Azorella macquariensis
Synonyms
Azorella selago auctt. non Hook.f.
Family
Apiaceae
Flora category
Vascular – Native
Endemic taxon
Yes
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Structural class
Herbs - Dicotyledons other than Composites
Current conservation status
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) – more information about this can be found on the NZTCS website. This report includes a statistical summary and brief notes on changes since 2012 and replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants.
Please note, threat classifications are often suggested by authors when publications fall between NZTCS assessment periods – an interim threat classification status has not been assessed by the NZTCS panel.
- Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2017 . 2018. 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. Department of Conservation. Source: NZTCS and licensed by DOC for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.
2017 | Not Evaluated
Previous conservation statuses
2009 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon | Qualifiers: RR
2004 | Range Restricted
Distribution
Endemic to Macquarie Island.
Habitat
The dominant species of the feldmark vegetation community and also common in other windswept situations. Forming dense, extensive cushions and tight mats through which little other vegetation can penetrate.
Detailed description
Perennial herb forming extensive compact mats, cushions, or in exposed situations button-like balls; main branches prostrate, woody to 5 mm in diameter; lateral shoots erect, herbaceous, freely branched, crowded, 30-150 mm tall, clothed in old leaf remnants. Leaves alternate, imbricate, appressed to stems, persistent; petioles white 3-10 mm long, thickened at apex, 3-5-veinned, with a membranous wing outside the veins, the wings fused to form a sheath around the stem in the lower 1/4-1/2 and produced above to form a very short runcate ridge-like ligule at the base of the lamina; lamina 3-5-partite, lobes divided almost to base of leaves, lanceolate, 1.7-4 x 0.6-1.4 mm, thick and more or less fleshy, acute with a terminal setose apiculum, margins thickened, glabrous or with 1-5 bristle-like hairs 1.4-4 mm long on the undersides. Flowers terminal, solitary or paired, hermaphrodite, peduncles short with the flowers enclosed by the upper leaves. Involucral bracts 2, fused at the base to form a small cup, leaf-like or lanceolate. Sepals 5, 0.5-0.9 mm long white, linear, unequal. Petals 5, 1.5-2 mm long, pale reddish brown, incurved, somewhat cucullate, acute. Stamens 5, 1.7-3 mm long. Styles 2, 0.75-1 mm long, with a swollen stylopodium at the base. Ovary slightly laterally compressed. Fruit yellow-brown, sessile or on a pedicel 1 mm long (so hidden amongst leaves); body of fruit obovoid and slightly flattened laterally 1.3-1.7 x 1-1.5 mm, 0.9-1 mm thick, weakly ribbed, styles persistent, sepals deciduous.
Similar taxa
Azorella selago Hook.f. which is known from Tierra del Fuego, the Falklands, Marion, Crozet, Kerguelen and Heard Islands but not Macquarie A. macquariensis differs from A. selago by its smaller size and leaf shape. The current seasons leaves are 3-lobed compared to the 4-7-lobed seen in A. selago; in A. macquariensis the lobes are divided almost to the leaf base, the apices are acute and bristle-tipped rather than blunt and rounded as in A. selago. The ligule also differs in A. macquariensis in that it is a short, ridge-like truncate or slightly rounded structure while in A. selago it comprises two distinct, rounded auricles. The flowers of A. macquariensis are solitary or rarely paired rather than in groups of 3, the fruits 1.7 cf. 1.7-2 mm long and are sessile or virtually so, therefore they are hidden in the upper leaves rather than exserted from the leaves as in the dsitcntly pedicellate A. selago, finally the sepals are deciduous in A. macquariensis and persistent in A. selago.
Flowering
December - February
Flower colours
Red/Pink, White
Fruiting
January - April
Propagation technique
Unknown
Threats
This is a Macquarie Island endemic and occurs in the New Zealand Botanical Region but it is not encompassed by the New Zealand threat classification process as Macquarie is under the management of Australia.
Cats, rats, mice and rabbits introduced by sealers in the early 1800s posed a significant threat to sepcies endemic to Maquarie Island an when cats were initially erdaticated nearly a century later there was an explosion rabbits numbers. Further efforts were made to remove rodent perst by the Australian Government and in 2014 Macqurie was declared pest free.
Etymology
macquariensis: From Macquarie Island
Where To Buy
Not commercially available.
Attribution
Fact Sheet prepared for NZPCN by P.J. de Lange 1 November 2008. Description from Orchard (1989).
References and further reading
Orchard, A.E. 1989: Azorella Lamarck (Apiaceae) on Heard and Macquarie Islands, with description of a new species, A. macquariensis. Muelleria 7(1): 15-20.
NZPCN Fact Sheet citation
Please cite as: de Lange, P.J. (Year at time of access): Azorella macquariensis Fact Sheet (content continuously updated). New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/azorella-macquariensis/ (Date website was queried)