Empodisma minus
Common name
Wire rush, lesser wire rush
Synonyms
Calorophus minor Hook.f.; Calorophus elongatus var. minor Hook.f.; Hypolaena lateriflora var. minor (Hook.f.) Cheeseman
Family
Restionaceae
Flora category
Vascular – Native
Endemic taxon
No
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Structural class
Rushes & Allied Plants
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.
EMPMIN
Chromosome number
2n = 24
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). This report includes a statistical summary and brief notes on changes since 2012 and replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants. Authors: By 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.
2012 | Not Threatened
Previous conservation statuses
2009 | Not Threatened
2004 | Not Threatened
Distribution
Indigenous. New Zealand: North, South and Stewart Islands. From the Central Volcanic Plateau south in upland areas. Throughout the South Island but scarce in Marlborough and north Canterbury. Also Australia.
Habitat
Coastal to alpine (up to 1350 m a.s.l.). The dominant peat-forming species of low moor and high moor (raised bogs), oligotrophic, ombrotrophic wetland systems in New Zealand (montane to alpine in the North Island). Tolerates extremely acidic conditions (up to pH 2.5).
Features
Dioecious, perennial herb producing numerous, branched, flexuose culms collectively forming densely interwoven tangles. Rhizome rather robust for plant, erect, up to 8 mm diameter, covering with light brown, imbricating scale-like sheaths and very thick tufts of brown hairs; roots numerous, mostly horizontal-ascending rather than descending, 1-1.5 mm diameter, densely covered in pinkish-white root hairs. Culms 0.012-0.81 m, 0.7-1.3 mm diameter, much-branched, flexuous, terete or slightly flattened and grooved on one side, glabrous, dark green to dark brown, erect when short, otherwise more or less prostrate to ascending, widely spreading and lianoid. Leaves reduced to mucronate sheaths, 3.5–10.2 mm long, closely appressed to culm, spaced 15-48 mm distant, initially light green to light brown maturing dark brown to brown-black, margin entire; cilia protruding through the mouth of the sheath as white tufts of woolly white hairs; hairs arising from the outer scale of the axillary bud enclosed within sheath; mucro persistent, 1.5-4.2 mm long, initially light green maturing dark brown, fine, sharp-pointed, strongly reflexed. Spikelets distant within uppermost sheaths. Male spikelets 1-2, 3.9-8.0 mm long, 1-6-flowered, 1 sessile and 1 stalked, each borne within a hard, mucronate sheath; tepals 6, narrow-linear, acute; stamens 3, filaments slender, > tepals, anthers 1.2-2.0 mm long, exserted beyond the floral bract. Female spikelets 3.5–7.0 mm long, solitary within 1-3 uppermost, bearded, obtuse sheaths, 1-flowered, subtended by 2 imbricate, empty floral bracts; tepals 6-4, very small, hyaline; styles 3, free. Fruit a hard, oval nut, 2.6 mm long, protruding over persistent tepals, sessile on a thick receptacle.
Similar taxa
Differs from Empodisma robustum by the diminutive stature and slender growth habit; culms mostly < 1 mm in diameter, sheaths mostly < 7.5 mm long and spikelets generally < 6.0 mm long. Readily distinguished from the two other New Zealand restiad genera Sporadanthus and Apodasmia by the mostly widely spreading, decumbent, trailing to lianoid growth habit, and 1-6-flowered male and 1-flowered female spikelets.
Flowering
August - December
Flower colours
Yellow
Fruiting
November - March
Life cycle
Nuts are wind dispersed (Thorsen et al., 2009).
Propagation technique
Easily grown from seed. Prefers an open, permanently damp, acidic soil but can be grown in dry soils as well. Not often cultivated.
Etymology
empodisma: Tangle-foot
minus: Small; from the Latin minor
Where To Buy
Not commercially available
Taxonomic Notes
The description in Flora II (Moore & Edgar 1970) includes two elements which are now treated as two species Empodisma minus and E. robustum.
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared for NZPCN by P.J. de Lange (18 June 2005). Description based on fresh material and herbarium specimens.
References and further reading
Moore, L.B.; Edgar, E. 1970: Flora of New Zealand. Vol. II. Government Printer, Wellington.
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.
NZPCN Fact Sheet citation
Please cite as: de Lange, P.J. (Year at time of access): Empodisma minus Fact Sheet (content continuously updated). New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/empodisma-minus/ (Date website was queried)