Plantago aucklandica

Plantago aucklandica is a flowering plant in the family Plantaginaceae that is endemic to the Auckland Islands.[4]

Plantago aucklandica
Plate XLII

Naturally Uncommon (NZ TCS)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Lamiales
Family: Plantaginaceae
Genus: Plantago
Species:
P. aucklandica
Binomial name
Plantago aucklandica

Description

Plantago aucklandica differs from all other species of Plantago that are indigenous to New Zealand by its large leaves with up to seven veins, axillary hairs, wide petioles, and long spikes with up to 132 flowers.[5] It has only two ovules (one of which aborts) in each ovary, and its seeds have low rounded protuberances on the ventral surface, whereas all other New Zealand native species have seeds with a networked ventral surface.[6]

Habitat

It is found only at the higher elevations of the Auckland Islands where it grows in marshy places, on bare wind-blown areas and in rocky places.[4]

Taxonomy & naming

It was first described by Joseph Dalton Hooker in 1844, from specimens he had collected in the Auckland Islands "on the mountain ridges at an altitude of 1000-1200 feet, in a peaty soil" while serving on the Ross expedition in the Antarctic[3][2] The specific epithet, aucklandica, is used to mean "of the Auckland Islands".[4]

Conservation status

In 2009 and 2012, it was classified as "At Risk - Naturally Uncommon" under the New Zealand Threat Classification System,[4] and again in 2018, it was given the same classification, because it is an island endemic with a restricted range.[1]

References
  1. Lange, Peter J. de; Rolfe, Jeremy R.; Barkla, John W.; Courtney, Shannel P.; Champion, Paul D.; Perrie, Leon R.; Beadel, Sarah M.; Ford, Kerry A.; Breitwieser, Ilse; Schönberger, Ines; Hindmarsh-Walls, Rowan (1 May 2018). "Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2017" (PDF). New Zealand Threat Classification Series. 22: 46. OCLC 1041649797.
  2. Hooker, J.D. (1844). "The botany of the Antarctic voyage of H.M. discovery ships Erebus and Terror in the Years 1839-1843 :under the command of Captain Sir James Clark Ross". p. 64. Tab. XLII
  3. "Plantago aucklandica Hook.f." Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  4. "Plantago aucklandica". New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  5. Meudt, HM (2012). "A taxonomic revision of native New Zealand Plantago (Plantaginaceae)". New Zealand Journal of Botany. 50 (2): 101–178. doi:10.1080/0028825X.2012.671179. ISSN 0028-825X. pdf
  6. Webb, C.J.; Simpson, M.J.A. (2001). Seeds of New Zealand gymnosperms and dicotyledons. Christchurch: The Caxton Press.
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