Class
Order
Family
Genus
Classification
Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Ourisia spathulata Arroyo, New Zealand J. Bot. 22: 451 (1984)
Description
Creeping, prostrate, rhizomatous herb with clearly evident glabrous, reddish petioles and internodes, forming tufts up to 8 cm across; leaves widely separated on the stems, pale green, softly textured, on long, flattened petioles, 2.5-4 (3.0) cm long, 0.5-1.5 (1.0) cm wide, expanding gradually into obtuse spathulate blades 1.2-2.3 (1.5) cm long and wide, the margins with 5-9 symmetric shallow crenulations with poorly evident hydathodes; upper leaf surface clothed in soft, adpressed, mixed glandular and eglandular multicellular hairs, lower surface with mostly gland-tipped pubescence evenly distributed along the veins and intervein areas, the 5-6 major veins not obscured by the pubescence. Inflorescence very slender and flexuous, 8.0-11.0 (10.0) cm long in flower, evenly clad in long, multicellular glandular pubescence to 1 mm long; bracts (2-) 3-4 (-5) pairs, obovate-spathulate, somewhat concave, 0.7-1.3 (1.0) cm long and wide, obtuse, entire to very broadly 3-7-crenulate, with long, weak, glandular pubescence only on the lower surface. Flowers 0-2 per node, the lower most pair of bracts frequently sterile; pedicels brownish-black, 1.3-1.5 (1.4) cm long in flower, elongating considerably to 2-2.5 (2.4) cm in fruit, glandular-pubescent, calyx strongly bilabiate, obtriangular to oblong, streaked with purple-blue lines abaxially, pubescence on the outside only, 0.6-0.9 (0.7) cm long, 0.6-0.9 (0.8) cm wide, the lobes oblong, 1.5-2.5 (2.1) mm wide, obtuse, the 2 anterior lobes united for ½ to 2/3 the entire length, the 3 posterior lobes united for greater than 2/3 the entire length, these however completely divided from the anterior lobes; corolla to 1.5 cm wide, entirely glabrous, white except for the yellow throat, tube 2/3 the length of the calyx; corolla lobes obovate-oblong, 0.8-1.1 (1.1) cm long, 0.7-0.8 (0.7) cm wide, obtuse to emarginate, not angular, somewhat spreading, longitudinal axis of the corolla hardly exceeding the transverse axis; capsule glabrous, calyx persistent at maturity, seeds minute, brown.
[Reproduced from Arroyo (1984, New Zealand J. Bot. 22: 447–463) with permission from The Royal Society of New Zealand.]
Biostatus
Indigenous (Endemic)
Bibliography
Arroyo, M.T.K. 1984: New species and combinations in Ourisia (Scrophulariaceae) in New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Botany 22: 447–463.
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]
Meudt, H.M. 2006: Monograph of Ourisia (Plantaginaceae). Systematic Botany Monographs 77: 1–188.
