''Myosotis eximia'' is a species 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

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Boraginaceae Boraginaceae, the borage or forget-me-not family, includes about 2,000 species of shrubs, trees and herbs in 146, to 156 genera with a worldwide distribution. The APG IV system from 2016 classifies the Boraginaceae as single family of the order ...

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to the

North Island The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. The species was described by

Donald Petrie Donald Mark Petrie (born April 2, 1954) is an American film director and actor. Life and career Petrie was born in New York City, New York, the son of Dorothea (née Grundy), a television producer, actor, and novelist, and Daniel Petrie, a dir ...

. Plants of this species of

forget-me-not ''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 ...

are

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

and erect, and have

ebracteate In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of ...

inflorescences with white corollas.

Taxonomy and Etymology

''Myosotis eximia'' Petrie is in the plant family

and was originally described in 1915 by

. This species was first collected in December 1914 by

Bernard Aston Bernard Cracroft Aston (9 August 1871 – 31 May 1951), also known as Barney Aston, was New Zealand's first official agricultural chemist and was also a notable botanist. He was born in Beckenham, Kent, England, on 9 August 1871. He was a m ...

on the slopes of Mt Aorangi, in the

Ruahine Range The Ruahine Range is the largest of several mountain ranges in the North Island of New Zealand that form a ridge running parallel with the east coast of the island between East Cape and Wellington. The ridge is at its most pronounced from the cen ...

s, where it formed "continuous patches several feet across, adorned by masses of lovely flowers." at an altitude of . The species epithet, ''eximia'', means "strikingly unusual".

Phylogeny

''Myosotis eximia'' 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 In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups o ...

analyses of standard DNA sequencing markers ( nuclear ribosomal DNA and

chloroplast DNA Chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) is the DNA located in chloroplasts, which are photosynthetic organelles located within the cells of some eukaryotic organisms. Chloroplasts, like other types of plastid, contain a genome separate from that in the cell nu ...

regions). Within the southern hemisphere lineage, species relationships were not well resolved. The chloroplast sequences of the sole individual of ''M. eximia'' were more similar to some species with

bracteate A bracteate (from the Latin ''bractea'', a thin piece of metal) is a flat, thin, single-sided gold medal worn as jewelry that was produced in Northern Europe predominantly during the Migration Period of the Germanic Iron Age (including the Vende ...

inflorescences rather than other North Island species with ebracteate inflorescences.

Description

''Myosotis'' ''eximia'' is an extensively-branched spreading perennial, which forms clusters of tight rosettes with erect, ebracteate flowering stems. The leaves are sparsely covered in dense, straight hairs that lie flat against the leaf. ''M. eximia'' flowers in December and January; its flowers, which Petrie described as "large and showy, white with a yellow eye", have projecting anthers. The anthers are only 2 mm long, much shorter than their filaments. The chromosome number of ''M. eximia'' is 2''n'' = 44. It flowers from December to January and fruits from February to April.

Distribution and habitat

The species is

to New Zealand, and has a very restricted distribution, known only from the Kaimanawa and

s in the central

. It lives in the

subalpine Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial f ...

alpine zone Alpine tundra is a type of natural region or biome that does not contain trees because it is at high elevation, with an associated harsh climate. As the latitude of a location approaches the poles, the threshold elevation for alpine tundra gets ...

, on

scree Scree is a collection of broken rock fragments at the base of a cliff or other steep rocky mass that has accumulated through periodic rockfall. Landforms associated with these materials are often called talus deposits. Talus deposits typically ha ...

slopes and limestone bluffs. It prefers alkaline soils on limestone or

calcareous Calcareous () is an adjective meaning "mostly or partly composed of calcium carbonate", in other words, containing lime or being chalky. The term is used in a wide variety of scientific disciplines. In zoology ''Calcareous'' is used as an adje ...

sandstone.

Conservation status

''M. eximia'' is listed by the

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 ...

as "At Risk – Naturally Uncommon" on the most recent assessment (2017-2018) of the New Zealand Threat Classification for plants. Its numbers are thought to be stable, with the qualifiers "DP" (Data Poor) and "RR" (Range Restricted). Because of its specialised habitat requirements, its populations are small and localised, but do not seem to be under threat.

Cultivation

This species grows surprisingly well in gardens, preferring soil with some added lime, and is often for sale in native plant nurseries. It needs a sunny, well drained situation, and will flower heavily even in warm climates far from its natural subalpine habitat.

References

External links

''Myosotis eximia'' occurrence data from Australasian Virtual Herbarium
* {{Taxonbar, from=Q17416561 eximia Endemic flora of New Zealand Endangered flora of New Zealand Taxa named by Donald Petrie Plants described in 1916