''Myosotis albosericea'' is a species of
flowering plant in the
family Boraginaceae,
endemic to 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.
Joseph Dalton Hooker described the species in 1867. Plants of this species of
forget-me-not are
perennial rosettes which form loose clumps, with ebracteate, erect inflorescences, and yellow corollas.
Taxonomy and etymology
''Myosotis albosericea''
Hook.f.
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 ...
is in the plant family
Boraginaceae and was described in 1867 by
Joseph Dalton Hooker.
''Myosotis albosericea'' plants have a very dense covering of white, appressed hairs on its vegetative parts including the rosette and stem leaves, which completely obscure the epidermis. The hairs are antrorse (forward facing), straight, and on the leaf are oriented parallel to the midrib. The only other New Zealand species with such hairs is ''
Myosotis arnoldii
''Myosotis'' ( ) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Boraginaceae. The name comes from the Ancient Greek "mouse's ear", which the foliage is thought to resemble. In the northern hemisphere they are colloquially known as forget-me-nots ...
,''
endemic to northern South Island, New Zealand. Additional characters that, taken together, can help distinguish ''M. albosericea'' from other native New Zealand species include: yellow corollas, unbranched ebracteate inflorescences, small rosette leaf blades (< 12 mm long) with acute tips, and lack of hooked or retrorse (backward facing) hairs anywhere on the plant.
The
holotype specimen of ''Myosotis albosericea'' was collected by
James Hector in 1863 from the
Clutha River,
Otago
Otago (, ; mi, Ōtākou ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government reg ...
, New Zealand and is lodged at
Kew Herbarium
Kew Gardens is a botanic garden in southwest London that houses the "largest and most diverse botanical and mycological collections in the world". Founded in 1840, from the exotic garden at Kew Park, its living collections include some of the ...
(K 000787886).
The specific epithet, ''albosericea'', is derived from Latin for the white (''albus'') and silky (''sericeus'') hairs which cover most of the plant.
Phylogeny
''Myosotis albosericea'' was shown to be a part of the
monophyletic
In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic gro ...
southern hemisphere lineage of ''Myosotis'' in
phylogenetic analyses of standard DNA sequencing markers (
nuclear ribosomal DNA
Nuclear may refer to:
Physics
Relating to the Atomic nucleus, nucleus of the atom:
*Nuclear engineering
*Nuclear physics
*Nuclear power
*Nuclear reactor
*Nuclear weapon
*Nuclear medicine
*Radiation therapy
*Nuclear warfare
Mathematics
*Nuclear ...
and
chloroplast DNA regions).
Within the southern hemisphere lineage, species relationships were not well resolved.
The sole sequenced individual of ''M. albosericea'' grouped with other ebracteate-erect species and especially the South Island endemic species, ''
M. goyenii''.
Description
''Myosotis albosericea'' plants are single rosettes, each with a central and often woody taproot, that grow together to form loose mats. The rosette leaves have
petioles 4–20 mm long. The rosette leaf blades are 4–12 mm long by 1–4 mm wide (length: width ratio 1.4–7.6: 1), narrowly oblanceolate, oblanceolate, narrowly obovate or obovate, widest at or above the middle, with an
acute
Acute may refer to:
Science and technology
* Acute angle
** Acute triangle
** Acute, a leaf shape in the glossary of leaf morphology
* Acute (medicine), a disease that it is of short duration and of recent onset.
** Acute toxicity, the adverse eff ...
apex. The upper and lower surfaces and margins of the leaf are densely covered in silky, long, straight, appressed, antrorse (forward-facing) hairs that are oriented parallel to the mid vein. Each rosette has 1–4 erect, unbranched, ebracteate
inflorescences that are up to 160 mm long. The cauline leaves are similar to the rosette leaves but smaller, and decrease in size toward the tip. Each inflorescence has up to 18 flowers, each borne on a short
pedicel
Pedicle or pedicel may refer to:
Human anatomy
*Pedicle of vertebral arch, the segment between the transverse process and the vertebral body, and is often used as a radiographic marker and entry point in vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty procedures
...
, without a bract. The calyx is 3–5 mm long at flowering and 3–6 mm long at fruiting, lobed to half or three-quarters its length, and densely covered in antrorse, straight or flexuous, patent or sometimes appressed hairs. The corolla is yellow, up to 10 mm in diameter, with a cylindrical tube, petals that are obovate, broadly obovate or very broadly obovate, and small scales alternating with the petals. The anthers are partly exserted, with the tips only surpassing or equaling the scales (rarely fully included with the tips reaching the base of the faucal scales only). The four smooth, shiny, light to dark brown nutlets are 1.8–2.2 mm long by 0.8–1.2 mm wide and narrowly ovoid to ovoid in shape.
The chromosome number of ''M. albosericea'' is unknown.
The pollen ''of M. albosericea'' is unknown.
It flowers and fruits from September–February, with the main flowering period December–February and the main fruiting period January–March.
Distribution and habitat
''Myosotis albosericea'' is a
forget-me-not endemic to the mountains of Otago, South Island of New Zealand from 1520–1554 m ASL. ''M. albosericea'' is known from only one extant population on dry rock or shingle in cushion fellfield.
Conservation status
The species is listed as Threatened - Nationally Critical on the most recent assessment (2017-2018) under the
New Zealand Threatened Classification system for plants, with the qualifier "OL" (One Location).
References
External links
''Myosotis albosericea'' occurrence data from Australasian Virtual Herbarium*
{{Taxonbar, from=Q17416600
albosericea
Endemic flora of New Zealand
Endangered flora of New Zealand
Taxa named by Joseph Dalton Hooker
Plants described in 1867