''Leptinella filiformis'', or slender button daisy, is a
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
of
flowering plant
Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...
in the
daisy family
The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae w ...
, found only in the north-eastern part of the
South Island
The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...
of New Zealand.
Thought to be extinct by the 1980s,
it was rediscovered growing on a
Hanmer Springs
Hanmer Springs is a small town in the Canterbury region of the South Island of New Zealand. The Māori name for Hanmer Springs is Te Whakatakanga o te Ngārahu o te ahi a Tamatea, which means “where the ashes of Tamate’s (sic) fire lay” ...
hotel lawn in 1998,
and in the wild in 2015.
Description
![Leptinella filiformis flower 1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Leptinella_filiformis_flower_1.1000x800.jpg)
A creeping perennial, ''L. filiformis'' forms a low mat, spreading indefinitely via thin
rhizome
In botany and dendrology, a rhizome (; , ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from axillary buds and grow hori ...
s on the soil surface. It has small green or brown feathery leaves, up to long. Its flowers are small () white button-shaped
inflorescences
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphology (biology), Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of sperma ...
on thin stalks.
Taxonomy
This species was collected by
Julius von Haast
Sir Johann Franz Julius von Haast (1 May 1822 – 16 August 1887) was a German-born New Zealand explorer, geologist, and founder of the Canterbury Museum in Christchurch.
Early life
Johann Franz Julius Haast was born on 1 May 1822 in Bo ...
in 1862 on the
Canterbury Plains
The Canterbury Plains () are an area in New Zealand centred in the Mid Canterbury, to the south of the city of Christchurch in the Canterbury region. Their northern extremes are at the foot of the Hundalee Hills in the Hurunui District, and in t ...
, "among grass", and sent to
Joseph Dalton Hooker
Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker (30 June 1817 – 10 December 1911) was a British botanist and explorer in the 19th century. He was a founder of geographical botany and Charles Darwin's closest friend. For twenty years he served as director of t ...
, who in 1864 named it ''Cotula filiformis''.
David Lloyd, when revising ''Cotula'', initially retained this species,
then later transferred it into ''Leptinella'' when that
taxon
In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; plural taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular nam ...
was elevated to a genus.
The genus name ''Leptinella'', from the Greek ''leptos'' or thin, refers to the plant's slender ovary; ''filiformis'', from the Latin ''filum'' or thread, means thread-shaped.
Distribution and habitat
![Leptinella-in-bud](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/Leptinella-in-bud.jpg)
This species is known only from
Marlborough
Marlborough may refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Marlborough, Wiltshire, England
** Marlborough College, public school
* Marlborough School, Woodstock in Oxfordshire, England
* The Marlborough Science Academy in Hertfordshire, England
Austral ...
and
Canterbury
Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour.
...
in the northeast
South Island
The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...
. Although initially recorded from the Canterbury Plains, no further specimens were collected there. In 1919,
Cockayne
Cockaigne or Cockayne () is a land of plenty in medieval myth, an imaginary place of extreme luxury and ease where physical comforts and pleasures are always immediately at hand and where the harshness of medieval peasant life does not exist. S ...
wrote:
''L. filiformis'' had around the same time been found by Cockayne in the
Awatere Valley
The Awatere River is a large river flowing through Marlborough, New Zealand. Flowing along the trace of the active Awatere Fault, it runs northeast through a straight valley to the west of the Inland Kaikoura mountains. This valley is parallel ...
, Marlborough. Subsequent collections were from these two areas: the plain in the
Hanmer Valley, Canterbury (and one specimen from
Culverden
Culverden is a small town in the northern Canterbury region of New Zealand's South Island. It lies at the centre of the Amuri Plain. Culverden has traditionally been surrounded by sheep farms. Dairy farms have now become more common as a result ...
, away), and the Awatere Valley around
Molesworth Station
Molesworth Station is a high country cattle station. It is located behind the Inland Kaikoura Mountain range in the South Island's Marlborough District. It is New Zealand's largest farm, at over and supports the country's biggest herd of ...
.
This species prefers open bare ground with little other vegetation. It grows in grassland and open shrub land on basins, plains, and dry
alluvial
Alluvium (from Latin ''alluvius'', from ''alluere'' 'to wash against') is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. Alluv ...
river terraces up to above sea level.
Field observations suggested it grew best in areas of bare ground created by excessive numbers of rabbits; when rabbits were removed, ''L. filiformis'' was swamped by returning vegetation.
Conservation
The main conservation threats to this species are the conversion of open plains to farmland or plantation forests. It does not compete well with pasture grasses or exotic weeds like hawkweed (''
Pilosella
''Pilosella'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. Some sources include it within the genus ''Hieracium''.
Species
, Plants of the World Online accepted the following species:
*'' Pilosella abakurae''
*''Pilosella acutifol ...
'' spp.).
In the 19th century ''L. filiformis'' was locally common, based on collection records in the literature. By the 1970s it was noted as rare and vulnerable, and in the 1980s it was no longer to be found in the wild, and was considered extinct.
In November 1998 botanist
Brian Molloy discovered this species growing on the grounds of the then-vacant Hanmer Lodge hotel in
Hanmer Springs
Hanmer Springs is a small town in the Canterbury region of the South Island of New Zealand. The Māori name for Hanmer Springs is Te Whakatakanga o te Ngārahu o te ahi a Tamatea, which means “where the ashes of Tamate’s (sic) fire lay” ...
.
Almost pure patches of ''L. filiformis'' could be found on the lawn, under a canopy of ornamental exotic trees, mixed with introduced pasture grasses and weeds. Molloy noted this was the only site it had been seen in recent times: the last known specimens had been collected at the same place, in 1975.
In February 1999, Molloy and
Department of Conservation
An environmental ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for the environment and/or natural resources. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of the Environment ...
(DOC) staff Peter de Lange and Nick Head returned to Hanmer Lodge and collected live plants for propagation.
This was timely, because in late 1999 the hotel and grounds were redeveloped, which eradicated all ''L. filiformis'' on the site. The propagated plants were subsequently used in numerous plantings in cultivation and in reintroductions to the wild in protected sites.
In January 2015, a wild population of ''L. filiformis'' was discovered growing in the
Waiau Toa / Clarence River
The Clarence River (; officially Waiau Toa / Clarence River) is a major river which flows through the Kaikōura Ranges in the northeast of New Zealand's South Island. At roughly long, it is the longest river in Canterbury and the eighth longest ...
Valley on Molesworth Station. DOC ranger Jan Clayton-Green had previously encountered the species in 2011 in the Clarence Valley without recognising it as ''L. filiformis;'' subsequently-collected plants were grown on until they flowered and their identity could be confirmed.
References
External links
* ''Leptinella filiformis'' discussed on
RNZ
Radio New Zealand ( mi, Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa), commonly known as Radio NZ or simply RNZ, is a New Zealand public-service radio broadcaster and Crown entity that was established under the Radio New Zealand Act 1995. It operates news and cu ...
''Critter of the Week''
25 May 2018
{{Taxonbar, from=Q15603108
Anthemideae
Flora of New Zealand
Taxa named by Joseph Dalton Hooker