New Zealand Plant Conservation Network
  • Member login
  • Join
Facebook
  • Home
  • Flora
    • Flora species
    • Vascular
    • Non Vascular
    • Plant identification
    • Fungi
    • Make your own book
    • Quiz
  • Threats
    • Exotic Plants (Weeds)
    • Pest Animals
    • Other threats
  • Ecosystems
    • Plant communities
    • Ecosystem services
    • Novel ecosystems
  • Publications
    • Documents
    • Newsletter
    • Plant lists
    • Botanical Society journals
    • NZPCN publications
  • Conservation
    • Seedbank
    • Training
    • Restoration
    • Monitoring
    • Habitat protection
    • Funding
    • Botanic gardens
  • NZPCN
    • News
    • Trilepidea newsletter
    • Events
    • David Given Scholarship
    • Members
    • Council members
    • Awards
    • Shop
    • Donate
    • Favourite Plant
    • Why join NZPCN?
    • Join
  • Help
    • FAQ
    • Query
    • Glossary
  • Contact us

Search flora

You are here:
  1. Home
  2. Flora
  3. Flora species
  4. Geranium traversii

Geranium traversii

Point Gap, Chatham Islands (January).<br>Photographer: John Smith-Dodsworth, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>.
Mangere Island.<br>Photographer: Peter J. de Lange, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>.
Otauwae Point, Chatham Island.<br>Photographer: Peter J. de Lange, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>.
Rabbit Island.<br>Photographer: Peter J. de Lange, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>.
Chatham Islands. Dec 1983.<br>Photographer: Colin Miskelly, Licence: All rights reserved.
Chatham Islands.<br>Photographer: John Sawyer, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>.
Chatham Islands.<br>Photographer: John Sawyer, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>.
Chatham Islands.<br>Photographer: John Sawyer, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>.
Chatham Islands.<br>Photographer: John Sawyer, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>.
Chatham Islands.<br>Photographer: John Sawyer, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>.
Download PDF Comment on factsheet

NZPCN members can select up to 20 plant species and automatically create a full colour, fully illustrated A4 book describing them (in PDF format).

  • Find out more...
  • Join NZPCN...
Find in plant lists
iNaturalist NZ View observations Flora of NZ Click here to view Donate Support NZPCN

Common name

Chatham Island geranium

Synonyms

Geranium traversii var. elegans Cockayne

Family

Geraniaceae

Authority

Geranium traversii Hook.f.

Flora category

Vascular – Native

Endemic taxon

Yes

Endemic genus

No

Endemic family

No

Structural class

Herbs - Dicotyledons other than 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.

GERTRA

Chromosome number

2n = 54, 54-56

Current conservation status

  • Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2017

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 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon | Qualifiers: IE, RR

Previous conservation statuses

2009 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon | Qualifiers: IE

2004 | Range Restricted

Distribution

Endemic. Chatham Islands group. Known from all the main islands, islets and rock stacks except The Forty Fours, Sisters, Pyramid and Western Reef.

Habitat

Coastal cliffs, consolidated or mobile sand dunes, steep peat-filled crevices, limestone cliffs and rocks, rock crevices and erosion hollows.

Features

Leafy, silvery grey to greyish-green, rosette-forming perennial herb forming patches up to 0.8 × 0.6 m. Caulorrhiza stout, deeply descending, woody at base, usually branched near ground level, often stoloniferous, up to 30 mm diameter, densely covered in persistent, frayed, petiole and stipule remnants. Stem and leaves usually densely covered in silvery hairs. Basal leaves on slender petioles up to 220 mm long. Stipules broad-ovate, cuspidate. Lamina 15-100 mm diameter, broad-reniform, orbicular, mostly lobed to ½ way but sometimes deeper; lobes 5-7(-8), cuneate, often toothed or lobed further. Cauline leaves similar but smaller. Flowers solitary 20-25(-30) mm diameter; peduncles up to 100 mm long, retrorsely hairy; bracteoles narrow-lanceolate, subacuminate. Sepals 7-11 × 2-4 mm, narrow-ovate to broad-ovate, densely covered with grey hairs, cuspidate. Petals 12(-16) × 10(-14) mm, broad-obovate or obovate-oblong, shortly clawed, pink or white, rarely pale purple, in all usually with up to 5 more darkly pigmented, longitudinal veins. Stamens < or > pistil. Mericarps silky hairy; beak 8-24 mm long. Seed 2.2-2.8 mm long, surface dull, dark brown, red-brown, dark purple-brown to black-brown, elliptic-oblong, not compressed, cells of primary reticulum, 4-6-sided, broadly oblong to isodiametric (0.04-0.15 mm long)

Similar taxa

Easily distinguished from all other indigenous and naturalised New Zealand geraniums by the stout rootstock and stems; by the leaves densely clad in more or less silvery hairs; and by the inflorescences bearing only sparse eglandular (never glandular) hairs with mainly pink or white (rarely pale purple) flowers with corolllas up to 25 mm diameter.

