Classification
Class
Magnoliopsida Brongn.
Order
Liliales Perleb
Family
Colchicaceae DC.
Genus
Wurmbea Thunb.
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Wurmbea novae-zelandiae (Hook.f. ex Kirk) Lekhak, Survesw. & S.R.Yadav, J. Syst. Evol. 54: 81 (2015)
Synonymy:
  • ≡ Anguillaria novae-zelandiae Hook.f. ex Kirk, Trans. & Proc. New Zealand Inst. 10 (app.): App. xl (1878)
Type (lectotype, Heenan et al. 2017):—New Zealand, in swamps near Christchurch, Rangitata, [no date] Armstrong per Haast (WELT 60323 [Herb. T. Kirk]). Syntype: Rangitata, [no date] Von Haast (WELT 60333 [Herb. D. Petrie ex Herb. T. Kirk]). (Fig. 1)
  • = Iphigenia novae-zelandiae Baker, Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 17: 451 (1879)
Type (lectotype, Heenan et al. 2017):—New Zealand, Canterbury Plains, 1867 Armstrong per Haast 298 (K 000400298). Syntype:—Canterbury Plains, New Zealand, December 1850 Lyall (K 001067833).
 Description

An inconspicuous, summer-green, glab. herb 3–8–(10) cm. tall. Corm to 7–(9) × 5–(8) mm., enclosed in persistent papery sheaths, the innermost reddish brown. Stem annual, slender, < lvs. Lvs us. 2 above the membr. prophyll; sheath closed below, then broader and ± pouch-like, narrowing gradually above; lamina 2–9–(12) cm. × 1–2–(8) mm., linear, deeply channelled or folded; tip terete; below fl. a much smaller, ± bract-like lf (occ. 2), us. green but occ. petaloid. Fl. solitary, terminal. Tepals 3–6, c. 4–5 × 1.5–2 mm., oblong-lanceolate, obtuse, all ± similar, white or slightly pink, marcescent; lateral veins forked, a short one on each side ending in a submarginal gland which exudes clear nectar. Stamens as many as tepals, shortly adnate at base; filaments slightly flattened below, narrow and terete above, inserted into a fovea between anther lobes; anthers shortly oblong, dehiscing by lateral slits. Ovary c. 2.5 mm. diam., subglobose, the styles widely divergent and separating with the valves of the ripe capsule; ovules c. 8 on two axile placentae in each locule. Capsule c. 4–6–10 × 2–3–6 mm., oval, sulcate, pericarp at first green and fleshy, becoming horny and faintly transversely rugose, carried up with its small lf on an elongating stem, dehiscing us. both loculicidally and septicidally into 2–6 wide-spreading lobes. Seeds c. 1 mm. diam., globose, minutely reticulate, on long capillary funicle. 2n = 20.

[From: Moore and Edgar (1970) Flora of New Zealand. Volume 2. as Iphigenia novae-zelandiae Baker]

 Biostatus
Indigenous (Endemic)
 Phenology

Flowering: Nov.–Dec.; Fruiting: Jan.–Feb.

 Bibliography
Baker; J.G. 1879: A synopsis of Colchicaceae and the aberrant tribes of Liliaceae. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 17(103): 405–510.
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. [as Iphigenia novae-zelandiae Baker] [Nationally Vulnerable]
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. [as Iphigenia novae-zelandiae Baker]
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. [Nationally Endangered]
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. [as Iphigenia novae-zelandiae Baker] [Nationally Endangered]
Heenan, P.B.; Macfarlane, T.D.; Case, A.L.: Graham, S.W.; Vinnersten, A.; Mitchell, C. 2017: Morphological and phylogenetic relationships of the threatened geophyte Wurmbea novae-zelandiae (Colchicaceae) from New Zealand, with notes on typification. Phytotaxa 307(2): 123–132.
Kirk, T. 1878: An enumeration of recent additions to the New Zealand Flora, with critical and geographical notes. Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute 10 (app.): xlxviii–xlv.
Lekhak, M.M.; Surveswaran, S.; Yadav, S.R. 2016: Generic identity of Camptorrhiza indica (Colchicaceae) based on cytogenetics and molecular phylogenetics. Journal of Systematics and Evolution 54(2): 75–82.