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  4. Gunnera densiflora

Gunnera densiflora

Island Gully, Molesworth.<br>Photographer: Cathy Jones, Date taken: 1 March 2002, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Dec 2006.<br>Photographer: Peter J. de Lange, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>.
Dec 2006.<br>Photographer: Peter J. de Lange, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>.
In cultivation ex Molesworth.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 19 October 2007, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
In cultivation ex Molesworth.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 19 October 2007, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Island Gully, Molesworth.<br>Photographer: Cathy Jones, Date taken: 1 February 2009, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
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Synonyms

None

Family

Gunneraceae

Authority

Gunnera densiflora Hook.f.

Flora category

Vascular – Native

Endemic taxon

Yes

Endemic genus

No

Endemic family

No

Structural class

Herbs - Dicotyledons other than Composites

Chromosome number

2n = 34

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 | Threatened – Nationally Endangered | Qualifiers: DP

Previous conservation statuses

2009 | Threatened – Nationally Endangered | Qualifiers: DP

2004 | Data Deficient

Distribution

Endemic. Known only from the eastern side of the South Island from the inland Kaikoura Range west to Lake Tennyson, and south to the Craigieburn Range.

Habitat

A species of montane lake margins and stream sides.

Features

Creeping, stoloniferous, Dioecious, herb forming compact cushions. Stolons much branched, partially buried, fleshy, succulent, up to 3 m long, 1.9–3.1 mm diameter, internodes 30–50 mm long, exposed parts pinkish-red, pink or greenish-red, densely clad in wispy, cob-webbed silky hairs. Leaves in compact, moderately tight, leafy overlapping rosettes; petioles stout, succulent, ± winged, 10–30 × 1.5–2.4 mm, pink, pinkish-red, or greenish-red, concave, ± channelled, and sparsely silky hairy above, glabrate to glabrous below, wider at base, slightly widening toward cuneate leaf base, lamina membranous to subcoriaceous, 10–46 × 15–38 mm, obovate, broadly obovate, ovate to oblong, elliptic to suborbicular, apex sub-acute to acute, cuneate, truncate to subcordate at base, round at apex, margins mostly crenate-crenulate, (rarely slightly sinuate), usually dentate near base, teeth ovate , oblong, obtuse, or acute, 0.8–1.8 mm, initially apiculate, apiculus caducous, green to dark green, sometimes mottled or flushed pink, upper and lower surface glabrate to glabrous, hairs sparse, mostly confined to midrib and veins in lower ¼ of lamina. Inflorescence an ebracteate, erect, fleshy, stout, spike up to 70 mm tall in male, 30 mm in female, located within leaf axils, peduncle and rachis silky hairy, hairs often matted: flowers 12–40 (or more) spiralled, widely spaced to ± crowded, glabrous, proximal flowers pedicellate grading through to sessile in distal portion; calyx lobes 0–2 (mostly present in distal portion of spike), lobes 0.9–2.5 × 0.4–1.2 mm, equal, linear-lanceolate, lanceolate to spathulate, subentire or dentate, glabrous; sepals much reduced or absent, 0.1–0.2 × 0.01–0.1 mm, oblong, glabrous, caducous, petals similar; male flowers: stamens 1–2, subsessile to sessile, filaments 0.2–0.9 mm, anthers pale yellow, gynoecium rudimentary; female flowers similar to male, stamens reduced to staminodes or absent, ovary 0.2–0.4 × 0.1–0.2 mm, urceolate, greenish-white, hyaline, glabrous, styles 2, prominent, widely spreading, 1.0–3.2 mm, subulate-filiform; stigmas papillate . Fruiting spike erect, up to 30 mm long; drupes widely spaced to densely clustered, fleshy, pendulous, 2.8–3.2 mm, obconic, pyriform or clavate, dark red. Endocarp 1.3–2.6 mm, oblong-elliptic, elliptic, dull orange-yellow, yellow or orange-brown, ± smooth.

Similar taxa

A distinct species, perhaps closest to G. prorepens but distinguished from it and all other indigenous Gunnera species by the coarsely dentate, broadly-ovate heart-shaped leaves, and dense fruiting stems.

Flowering

September–December

Flower colours

Yellow

Fruiting

November–March

Life cycle

Fleshy drupes are dispersed by frugivory and possibly ants (Thorsen et al., 2009).

Propagation technique

Very easy from rooted pieces and divisions of whole plants. Fresh seed germinates easily. Grows best in damp, sunny conditions.

Threats

It would appear that Gunnera densiflora has never been very common. This attribute, along with the fact that large parts of its intermontane basin habitat has been overrun by weeds, means that the species is probably threatened. However, because so populations are known, and because the species appears to be very variable throughout its range, an exact and confident conservation assessment is unlikely without further field surveys.

Etymology

gunnera: Named after Bishop Gunner, a Swedish botanist

densiflora: Densely flowered

Attribution

Fact Sheet Prepared by P.J. de Lange (1 November 2009). Description by P.J. de Lange subsequently published in de Lange et al (2010).

References and further reading

de Lange, P.J.; Heenan, P.B.; Norton, D.A.; Rolfe, J.R.; Sawyer, J.W.D. 2010: Threatened Plants of New Zealand. Canterbury University Press, Christchurch.

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

Citation

Please cite as: de Lange, P.J. (Year at time of access): Gunnera densiflora Fact Sheet (content continuously updated). New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/gunnera-densiflora/ (Date website was queried)

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