Craspedia uniflora var. maritima
Common names
woollyhead
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 | At Risk – Declining | Qualifiers: Sp, PD, RR
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Herbs - Dicotyledonous composites
Simplified description
Rosette forming perennial herb with ground level pale green leaves. The spoon-shaped leaves have a distinct woolly margin providing a white border. A single flower spike grows centrally into a compound head of yellow florets. When ripe the seeds become airborne via a tail similar to a badminton shuttlecock.
Flower colours
Yellow
Detailed description
Rosette forming rhizomatous perennial herb. Leaves approximately 6-15 × 2-4 cm, broad-obovate, shortly apiculate, sparsely clad in cottony and short sub-hispid hairs, pale green upper surface paler underside, very viscid, woolly margin conspicuous. Scape bracts ovate-lanceolate, up to 40 mm long. Scapes up to 300 mm or more tall, scape stem approximately 3 mm in diameter, strongly ribbed, sparsely clad in cottony hairs. Inflorescence a solitary terminal glomerule, 25-30 mm diameter; florets yellow. Achenes obovate, circular to oval in cross section, 2.2-2.7 mm long, densely silky-hairy, nut-brown to brown, pappus 3.5-4.5 mm long.
Similar taxa
Most likely to be confused with Craspedia uniflora var. grandis, which overlap with this species on the Southernmost parts of the Eastern Wellington Harbour. C. uniflora var. grandis when in bloom is easily distinguished as the flower heads are white, compared to C. uniflora var. maritima which are yellow. The leaves are slightly different too, the woolly margin of each blade is very obvious in this species, and not as obvious in C. uniflora var. grandis, a detail which can be troublesome if you are not familiar with both species.
Distribution
Endemic. Te Ika-a-Māui | North Island , coastal Wellington mostly in the West. Te Waipounamu | South Island potentially on the West coast, historically Ocean bech, Oamaru.
Habitat
Coastal (0-100 m.a.s.l.) cliffs and escarpments amongst rocky faces.
Detailed taxonomy
Genus
Family
Endemic taxon
Yes
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Ecology
Flowering
(August-) December - February (-April).
Fruiting
January - April (-August).
Other information
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.
uniflora: Single-flowered
maritima: From the Latin mare ‘sea’, meaning growing on the sea shore
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.
CRAVMR
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 | At Risk – Declining | Qualifiers: DP, PD, RR, Sp
2012 | At Risk – Declining | Qualifiers: DP, RR, Sp
2009 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon
2004 | Not Threatened
Referencing and citations
References and further reading
Allan HH. 1961. Flora of New Zealand, Volume I. Indigenous Tracheophyta: Psilopsida, Lycopsida, Filicopsida, Gymnospermae, Dicotyledones. Government Printer, Wellington, NZ. 1085 p.
Webb CJ & Simpson MJA. 2001. Seeds of New Zealand Gymnosperms and Dicotyledons. Christchurch: Manuka Press. pg. 104.
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared for NZPCN by MD Ward (March 2nd 2026). Description from Allan (1961) and Webb & Simpson (2001).
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.