Myosotis monroi
Common names
Monro’s forget-me-not
Biostatus
Native – Endemic taxon
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Herbs - Dicotyledons other than Composites
Flower colours
Yellow
Detailed description
Tufted to compact, reddish-green to dark-green, perennial herb of open ultramafic rock and soil habitats. Petiole up to 40 mm long, narrow, rosette leaves 40 x 4 mm, dark green to red-green, spathulate, obtuse to retuse, apiculate; indumentum of copious to sparse short, straight, appressed, non-overlapping hairs above, similar, sparse, glabrescent to glabrous below. Lateral branches ascending to erect, 80-150 mm long, leafless below inflorescence, lower internodes < leaves. Cauline leaves 15 x 3 mm, narrowly elliptic, subacute, sessile to subsessile; upper surface with longer, softer hairs than seen on rosette-leaves, those on the margins longer, undersides clad in sparse short, stiff, hairs. Inflorescence cymose, cymes 10-20 mm long, usually bifid, ebracteate, (1-)5-20-flowered, internodes short, pedicels wanting. Calyx 5 mm long, cleft with lobes to almost half of length, these rather broad, subacute; hairs on lobes stiff, straight, appressed. Corolla 6 mm diameter, yellow, tube 5 mm, narrow, flaring slightly at mouth, scales at tube mouth narrow and raised, lobes 3 x 3 mm, narrowly ovate; filaments 8-12(or more) mm long, strongly exserted, and positioned well above corolla, anthers 1 mm, yellow; style 10-12 mm long, stigma capitate. Nutlets 2.3-2.5 x 1.1-1.3 mm, black, ovate, apex rounded; base rounded or truncate.
Similar taxa
Morphologically close to the North Island endemic M. saxosa Hook.f., which is a species of calcareous not ultramafic substrates, with hoary grey-green rather than sparsely to densely hairy (not hoary) dark-green to red-green, spathulate rather than usually broadly-ovate to obovate leaves, and white rather than yellow flowers.
Distribution
Endemic. Red Hills (Wairau) and Mt Dun. An ultramafic endemic.
Habitat
Subalpine to alpine (> 1000 m a.s.l.). Usually found in open stony ultramafic talus slopes, scree and in open wind ablated clay and loess pans within Chionochloa defracta Connor tussock grassland. Also frequently found on old mine tailings near the copper workings on Mt Dun.
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 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon | Qualifiers: RR
Threats
Not threatened. This species qualifies as Range Restricted because it is a narrow range, ultramafic endemic. It is locally common within its only known habitats, which due to the substrate toxicity, are largely naturally free of weeds.
Detailed taxonomy
Family
Synonyms
None
Endemic taxon
Yes
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Ecology
Flowering
November - April
Fruiting
February - June
Propagation technique
Difficult. Best grown in a pot or in a sunny situation, planted within a magnesium enriched, free draining soil. Keep free from other competing plants.
Other information
Etymology
myosotis: Mouse-eared
monroi: Named after Sir David Monro who was a 19th century New Zealand politician
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.
MYOMON
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 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon | Qualifiers: RR
2012 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon | Qualifiers: RR
2009 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon | Qualifiers: OL
2004 | Range Restricted
Referencing and citations
References and further reading
Allan, H.H. 1961: Flora of New Zealand. Vol. I. Goverment Printer, Wellington.
Attribution
Fact Sheet prepared of NZPCN by P.J. de Lange (1 February 2008). Description based on Allan (1961).
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.
NZPCN Fact Sheet citation
Please cite as: de Lange, P.J. (Year at time of access): Myosotis monroi Fact Sheet (content continuously updated). New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/myosotis-monroi/ (Date website was queried)