Abrotanella caespitosa is a member of the daisy family and is an

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only 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 foun ...

species of

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

Description

''Abrotanella caespitosa'' forms a loose cushion

habit A habit (or wont, as a humorous and formal term) is a routine of behavior that is repeated regularly and tends to occur subconsciously. A 1903 paper in the '' American Journal of Psychology'' defined a "habit, from the standpoint of psychology, ...

with runners that have distant scale leaves. It has narrower leaves compared to its close relatives and lacks a waxy

bloom Bloom or blooming may refer to: Science and technology Biology * Bloom, one or more flowers on a flowering plant * Algal bloom, a rapid increase or accumulation in the population of algae in an aquatic system * Jellyfish bloom, a collective n ...

on its leaves.

Distribution and habitat

The species is found in the

South Island The South Island ( , 'the waters of Pounamu, Greenstone') is the largest of the three major islands of New Zealand by surface area, the others being the smaller but more populous North Island and Stewart Island. It is bordered to the north by ...

and southern

North Island The North Island ( , 'the fish of Māui', historically New Ulster) is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but less populous South Island by Cook Strait. With an area of , it is the List ...

of New Zealand. It grows in alpine herbfield habitats.

Taxonomy and evolution

''Abrotanella caespitosa'' is closely related to '' A. inconspicua'', '' A. nivigena'' (from Australia), and '' A. patearoa''. These four species form a well-supported

clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...

and have almost identical

DNA sequence A nucleic acid sequence is a succession of bases within the nucleotides forming alleles within a DNA (using GACT) or RNA (GACU) molecule. This succession is denoted by a series of a set of five different letters that indicate the order of the nu ...

s, suggesting they diverged within the last 500,000 years. ''Abrotanella caespitosa'' is part of a radiation of ''Abrotanella'' species that occurred during the

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

, associated with mountain building and

glaciation A glacial period (alternatively glacial or glaciation) is an interval of time (thousands of years) within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials, on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate be ...

episodes.

Gallery

Abrotanella caespitosa Petrie ex Kirk (AM AK10466).jpg, Herbarium specimen from the

Auckland War Memorial Museum The Auckland War Memorial Museum (), also known as Auckland Museum, is one of New Zealand's most important museums and war memorials. Its neoclassical architecture, neoclassical building constructed in the 1920s and 1950s, stands on Observatory ...

Abrotanella caespitosa 61678546.jpg, Close-up and root system of ''A. caespitosa'' Abrotanella caespitosa 2635028.jpg, Flowering ''A. caespitosa'' Abrotanella caespitosa 108216233.jpg, ''A. caespitosa'' growing in a rocky alpine environment in the

Nelson Lakes National Park Nelson Lakes National Park is in the South Island of New Zealand, at the northern end of the Southern Alps. It was created in 1956 (one of four created in the 1950s). The park contains beech forests, multiple lakes, snow-covered mountains and v ...

References

caespitosa Endemic flora of New Zealand Flora of the North Island Flora of the South Island Plants described in 1892 Taxa named by Thomas Kirk {{NewZealand-plant-stub