Flowering

July-June (peaking in summer)

Flower colours

Red/Pink, White

Fruiting

July-June

Life cycle

Seed dispersed by wind, ballistic projection and possibly attachment (Thorsen et al., 2009).

Propagation technique

Easily grown from fresh seed. Very amenable to cultivation thriving in most situations. Does not like excessive moisture and does best in full sun. In the wild it has a wide range of flower colours (white through pink to almost purple) and the leaves are occasional purple-coloured. Further selections may be rewarding. It is one of the few Chatham Islands endemics that is easily grown almost anywhere in New Zealand.

Threats

Not threatened. However, it has probably declined from large parts of its former range on Chatham and Pitt Islands. In some sites it may be threatened by invasive weeds, especially marram grass (Ammophila arenaria). It remains abundant and secure on all the outer vegetated islands except the Sisters, Forty Fours, Pyramid and Western Reef.

Etymology

geranium: From the Greek geranos ‘crane’, the fruit of the plant resembling the head and beak of this bird, hence the common name cranesbill.

traversii: Named after William Thomas Locke Travers (1819-1903) who was an Irish lawyer, magistrate, politician, explorer, naturalist, photographer. He lived in New Zealand from 1849 and was a fellow of the Linnean Society.

Attribution

Fact Sheet prepared by P.J. de Lange 14 April 2008. Description adapted from Aedo et al. (2005) supplemented with observations based on fresh and cultivated specimens.

References and further reading

Aedo, C., C. Navarro, and M. L. Alarcón.2005a. Taxonomic revision of Geranium sections Andina and Chilensia (Geraniaceae). Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 149: 1-68.

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): Geranium traversii Fact Sheet (content continuously updated). New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/geranium-traversii/ (Date website was queried)

▲ Back to top
  • Home
  • Flora
  • Threats
  • Ecosystems
  • Publications
  • Conservation
  • NZPCN
  • Help
  • Contact us

