. 82 p. https://www.doc.govt.nz/globalassets/documents/science-and-technical/nztcs22entire.pdf