Reason for Listing: infrequency of collection, and restricted in Tonga to one island
Status: rare indigenous
Suggestion Action: Nothing much can be done for this species, since it is found only on isolated Kao Island.There is probably no danger to its existence other than its rarity and possible cataclysmic eruption of the volcano.
Indigenous, also found in New Zealand and its outlying islands, as well as the Kermadec Islands.This species is a new record based for Tonga based on a single collection from Tonga (on Kao Island), where it was found in an unknown habitat (the one specimen of this known from Tonga was not located).The genus is discussed by A.L. Cabrera in See Blumea 14: 289–90 (1966), but of course there is no mention of its occurrence in Tonga.No local names or uses are reported for this rare and inconspicuous species.
Small herb up to 16 cm in height with pubescent stems.Leaves simple, alternate, forming a basal rosette; blade suborbicular to ovate, 5–20 mm long, attenuate to cuneate at the base, broadly acute to rounded at the tip; surfaces sparsely pubescent; margins entire, sometimes with small lobes at the base of the blade; petiole 8–30 mm long.Inflorescence a solitary composite head up to 8 mm in diameter, on a long thin, pilose peduncle; involucre hemispheric, 2.5–3 mm high, comprising linear lanceolate phyllaries (bracts).Ray florets many, with a white to pink ligulate corolla 3–4 mm long, pistillate.Disc florets with a tubular, white to pink corolla 5-lobed at the tip.Ovary inferior, style bifid.Stamens 5, epipetalous, included.Fruit an obliquely obovate achene 1.5–2.5 mm long, with a glandular beak ca. 0.5 mm long at the top.Flowering and fruiting reported from October to January, possibly of longer duration.(The description based on New Zealand specimens.)
Distinguishable by its small herb habit; basal leaves in a rosette; relative long petioles; toothed leaf margins; and solitary, long-stalked composite heads of white flowers.
Development of the Consortium of Pacific Herbaria and several of the specimen databases have been
supported by National Science Foundation Grants (BRC 1057303,
ADBC 1304924
and ADBC1115116).
Data Usage Policy. Continued support provided by the Symbiota Support Hub, a domain of iDigBio (NSF Award #2027654).
Copyright 2015 University of Hawai‘i.