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  4. Ourisia modesta

Ourisia modesta

ex Moeraki River.<br>Photographer: Mike Thorsen, Date taken: 4 November 2014, Licence: All rights reserved. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Close up of plant at Gouland Downs.<br>Photographer: Simon Walls, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>.
Taken of cultivated plants.<br>Photographer: Heidi Meudt, Licence: All rights reserved.
Ourisia modesta.<br>Photographer: Heidi Meudt, Licence: All rights reserved.
Ourisia modesta.<br>Photographer: Heidi Meudt, Licence: All rights reserved.
In cultivtion ex Ruahine Range.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 16 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>
In cultivation ex Ruahine Range.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 16 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>
Ruahine Range. Feb 2008.<br>Photographer: Vivienne McGlynn, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>.
Moeraki River.<br>Photographer: Mike Thorsen, Date taken: 12 August 2013, Licence: All rights reserved. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Moeraki River.<br>Photographer: Mike Thorsen, Date taken: 18 August 2013, Licence: All rights reserved. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Ruahine Range. Nov 1976.<br>Photographer: Colin C. Ogle, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
ex Moeraki River.<br>Photographer: Mike Thorsen, Date taken: 4 November 2014, Licence: All rights reserved. <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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Common name

creeping foxglove

Synonyms

None

Family

Plantaginaceae

Authority

Ourisia modesta Diels

Flora category

Vascular – Native

Endemic taxon

Yes

Endemic genus

No

Endemic family

No

Structural class

Herbs - Dicotyledons other than Composites

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.

OURMOD

Chromosome number

2n = 48

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 Critical | Qualifiers: Sp

Previous conservation statuses

2009 | Threatened – Nationally Critical | Qualifiers: Sp

2004 | Gradual Decline

Distribution

Endemic to the North, South and Stewart Islands. In the North Island known only from one site in the North West Ruahine Ranges, where it has not been seen recently.

Habitat

Beech forest alongside rivers, usually in seepages or on poorly drained terraces amongst leaf litter or in muddy hollows, sometimes associated with stream and river banks, or in flushes within subalpine scrub.

Features

Perennial, creeping herb up to 70 mm tall, with ascending inflorescences and repent leaves; stems 0.6–1.3 mm thick; internodes 6–22 mm long, clearly separate, glabrous or eglandular hairy. Leaves opposite; petiole 4.5–33.7 × 0.4–1.2 mm, mostly glabrous, leaf lamina 4.0–15.0 × 4.6–12.3 mm, broadly ovate, circular, or elliptic, apex rounded, base truncate or weakly cordate, sometimes slightly cuneate, margin subentire or irregularly notched, upper surface glabrous, finely and densely punctate, undersides glabrous, densely punctate. Inflorescence 25–90 mm long, racemose, ascending, bracteates, with 1–2-flowering nodes per inflorescence, 2 bracts and 1 flower per node, and c. 1–2 flowers per raceme; peduncle 0.6–1.1 mm wide, eglandular hairy. Floral bracts 3.7–9.3 × 3.9–9.3 mm, decreasing in size toward inflorescence apex, petiolate to subsessile, broadly ovate to ovate, rarely elliptic to circular, margin subentire or irregularly notched, glabrous or sparsely eglandular hairy on margins and petiole, otherwise upper surface densely punctate. Flowers 5.7–8.9 × 2.5–7.2 mm, white. Pedicel 2.3–15.8 mm long, sparsely eglandular hairy. Calyx 3.7–8.2 × 2.7–6.7 mm, irregular, glabrous, densely punctate, rarely sparsely eglandular hairy. Corolla 6.6–9.0 × 7.7–9.0 mm, bilabiate, tubular-funnelform, glabrous or rarely externally furnished with sparse, short, eglandular hairs; tube 3.3–6.3 × 2.8–3.8 mm at apex; corolla lobes 1.7–3.5 × 0.9–2.0 mm, slightly spreading, slightly obcordate, emarginated or apical margin undulate. Stamens 4, two long stamens 4.5–5.3 mm, two short stamens 2.6–4.6 mm, anthers reniform to horse-shoe-shaped, staminode 0.3–0.4 mm long or absent. Style 2.2–3.9 × 0.2–0.5 mm, capitate or emarginated; ovary 1.5–2.3 × 1.3–1.7 mm. Capsules 4.4–5.2 × 4.2–6.0 mm, glabrous, fruiting pedicels 17.0–31.3 mm long. Seeds 0.7–0.8 × 0.5–0.7 mm.

Similar taxa

Easily confused with sterile specimens of Viola filicaulis from which it is most easily identified by having opposite, exstipulate rather than alternate stipulate leaves.

Flowering

December - January

Flower colours

White

Fruiting

January - February

Propagation technique

Difficult and should not be removed from the wild.

Threats

The exact extent of decline or the degree of threat this small herb actually faces is unclear. It would appear to have recently gone extinct in its only known North Island location, perhaps through natural succession to taller plants. In the South Island some populations have been lost as a result of weeds spreading into its habitat. However, as the species is very cryptic it is easily overlooked so it is possible that some of those populations believed to have gone are still there, while the exact distribution of the species remains unclear.

Etymology

ourisia: After Ouris, governor of the Falkland Islands

modesta: Mild or modest

Where To Buy

Not commercially available.

Attribution

Fact Sheet Prepared for NZPCN by: P.J. de Lange 28 October 2009. Description based on Meudt (2006) - see also 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, Christchurch, Canterbury University Press. 471pp

Meudt, H.M. 2006: Monograph of Ourisia (Plantaginaceae). Systematic Botany Monographs 37. 188pp.

Citation

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

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