''Jovellana repens'' is an
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 ...
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 ...
plant in the family
Calceolariaceae
Calceolariaceae is a family of flowering plants in the order Lamiales that has been recently segregated from Scrophulariaceae. The family includes three genera, ''Calceolaria'', '' Porodittia'', and '' Jovellana'', but analysis suggests that th ...
spread through both the North and South Islands. It has small green leaves and white flowers with spots of purple on the inside.
Description
''Jovellana repens'' is a
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 ...
herbaceous plant
Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials.
Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous"
The fourth edition of t ...
which grows into a mat 1–2 m in diameter. It has 2–3 cm long dark red or green stems with 1–4 cm long leaves suspended from 5–12 by 2–2.3 mm hairy
petioles. The leaves are dark green to reddish green above and pale green to light red below.
It has
inflorescences
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphology (biology), Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of sperma ...
with one to five, usually two to three, flowers partially obscured by the foliage, with nude
pedicels
In botany, a pedicel is a stem that attaches a single flower to the inflorescence. Such inflorescences are described as ''pedicellate''.
Description
Pedicel refers to a structure connecting a single flower to its inflorescence. In the absenc ...
. The flowers are 6 mm in diameter and have 1–2 mm long
sepal
A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coined b ...
s. They are white with small purple spots on the inside and have two concave lips.
It fruits from October to February, producing a 0.35–0.5 mm long dark red-brown seed concealed inside ovoid (egg-shaped) 6–7 mm seed capsules. They are dispersed by wind but also possibly by water.
Etymology
''Jovellana'' honours the 18th century patron of botany
Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos
Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos (born Gaspar Melchor de Jove y Llanos, 5 January 1744 – 27 November 1811) was a Spanish neoclassical statesman, author, philosopher and a major figure of the Age of Enlightenment in Spain.
Life and influence of ...
and ''repens'' is from the latin ''repere'' meaning to creep, which describes the way in which it grows.
Distribution and habitat
''Jovellana repens'' grows in both the North and South Islands of New Zealand from Mt Pirongia and Te Moehau in the east and west, south. It grows in shady spots on the sides of streams but also on banks and cliffs in lowland to montane forest.
Identification
''Jovellana repens'' is very similar to ''
Jovellana sinclairii'' but can be distinguished by the way it grows; creeping as opposed to the small shrubs which ''Jovellana sinclairii'' grows into. It also has smaller leaves and flowers, and
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 with fewer flowers in them (usually two to three in each).
It is also similar to ''
Brachyglottis sciadophila'' but, whereas ''Jovellana repens'' creeps, ''Brachyglottis sciadophila'' grows lianoid (like a woody vine) and has long rarely branching stems. When in flower, it is, however, very obvious as ''Brachyglottis sciadophila'' has bright yellow flowers.
It can also be confused with ''
Veronica jovellanoides'' but it has circular, spatular-shaped leaves with inflorescences that have one to seven non-pouched flowers and a magenta corolla.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q17744803
Flora of New Zealand
Lamiales