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  4. Zostera muelleri subsp. novazelandica

Zostera muelleri subsp. novazelandica

Puatahanui Inlet.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 05/12/2009, 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>
Puatahanui Inlet.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 05/12/2009, 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>
Whangapoua Harbour. January.<br>Photographer: John Smith-Dodsworth, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>.
Photographer: Bec Stanley, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0'>CC BY-SA</a>. <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

seagrass, eelgrass, nana, zostera

Synonyms

Z. novazelandica Setch., Zostera muelleri Irmisch.ex Asch.; Zostera muelleri subsp. novaezelandica (Setch.) S.W.L.Jacobs orth. var.

Family

Zosteraceae

Authority

Zostera muelleri subsp. novozelandica (Setch.) S.W.L.Jacobs

Flora category

Vascular – Native

Endemic taxon

No

Endemic genus

No

Endemic family

No

Structural class

Herbs - Monocots

Chromosome number

2n = 24

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 | At Risk – Declining | Qualifiers: SO

Previous conservation statuses

2009 | Not Threatened

2004 | Not Threatened

Distribution

Indigenous. North, South and Stewart Islands. Throughout southern and eastern Australia

Habitat

Marine. Mostly submerged in estuaries where it is found on intertidal and subtidal flats of sandy mud. Often in channels or deep pools of water

Features

Grass-like plants of mud or sandy-silt shallow marine environments. Rhizomes compressed 1-2 mm diameter, widely creeping, rooting at nodes; internodes 10-20 mm long. Leaf-sheath 20-40 mm long, becoming fibrous with age, the broad membranous margins inflexed and each terminating in an erect rounded auricle; lamina 50-300 x 1-2 mm; primary nerves 3, interstitial nerves 4-6, cross veins usually at more or less regular, long intervals and mostly all extending from the median to marginal nerve, producing a pattern of distinctive long oblongs. Erect stems narrow, flattened, the subfloral peduncular internode 10-60 x 0.6-1.0 mm. Spathe-like sheath 15-25 x 2.0-2.5 mm (folded width), its margins squarely truncate at the apex and its terminating lamina 30-80 x 1.5-2.0 mm. Spadix often shorter than spathe; retinacula usually 3 on each side, broadly obliquely ovate 1.0-1.5 x 1.0 mm and 2.0-2.5 mm apart. Stamens and carpels closely packed, carpels rarely > 6 and anther-sacs about twice their number, all sloping obliquely inwards and upwards. Achene elliptic-oblong, 2.5 x 1.0 mm; seed smooth, yellow.

Similar taxa

None - plants referred to Z. capricorni in Flora 2 are merely larger forms of the same subspecies. The type of Z. capricorni is Australian and plants matching that type are not found in New Zealand

Flowering

October - February

Fruiting

January - February

Propagation technique

Easily grown in saltwater tanks but otherwise difficult. Plants can be easily propagated through division.

Threats

Not Threatened. However, due to widespread siltation and increasingly poor water quality eelgrass communities are declining throughout their range.

Etymology

zostera: Girdle or belt

muelleri: Named after Baron Ferdinand von Mueller, 19th century German/Australian botanist and founder of the National Herbarium of Victoria

Where To Buy

Not commerically available.

Attribution

Description adapted from Moore and Edgar (1997).

References and further reading

Moore, L.B.; Edgar, E. 1970: Flora of New Zealand. Vol. I. Government Printer, Wellington.

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