Wahlenbergia matthewsii
Common names
rock harebell, Matthews’s harebell
Biostatus
Native – Endemic taxon
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Herbs - Dicotyledons other than Composites
Flower colours
Blue, Violet/Purple
Detailed description
Perennial, erect or spreading subshrub up ot 300 mm tall. Tap root fleshy, white, soon developing rhizomes. Stems arising from base, initally brownish-white, 2-3 mm diameter, soon purple-red to purple, glabrous, branching at the top into 2 or more almost naked scapes. Leaves crowded on stems, 10 x 1 to 50 x 3 mm, dark green, linear, glabrous, margins entire or distantly, finely toothed, sometimes recurved. Scapes 100-150 mm long, simple or branched again, bearing a few, distant, narrow linear bracts 5-15 mm long. Inflorescence, terminal, pedunculate. Calyx glabrous, 4-5 x 1 mm, linear-triangular. Flowers pale blue to pale blue-lilac with white zoning and deeper blue or violet veins, or completely white; corolla 20-40 mm diameter, deeply campnaulate with tube 7 x 5 to 9 x 6 mm, lobes spreading, 10 x 6 - 20 x 8 mm, ovate-lanceolate. Anthers linear, 4 mm long, style equalling corolla tube, stigma usually 2-lobed. Capsule glabrous, 6 x 4 to 12 x 6 mm long, domed obconic. Seeds 0.5 mm long.
Similar taxa
None. The distinctive erect subshrub habit, and branches bearing numerous, crowded, dark green linear leaves set this species well apart from any of the other New Zealand Wahlenbergia Roth.
Distribution
Endemic. South Island, Marlborough , Kaikoura Coast from the Flaxbourne River to Clarence River mouth and inland on the Chalk Range. Also known from the Pikikiruna Range at Gorge Creek (north-west Nelson)
Habitat
Confined to calcareous rocks, especially fine grained limestone. Coastal to montane (0 - 800 m a.s.l.), and mainly restricted to gorges and steep cliffs. Less commonly found growing in boulder falls and on sparsely vegetated terraces.
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
Abundant within its Marlborough range but rather uncommon in north-west Nelson. Browse dby animals where it is accessible but otherwise very common and not unduly threatened. This specie sis listed mainly because it is a narrow-range endemic.
Detailed taxonomy
Genus
Family
Synonyms
None
Endemic taxon
Yes
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Ecology
Flowering
December - April
Fruiting
January - April
Propagation technique
Easily grown from fresh seed. Does best in full sun, in a free draining, calcareous soil. Excellent in a rockery. A beautiful plant which deserves to be more widely cultivated than it is.
Other information
Cultivation
Occasionally available from specialist native plant nurseries.
Plant of the Month
This plant has been featured as a Plant of the Month – see Trilepidea: NZPCN newsletter for September 2014 for the full story.
Etymology
wahlenbergia: Named in honour of Wahlenberg, a Swedish botanist and author of A Botany of Lapland.
matthewsii: After Mathews
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.
WAHMAT
Chromosome number
2n = 36
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: DP
2004 | Range Restricted
Referencing and citations
References and further reading
Petterson, J.A. 1997: Revision of the genus Wahlenbergia (Campanulaceae) in New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Botanv 35: 9-54.
Attribution
Fact Sheet Prepared by P.J. de Lange 12 June 2007. Description adapted from Petterson (1997).
NZPCN Fact Sheet citation
Please cite as: de Lange, P.J. (Year at time of access): Wahlenbergia matthewsii Fact Sheet (content continuously updated). New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/wahlenbergia-matthewsii/ (Date website was queried)