Class
Order
Family
Classification
Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Wahlenbergia matthewsii Cockayne, Trans. New Zealand Inst. 47: 113 (1914 [1915]) – as Wahlenbergia Matthewsii
Vernacular Name(s):
Rock harebell
Description
Perennial herb of erect or spreading sub-shrubby growth, 10—30 cm tall, initially with fleshy white tap-root, rhizomes developing later in suitable conditions. Stems branching from the rootstock, brownish white at the base, 2—3 mm diam., aerial parts purplish, glabrous, clothed with numerous, crowded, spirally arranged, spreading, sessile leaves. Leaves uniform, linear, glabrous, 10 × 1 to 50x3 mm, margins entire or distantly and obscurely toothed, sometimes recurved. Stems branching at the top into 2 or more almost naked scapes 10—15 cm long, simple or branched again with a few narrowlinear bracts 5—15 mm long, distantly placed. Flowers terminal on each peduncle, pale flax blue to pale blue-lilac with white zoning and deeper blue or violet veins, or completely white; corolla 20-40 mm diam., deeply campanulate with tube 7 × 5 to 9 × 6 mm, lobes spreading, ovate-lanceolate, 10 × 6- 20 × 8 mm. Anthers linear, 4 mm long, style equalling corolla tube, stigma usually 2-lobed. Calyx glabrous, linear-triangular, 4—5 × 1 mm; capsule glabrous, domed obconic, 6 × 4 to 12 × 6 mm long. Seeds 0.5 mm long. FL Dec-Apr, FT Jan-Apr.
[Reproduced from Petterson (1997, New Zealand J. Bot. 35: 9–54) with permission from The Royal Society of New Zealand.]
Biostatus
Indigenous (Endemic)
Bibliography
Cockayne, L. 1915: Some New Species of New Zealand Flowering-plants. Transactions of the New Zealand Institute 47: 111–118.
de Lange, P.J.; Norton, D.A.; Courtney, S.P.; Heenan, P.B.; Barkla, J.W.; Cameron, E.K.; Hitchmough, R.; Townsend, A.J. 2009: Threatened and uncommon plants of New Zealand (2008 revision). New Zealand Journal of Botany 47: 61–96. [Naturally uncommon]
de Lange, P.J.; Norton, D.A.; Heenan, P.B.; Courtney, S.P.; Molloy, B.P.J.; Ogle, C.C.; Rance, B.D. 2004: Threatened and uncommon plants of New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Botany 42(1): 45–76.
de Lange, P.J.; Rolfe, J.R.; Barkla J.W.; Courtney, S.P.; Champion, P.D.; Perrie, L.R.; Beadel, S.N.; Ford, K.A.; Breitwieser, I.; Schönberger, I.; Hindmarsh-Walls, R.; Heenan, P.B.; Ladley, K. 2018: Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2017. New Zealand Threat Classification Series. No. 22. [Naturally Uncommon]
de Lange, P.J.; Rolfe, J.R.; Champion, P.D.; Courtney, S.P.; Heenan, P.B.; Barkla, J.W.; Cameron, E.K.; Norton, D.A.; Hitchmough, R.A. 2013: Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2012. New Zealand Threat Classification Series 3. Department of Conservation, Wellington. [Naturally Uncommon]
Petterson, J.A. 1997: Revision of the genus Wahlenbergia (Campanulaceae) in New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Botany 35(1): 9–54.
