Scrophularia auriculata
Common name
Water figwort
Family
Scrophulariaceae
Flora category
Vascular – Exotic
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.
SCRAUR
Conservation status
Not applicable
Brief description
Upright large leaved herb, up to 80 cm tall, often forming dense stands, stems are square in cross-section, leaves are arranged in pairs, up to 18 cm long and 6 cm across, smaller towards the top of the stem, flowers are small (up to 3.5 mm long) and brown, produced in a large flower head at the top of the stem.
Distribution
Scattered and local in northern North Island and also at one site in Otago.
Habitat
Margins of water bodies and also on roadsides and wet pasture in high rainfall areas.
Wetland plant indicator status rating
Information derived from the revised national wetland plant list prepared to assist councils in delineating and monitoring wetlands (Clarkson et al., 2021 Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research Contract Report LC3975 for Hawke’s Bay Regional Council). The national plant list categorises plants by the extent to which they are found in wetlands and not ‘drylands’. The indicator status ratings are OBL (obligate wetland), FACW (facultative wetland), FAC (facultative), FACU (facultative upland), and UPL (obligate upland). If you have suggestions for the Wetland Indicator Status Rating, please contact: [Enable JavaScript to view protected content]
FAC: Facultative
Commonly occurs as either a hydrophyte or non-hydrophyte (non-wetlands).
Features
Perennial, lacking nodular roots; stems to c. 80 cm high, narrowly winged just below infl. and above first few cymes. Petioles to 10 cm long on basal lvs, much less on stem lvs. Lamina 6-18 × 2-6 cm, smaller below infl., oblong, ovate-oblong or elliptic-oblong, hairy at first, becoming glabrous above and often glabrate below later, crenate or less commonly crenate-serrate; base subcordate to rounded, sometimes very oblique or with 1-2 small basal leaflets; apex obtuse or rounded. Cymes in panicles in the axils of mostly linear bracts, shortly glandular hairy; rachis angled. Pedicels usually several × > fls, but sometimes shorter. Calyx 2-3.5 mm long; lobes broad-ovate with scarious margin 0.5-1 mm wide and becoming lacerate. Corolla 7-10 mm long, greenish below, reddish brown or purplish brown above, especially the erect, rounded larger lobes of the upper lip. Staminode orbicular or suborbicular, entire. Capsule c. 5 mm long, ovoid or subglobose. Seed ribbed, ± truncate or obtuse.
Similar taxa
One other Scrophularia, knotted figwort (S. nodosa) has been collected from Canterbury and Southland, but is not a wetland plant, distinguished by the deeply toothed rather than crenate leaves and lacking the winged stems beneath the inflorescence.
Flowering
August to April
Flower colours
Brown, Red/Pink
Fruiting
Spring to autumn
Life cycle
Seed dispersed by water and contaminated machinery.
Year naturalised
1940
Origin
Western Europe and North Africa
Reason for introduction
Ornamental plant
Control techniques
Not controlled in New Zealand.
Etymology
auriculata: Small-eared
Attribution
Factsheet orepared by Paul Champion and Deborah Hofstra (NIWA). Features description from Webb et al. (1988).
References and further reading
Webb, C.J.; Sykes, W.R.; Garnock-Jones, P.J. (1988). Flora of New Zealand Volume 4: Naturalised pteridophytes, gymnosperms, dicotyledons. Botany Division, DSIR, Christchurch.
Johnson PN, Brooke PA (1989). Wetland plants in New Zealand. DSIR Field Guide, DSIR Publishing, Wellington. 319pp.