Logania depressa
Biostatus
Native – Endemic taxon
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Trees & Shrubs - Dicotyledons
Simplified description
Extinct low growing sprawling shrub bearing clustered pairs of glossy small leaves inhabiting somewhere in the Kaimanawa mountains. Twigs fuzzy. Leaves thick, in clusters of pairs, 3-6mm long by 1-3mm wide. Flowers numerous, in clusters of 2-5 at base of leaves. Flowers either male or female.
Flower colours
White
Detailed description
Prostrate, multibranched, stipulate, dioecious, subshrub, 80-150 mm high. Branches short, slender, rigid, hairy. Stipules minute, hairy, rounded distally. Leaves more or less sessile, usually clustered on short lateral shoots, glabrous, lamina 3-6 x 1-3 mm, coriaceous, elliptic, ovate to narrowly obovate; base cuneate; margin entire; apex obtuse; venation not evident. Inflorescence axillary; a (2-3-)5 flowered, reduced botryum. Flowers unisexual (male flower only known). Calyx 1.1.3 mm; lobes ovate to oblong, 0.8-1 x 0.5-0.7 mm; margin entire, ciliate; apex obtuse to rounded. Corolla white, 2 mm; tube 1 mm, lobes 1 mm, rounded, margins ciliate; outer surface glabrous, inner hairy at mouth. Stamens inserted half way up tube; filaments 0.5 mm, glabrous; anthers 0.5 mm. Gynoecium rudimentary; pistil 1.5-1.7 mm, ovary much reduced, depressed, glabrous; style filiform, glabrous; stigma ellipsoid to clavate. Female flowers, capsules and seeds not known.
Similar taxa
None.
Distribution
Endemic. North Island (exact location unclear). Colenso collected if from an area “south of the Kaimanawa Mountains and to the west of the Moawhango River”. This area was equated by Oliver (1921) to an area “probably east of Waiouru and north of Moawhango Township”.
Habitat
Unclear. The only facts available are that Colenso recorded it just once in an ice-covered hollow within tussock grassland. The tussock would have been Chionochloa rubra (Hook.f.) Zotov subsp. rubra var. rubra. Other suggestions of likely habitats have little if any basis and are best regarded as wishful thinking.
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 | Extinct
Threats
Extinct. This species was collected just once on the 22 February 1847 and has never been seen since. Its presumed habitat is now largely modified tussock grassland, some of it covered with a large hydro dam. Most of this area is also heavily infested with Hieracium pilosella L.
Detailed taxonomy
Family
Synonyms
None
Taxonomic notes
This, the only endemic Logania to New Zealand, and one of only two species in the genus found outside Australia remains an elusive enigma. It is known only from the single copious gathering at K and two duplicate fragments held at CHR and WELT. Conn (1995) treats this species as having “uncertain status” noting that the sole collection is male, and that without female flowers and fruits the current generic placement cannot be verified. Conn (1995) further suggests that Logania depressa may be better placed within Geniostoma, though without further and better collections that move cannot confidently be made. Logania depressa has been searched for on several occasions but the potential survey area is huge, and much of it now inaccessible or drowned under a hydro lake. While it may yet be rediscovered the possibility of this gets less likely with the passage of time, particularly as much of its probable habitat is now over run by Hieracium pilosella.
Endemic taxon
Yes
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Ecology
Flowering
February (Male flowers only, female flowers have never been seen)
Fruiting
Fruits have never been seen
Propagation technique
Unknown.
Other information
Etymology
depressa: From the Latin depremere ‘to press down’, meaning to be flattened vertically, often referring to a plant’s habit
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 | Extinct
2012 | Extinct
2009 | Extinct
2004 | Extinct
Referencing and citations
References and further reading
Conn, B.J. 1995: Taxonomic revision of Logania section (Loganiaceae). Australian Systematic Botany 8: 585-665.
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared for NZPCN by P.J. de Lange (8 November 2009). Description adapted from Conn (1995)).
NZPCN Fact Sheet citation
Please cite as: de Lange, P.J. (Year at time of access): Logania depressa Fact Sheet (content continuously updated). New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/logania-depressa/ (Date website was queried)