''Ourisia vulcanica'' 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

Plantaginaceae Plantaginaceae, the plantain family, is a large, diverse family of flowering plants in the order Lamiales that includes common flowers such as snapdragon and foxglove. It is unrelated to the banana-like fruit also called "plantain." In older cl ...

that is endemic 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 ...

. Lucy Moore described ''O. vulcanica'' in 1961. Plants of this species of New Zealand foxglove are showy,

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 ...

, rhizomatous herbs that can be hairy with non-glandular hairs or sometimes glabrous. They have crenate, ovate leaves. The flowers are usually in pairs in each node, with an irregular calyx, and a white irregular corolla. The calyx and floral bracts have non-glandular hairs. The corolla tube is yellow with three lines of hairs and a ring of hairs inside. It is only found in the Volcanic Plateau area and is listed as At Risk - Naturally Uncommon.

Taxonomy

''Ourisia vulcanica'' L.B.Moore is in the plant family

. Lucy Moore described ''O. vulcanica'' in the ''Flora of New Zealand'' in 1961. The type material was collected by Anthony Druce in 1944 at Tongariro,

, and the

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...

is housed at the Allan Herbarium of Manaaki Whenua - Landcare Research. ''Ourisia vulcanica'' plants are glabrous (hairless) to hairy perennials with flowers usually in pairs (or as many as three) per node, with white corollas, and three lines of yellow hairs and a ring of hairs inside the corolla tube''.'' ''O. vulcanica'' is similar to '' O. macrophylla,'' and they are both found in the Volcanic Plateau area of the North Island. A number of morphological differences distinguish ''O. vulcanica'' from ''O. macrophylla,'' including its rounded calyx lobes (vs. acute), irregular calyx (vs. regular), flowers usually in pairs in each node (range: 1–3) (vs. flowers in whorls of 3–12), and lack of glandular hairs (vs. glandular hairs present on some plant parts).

Description

''Ourisia vulcanica'' plants are

herbs. The stems are creeping, with opposite leaves that are tightly tufted along the horizontal stem. Leaf petioles are 3.0–22.0 mm long. Leaf blades are 6.9–26.8 mm long by 4.7–20.1 mm wide (length: width ratio 1.5–2.0: 1), usually narrowly ovate to broadly ovate, usually widest below the middle, with a subacute apex; cuneate base; and crenate edges. Leaves are glabrous or with few non-glandular hairs on both surfaces, and punctate on the lower surface.

Inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

s are erect, with hairy

raceme A raceme ( or ) or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are produced as the s ...

s up to 17.7 cm long, and with 1–4 flowering nodes and up to 8 total flowers per raceme. Each flowering node has up to 3 flowers and 2–3 sessile and sometimes clasping bracts that are usually narrowly lanceolate to narrowly ovate, and glabrous or hairy with non-glandular hairs near the edges. The lowest bracts are similar to the leaves, 9.4–19.4 mm long and 3.4–9.4 mm wide, and become smaller toward the apex of the raceme. The flowers are borne on a densely hairy

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 ...

that is up to 25.4 mm long and has non-glandular hairs only. The calyx is 5.6–8.6 mm long, irregular, with three lobes divided one-quarter or one-half the length to the base, and two lobes divided nearly to the base, with isolated to densely distributed non-glandular hairs. The corolla is 11.7–15.6 mm long (including the 5.4–9.4 mm long corolla tube), bilabiate, tubular-funnelform, usually glabrous or sometimes with a few non-glandular hairs near the base of the lpbes, and white on the outside (sometimes flushed red), and yellow and with three lines and a ring of hairs on the inside. The corolla lobes are 4.0–8.2 mm long, spreading, and usually obovate-spathulate. There are 4 stamens up to 11.5 mm long which are

didynamous The stamen (: stamina or stamens) is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively, the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filament and an an ...

, with two long stamens that are exserted or reaching the corolla tube, and two short stamens usually reaching the corolla tube opening or exserted; a short

staminode In botany, a staminode is an often rudimentary, sterile or abortive stamen, which means that it does not produce pollen.Jackson, Benjamin, Daydon; ''A Glossary of Botanic Terms with their Derivation and Accent''; Published by Gerald Duckworth & Co. ...

c. 0.5 mm long is also usually present. The style is 6.0–7.4 mm long, exserted, with an

emarginate The following is a list of terms which are used to describe leaf morphology in the description and taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (a single leaf blade or lamina) or compound (with several leaflets). The edge of the leaf may be regular o ...

stigma. The ovary is 2.5–4.0 mm long and glabrous. Fruits are capsules c. 5.6 mm long and c. 4.2 mm wide with loculicidal dehiscence and pedicels up to 29.8 mm long. It is unknown how many seeds are in each capsule, and seeds are 0.7–0.9 mm long and 0.3–0.5 mm wide, with a two-layered, reticulate seed coat. ''Ourisia vulcanica'' flowers from October to May and fruits from December to May.'''' The chromosome number of ''Ourisia'' ''vulcanica'' is 2n=48. File:Ourisia vulcanica 248310149.jpeg, Inflorescence with pairs of flowers in each node, and non-glandular hairs File:Ourisia vulcanica 103108544.jpeg, Flowering plants File:Ourisia vulcanica 287713306.jpeg, Flowers with irregular calyces File:Ourisia vulcanica 13883277.jpeg, Leaves File:Ourisia vulcanica 103161778.jpeg, Close-up of flowers

Distribution and habitat

''Ourisia vulcanica'' is endemic to the central North Island in the Volcanic Plateau area, including Tongariro National Park and the Kaimanawa Range.'''' This species is usually found at or above the bushline, in subalpine or alpine open or shaded, rocky habitats including tussock grassland or scrubland, on volcanic scoria, in dry or damp sites, from 750 to 1800 m above sea level.'''' It can be locally abundant.''''

Phylogeny

One individual of ''O. vulcanica'' was included 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 all species of the genus ''Ourisia'' using standard DNA sequencing markers (two

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 ...

markers and two chloroplast DNA regions) and morphological data. In all analyses, the sampled individual belonged to the highly supported New Zealand lineage, and in the nuclear ribosomal and combined datasets, it was closely related to ''O. macrophylla,'' as well as the large-leaved species of New Zealand ''Ourisia,'' '' O. crosbyi'' and ''O. calycina''. In another phylogenetic study using amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLPs), five individuals were sampled of ''O. vulcanica''. ''O. vulcanica'' was monophyletic with high support in the phylogenetic analyses of AFLP data. ''O. vulcanica'' was part of a highly supported clade that was in a larger clade of other large-leaved species, i.e. '' O. macrocarpa, O. crosbyi, O. calycina'' and ''O. macrophylla.'' The five sampled individuals of ''O. vulcanica'' however did not comprise one of the significant clusters in the Bayesian clustering analysis.

Conservation status

''Ourisia vulcanica'' is listed as At Risk - Naturally Uncommon in the most recent assessment (2017–2018) of the New Zealand Threatened Classification for plants.

References

External links

*
''Ourisia vulcanica' occurrence data from Australasian Virtual Herbarium
{{Taxonbar, from=Q17745826 vulcanica Flora of New Zealand Endangered flora of New Zealand Plants described in 1961