Geum cockaynei
Common names
Cockayne’s geum
Biostatus
Native – Endemic taxon
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Herbs - Dicotyledons other than Composites
Flower colours
Cream, White
Detailed description
Erect bronze-green, red-green or green herb up to 400 mm tall at flowering, arising from a stout, woody stock. Stock apex covered in long persistent, fibrous leaf remnants. Basal leaves up to 150 mm long, distinctly white-pilose, imparipinnate; lateral leaflets in up to 15 pairs, the lower minute but upper sometimes up to 15 mm long; terminal leaflet 10-70 mm long, crenate-dentate, serrate-crenate or occasionally obscurely lobed; cauline leaves few, often paired, oblong, toothed, sometimes very reduced, bracteate. Peduncle up to 400 mm tall, often arching in upper third. Inflorescence (1-)25(-30)-flowered. Flowers up to 10 mm diameter; calyx pubescent to pilose, lobes often deeply cut, 4-5 mm long, ovate, bracteoles minute, entire or bifurcate. Petals creamy white, 4-8-(10) mm long, ovate or obovate, claw margin often ciliate. Receptacle villous. Achenes numerous, flattened, stipitate, 1.5-1.8 mm long, densely pilose especially on margins, styles c.2.5 mm long, villous near achene, apex recurved.
Similar taxa
Distinguished from all but G. albiflorum by the many-flowered inflorescences (up to 30 flowers per inflorescence), and by the petals which are 4-15 mm long. Geum albiflorum is an allopatric sister species confined to the Auckland Islands, and differs from G. cockaynei by the smaller leaves, 3-5 flowered inflorescences, and by the styles which are shorter than the achenes.
Distribution
Endemic. New Zealand: North and South Islands from the Raukumara Ranges south.
Habitat
Montane to subalpine grassland and herbfield. Damp tussock grassland and herbfield, rocky sites, stream banks
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 | Not Threatened
Detailed taxonomy
Family
Synonyms
Oncostylus cockaynei F.Bolle; New Zealand plants have been incorrectly referred to the South American Geum parviflorum Smith
Taxonomic notes
A species complex comprising of at least a further two as yet unnamed species.
Endemic taxon
Yes
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Ecology
Flowering
December – March
Fruiting
December – April
Life cycle and dispersal
Pappate achenes are dispersed by wind (Thorsen et al., 2009).
Propagation technique
Easily grown in pots in an alpine house, and in cooler climates within a rock garden. Best grown from fresh seed.
Other information
Etymology
geum: Possibly from the Greek geuo ‘to give a pleasant flavour’, the roots of some species being aromatic.
cockaynei: Named after Leonard Cockayne FRS (7 April 1855 - 8 July 1934) who is regarded as New Zealand’s greatest botanist and a founder of modern science in New Zealand
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.
GEUCOC
Chromosome number
2n = 70
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 | Not Threatened
2012 | Not Threatened
2009 | Not Threatened
2004 | Not Threatened
Regional conservation statuses
The regional threat classification system leverages off the national assessments in the NZTCS, providing information relevant for the regional context. Otago conservation status information is sourced from the “Regional conservation status of indigenous vascular plants in Otago” Jarvie S et al. (2024) report.
Otago: 2024 | Regionally Not Threatened
Referencing and citations
References and further reading
Allan, H.H. 1961: Flora of New Zealand. Vol. I. 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
Webb, C.J.; Sykes, W.R.; Garnock-Jones, P.J. 1988: Flora of New Zealand. Vol. IV. Naturalised Pteridophytes, Gymnosperms, Dicotyledons. 4. Christchurch, New Zealand, Botany Division, D.S.I.R.
Attribution
Description based on herbarium specimens and both Allan (1961) and Webb et al. (1988)
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.