© 2023 New Zealand Plant Conservation Network • Website by RS

Coastlands Plant Nursery Wildlands

Website sponsor

  • Home
  • Flora
    • Flora species
    • Vascular
      • Ferns
        • King fern
        • True ferns
        • Adder's tongue ferns
        • Fork ferns and whisk ferns
        • Horsetails
      • Conifers
        • Celery pines
        • Kauri
        • Podocarps
          • Podocarpus
          • Dacrydium
          • Prumnopitys
          • Dacrycarpus
          • Halocarpus
          • Lepidothamnus
          • Manoao
        • Cypress
      • Flowering plants
        • Parasites
          • Leafy mistletoes
          • Pygmy mistletoes
            • Korthalsella flowers
            • Korthalsella hosts
            • Dispersal of Korthalsella
            • Associates of Korthalsella
          • Root parasites
          • Saprophytes
        • Epiphytes
          • NZ
            • Typical
            • Occasional
            • Hemi-epiphytes
            • Ephemeral
            • NZ list
        • Monocots
          • Orchids
            • Structure
          • Grasses
        • Dicots
          • Hebes
          • Kowhai
          • Coprosma
          • Beech
          • Rata
        • Carnivorous
        • Deciduous plants
        • Aquatic plants
      • Poisonous natives
      • Threatened plant lists
      • What's a vascular plant?
      • Club mosses
    • Non Vascular
      • Bryophytes
        • Liverworts
        • Mosses
        • Hornworts
      • Algae
        • Seaweeds
      • Lichens
    • Plant identification
      • Written descriptions
      • Experts
      • Plant keys
        • Key to parasitic plant genera
      • Collecting plants
        • Should I collect
        • Choosing a specimen
        • Field notes
        • Fresh plant material
        • Pressing and drying
        • Mounting specimens
        • Labelling specimens
    • Fungi
    • Make your own book
    • Quiz
  • Threats
    • Exotic Plants (Weeds)
      • Unwanted organisms
      • DOC weeds
      • Plant me instead
      • Pest Plant Accord
    • Pest Animals
      • Mammals
        • Mustelids
        • Rodents
        • Ungulates
        • Possums
      • Fish
      • Insects
    • Other threats
      • Natural events
        • Insects
      • Human induced
        • Habitat loss
        • Collection
        • Climate change
  • Ecosystems
    • Plant communities
      • Dunes
        • Volcanic
        • Coastal
          • Threats
          • Common species
          • Research on dunes
          • Pingao research
          • What you can do
      • Wetlands
        • Estuaries
          • Common estuarine species
          • Research on estuaries
        • Ephemeral
        • Restiad peat bogs
      • Forests
        • Kauri-podocarp-broadleaved
        • Podocarp broadleaved
        • Beech
      • Scrub/shrublands
        • Geothermal
          • Distribution of geothermal vegetation
          • Geothermal plants
          • Geothermal vegetation types
          • Threats to geothermal vegetation
        • Frost flat/hollow
        • Manuka fens
        • Gumlands
      • Grasslands
        • Tussock grasslands
      • Bare ground
        • Braided rivers
        • Alpine
        • Cliff
        • Scree and boulderfields
        • Shingle beaches
      • Herbfields
        • Saltpan
    • Ecosystem services
    • Novel ecosystems
  • Publications
    • Documents
    • Newsletter
    • Plant lists
      • Plant lists by region
      • Search plant lists
      • National plant lists
      • How to prepare a plant list
    • Botanical Society journals
    • NZPCN publications
  • Conservation
    • Seedbank
      • Project 1 - Pohutukawa, Rata and Myrtaceae
      • Project 2 - Alpine flora and the Forget-Me-Nots
      • Project 3 - Kowhai and its relatives
      • Project 4 - Podocarps and trees of the forest
    • Training
      • Module 1: Plant life
      • Module 2: Covenants
      • Module 3: Propagation
      • Module 4: Wetlands
      • Pilot course 2006
    • Restoration
      • Gardening
        • Being weed wise
        • Garden plants
          • Trees and shrubs
          • Broad-leaved herbs
          • Grass-like herbs
          • Climbers
          • Ferns
        • Attracting wildlife
        • Planting for lizards
          • Rules
      • Species recovery
        • Plant translocations
      • Ecological restoration
        • Case studies
          • Tavora Reserve
          • Waiwhakareke
      • Revegetation
      • Eco-sourcing
      • Find a restoration group
    • Monitoring
      • Number count
        • Number count method
        • Pros and cons of number counts
        • Data analysis and interpretation
      • Presence/absence surveys
        • Presence/absence survey methods
        • Pros and cons of presence/absence surveys
        • Data analysis and interpretation
      • Mapping spatial extent
        • Spatial extent mapping methods
        • Pros and cons of spatial extent mapping
        • Data analysis and interpretation
      • Photo points
        • Photo point guidelines
    • Habitat protection
      • Legal protection
        • Nga Whenua Rahui
        • QEII covenants
        • DOC Covenants
      • Animal pest control
      • Weed control
      • Fencing
    • Funding
    • Botanic gardens
  • NZPCN
    • News
    • Trilepidea newsletter
    • Events
      • Conference 2022
        • Conference programme summary
        • 2022 conference workshops
        • 2022 conference field trips
        • Code of conduct
        • COVID-19 information
        • 2022 conference sponsors
        • Abstract and poster submission
        • 2022 Conference venue and accommodation
        • Conference Workshop: Restoration Pathways
        • 2022 conference postponement
      • Conference 2019
      • Conference 2017
      • Conference 2015
        • Speakers
        • Workshops
        • Field trips
        • Charity auction
      • Conference 2013
        • Speakers
        • Timetable
      • 2023 Restoration Pathways Workshop
    • David Given Scholarship
      • David Given Scholarship Recipients
    • Members
    • Council members
      • NZPCN council member profiles
      • Council 2013
      • Council 2012
      • Council 2011
      • Council 2010
      • Council 2009
      • Council 2008
      • Council 2007
      • Council 2006
      • Council 2005
      • Council 2004
      • Council 2003
    • Awards
      • NZPCN Awards
        • 2019
        • 2018
        • 2017
        • 2016
        • 2015
        • 2014
        • 2013
        • 2012
        • 2011
        • 2010
        • 2009
        • 2008
        • 2007
        • 2006
        • 2005
        • 2022
    • Shop
    • Donate
    • Favourite Plant
    • Why join NZPCN?
    • Join
  • Help
    • FAQ
      • Joining the Network
      • The Network
      • Network website
      • New Zealand plants
      • The law
      • Your discoveries
    • Query
    • Glossary
  • Contact us