Class
Family
Genus
Classification
Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Dracophyllum marmoricola S.Venter, New Zealand J. Bot. 40: 39-43 (2002)
Synonymy:
Type: New Zealand. Kahurangi National Park, Mount Arthur, Horseshoe Basin, 2 Jan. 1999. S. Venter 13739 (holo: CHR!; iso: AK, K, NSW, P, WELT).
Etymology:
Description
Shrublet 2–15 cm tall, multi-stemmed, decumbent to prostrate and sometimes forming compact cushions; bark grey and smooth to finely fissured. Leaves spreading, crowded at the tips of branches, sheathing at base; sheath glaucous, 2.2–6.5 × 3–4 mm, subcoriaceous, shoulder rounded to truncate, margin ciliate; lamina coriaceous, glaucous, linear-triangular to broadly linear-triangular, 5.6–32.0 × 0.75–2.00 mm, slightly concave, surfaces minutely verrucose, margin serrulate, with 12–13 teeth per cm, apex triquetrous. Inflorescence an oblong raceme terminal on branches, dense, 9–24 mm long with 3–8 flowers; inflorescence bracts persistent, longer than flower, coriaceous, light green to glaucous, subulate, 7.5– 10.5 × 0.6–1.4 mm at base, verrucose with serrulate margin; flower bract persistent, shorter than flower, coriaceous, broadly ovate, 5–7 × 3.0–4.5 mm, glabrous, margin ciliate, subacute to acute. Flowers sessile. Sepals green to reddish brown, ovate-lanceolate, 4.5–5.5 × 1.5–2.0 mm, equal to shorter than corolla tube, glabrous, ciliate; apex subacute to acute. Corolla white; tube cylindrical, 4.0–6.5 × 2.0– 2.5 mm, glabrous; lobes spreading to reflexed, broadly triangular, shorter than corolla tube, 1.5–2.2 × 1.5–1.8 mm, acute to subacute, adaxial surface papillate, abaxial surface glabrous. Stamens epipetalous, 0.4–0.5 mm long; in upper third of corolla tube, anthers light yellow, oblong, 0.6–0.8 mm long, included. Nectary scales separate, rectangular, 0.7– 0.8 × 0.4–0.8 mm, apex truncate and emarginate to variously toothed, glabrous; ovary ± obovate, 1.4– 1.5 × 1.3–1.5 mm, apex truncate, glabrous; style enclosed, 1.5 mm long, glabrous; stigma 5-lobed. Capsule sessile, light brown, 2.5–3.5 × 1.8–2.0 mm, obovoid, glabrous, enclosed in persistent sepals; style persistent; seed light brown, ovoid, 1 mm long, surface slightly reticulate. FL Dec–Mar; FT Apr– May.
[Reproduced from Venter (2002, New Zealand J. Bot. 40: 39-47) with permission from The Royal Society of New Zealand.]
Biostatus
Indigenous (Endemic)
Bibliography
Cameron, E.K. et al. 1995: New Zealand Botanical Society threatened and local plant lists (1995 revision). New Zealand Botanical Society Newsletter 39: 15–28.
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]
Venter, S. 2002: Dracophyllum marmoricola and Dracophyllum ophioliticum (Ericaceae), two new species from north-west Nelson, New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Botany 40(1): 39–47.
Venter, S. 2021: A taxonomic revision of the Australasian genera Dracophyllum and Richea (Richeeae: Styphelioideae: Ericaceae). Australian Systematic Botany 34: 1–205.
