Geum leiospermum
Common names
geum, mountain avens
Biostatus
Native – Endemic taxon
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Herbs - Dicotyledons other than Composites
Flower colours
White
Detailed description
Erect herb up to 250 mm tall at flowering, arising from a slender stock. Basal leaves rosulate, up to 120 mm long, sparsely to densely clad in slender white-pilose hairs, pinnate; lateral leaflets in up to 10 pairs, reduced and often minute; terminal leaflet 10-25 mm long, serrate-dentate; cauline leaves few and bract-like, deeply toothed. Peduncle up to 250 mm tall. Scapes up to 250 mm long, simple to sparingly branched, (1-)2-4-flowered, distinctly pubescent, hairs in mixtures of short and long. Flowers 6-9 mm diameter. Petals (1-)5 mm long, white, suborbicular. Receptacle elongate, villous. Achenes numerous, c.2 mm long, narrow-oblong, glabrous, occasionally with a few hairs on shoulder; style minute, glabrous, recurved.
Similar taxa
Reduced forms of Geum leiospermum, bearing only one flower are superficially similar to G. pusillum Petrie a species which usually has solitary flowers. From such plants G. leiospermum differs by the hairs of the peduncle which are intermixed (long/short) rather than uniformly short, and also by the lateral leaflets which are usually distinctly more reduced in relation to the terminal leaflet.
Distribution
Endemic. New Zealand: North (Mt Egmont, Ruahine Range) South and Stewart Islands
Habitat
Montane to subalpine, in scrub, bogs, herbfield, tussock grassland, fell field, snowbanks, and streambanks.
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.
Please note, threat classifications are often suggested by authors when publications fall between NZTCS assessment periods – these interim threat classification statuses has not been assessed by the NZTCS panel.
- 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
Rosaceae
Synonyms
Oncostylus leiospermus (Petrie) F.Bolle
Endemic taxon
Yes
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Ecology
Flowering
November – February
Fruiting
January – April
Life cycle and dispersal
Hooked achenes dispersed by attachment (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
Where To Buy
Not Commercially Available
Etymology
geum: Possibly from the Greek geuo ‘to give a pleasant flavour’, the roots of some species being aromatic.
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.
GEULEI
Chromosome number
2n = 70
Previous conservation statuses
2017 | Not Threatened
2012 | Not Threatened
2009 | Not Threatened
2004 | 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 adapted from 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.