Myosotis uniflora

{{use dmy dates|date=January 2020}} {{speciesbox | image = Myosotis uniflora 1259525.jpg | image_caption = Myosotis uniflora cushion in full flower | status = NU | status_system = NZTCS | status_ref = <ref name="NZTCS"/> | genus = Myosotis | species = uniflora | authority = [[Joseph Dalton Hooker|Hook.f.]]<ref name="Hooker">{{Cite book |last=Hooker |first=Joseph Dalton |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/228754 |title=Handbook of the New Zealand flora : a systematic description of the native plants of New Zealand and the Chatham, Kermadec's, Lord Auckland's, and Macquarrie's islands |date=1867 |publisher=Reeve & Co |location=London |pages=193}}</ref> }}

'''''Myosotis uniflora''''' is a species of [[flowering plant]] in the [[Family (taxonomy)|family]] Boraginaceae, [[Endemic species|endemic]] to the [[South Island]] of [[New Zealand]]. [[Joseph Dalton Hooker]] described the species in 1867. Plants of this species of [[Forget-me-nots|forget-me-not]] are [[Perennial plant|perennial]] with a prostrate, compact, cushion or mat habit, short bracteate inflorescences, and cream to yellow corollas.

''M. uniflora'' is distributed among cushion-fields and river terraces in the Canterbury and Otago regions. It is listed as Naturally Uncommon by the [[New Zealand Threat Classification System]].

== Description == ''Myosotis'' plants are compacted cushions or mats that can reach 50 cm in diameter. The many imbricate rosette leaves have [[Petiole (botany)|petioles]] 1–4 mm long that are [[Glabrous (botany)|glabrous]] but with erect hairs on the edges. The rosette leaf blades are 1–4 mm long by about 1 mm wide (length: width ratio 1.4–4.1: 1), lanceolate to ovate or triangular, widest at or below the middle, with an [[Acute (botany)|acute]] apex. The upper and lower surfaces of the leaf are sparsely to densely covered in long, flexuous, appressed to patent, antrorse (forward-facing) hairs that are oriented parallel to the mid vein.

Each rosette has few prostrate to ascending, once-branched, bracteate [[inflorescence]]s that are up to 60 mm long. The cauline leaves are similar to the rosette leaves but smaller. Each inflorescence has a solitary flower, borne on a short [[Pedicel (botany)|pedicel]], with a bract. The calyx is 1–4 mm long at flowering and 2–5 mm long at fruiting, lobed to about half its length, and densely covered in long, antrorse, flexuous (rarely hooked at the calyx base), mostly appressed (few patent) hairs. The corolla is cream to yellow, 2–7 mm in diameter, with a cylindrical tube, petals that are obovate to very broadly obovate or ovate to very broadly ovate, and flat, and small yellow scales alternating with the petals. The anthers are usually fully included, or sometimes partially included with the tips only surpassing the scales. The four smooth, shiny, dark brown nutlets are 1.4–1.7 mm long by 0.8–1.4 mm wide and narrowly ovoid to broadly ovoid in shape.<ref name="csiro" />

''M. uniflora'' has ''M. uniflora'' type pollen.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Meudt |first=HM |date=2016-10-01 |title=Pollen morphology and its taxonomic utility in the Southern Hemisphere bracteate-prostrate forget-me-nots (Myosotis, Boraginaceae) |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/0028825X.2016.1229343 |journal=New Zealand Journal of Botany |volume=54 |issue=4 |pages=475–497 |doi=10.1080/0028825X.2016.1229343 |issn=0028-825X |s2cid=89118799|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The breeding system of ''Myosotis uniflora'' is [[Allogamy|outcrossing]], as the flowers are 'always [[Herkogamy|herkogamous]]', with a high pollen : ovule ratio.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Robertson |first1=A. W. |last2=Lloyd |first2=D. G. |date=1991 |title=Herkogamy, dichogamy and self-pollination in six species of Myosotis (Boraginaceae) |url=https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=Herkogamy%2C+dichogamy+and+self-pollination+in+six+species+of+Myosotis+%28Boraginaceae%29&author=Robertson%2C+A.W.&publication_year=1991 |journal=Evolutionary Trends in Plants |language=English |issn=1011-3258}}</ref>

It flowers and fruits from September–March, with the main flowering period October–January and the main fruiting period November–March.<ref name="csiro" />

=== Gallery === <gallery mode="packed" heights="140" widths="140"> File:Myosotis uniflora 1259520.jpg|Close-up of flowers File:SP092216 Myosotis uniflora Hook.f. WELT Te Papa 1280430 405015.jpg|Close-up of leaves File:SP104463 Myosotis uniflora Hook.f. WELT Te Papa 1524519 387989.jpg|Flowering cushion File:Myosotis uniflora 6887834.jpg|Leaves </gallery>

== Taxonomy == ''Myosotis uniflora'' [[Joseph Dalton Hooker|Hook.f.]] is in the plant family [[Boraginaceae]] and was described in 1867 by [[Joseph Dalton Hooker]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Moore |first=L.B. |title=Boraginaceae. In 'Flora of New Zealand'. (Ed. HH Allan) Vol. 1, pp. 806–833 |url=https://floraseries.landcareresearch.co.nz/pages/Taxon.aspx?id=_2dd90ab4-331f-4d49-bb31-b0a843e65931&fileName=Flora%201.xml |access-date=2022-04-27 |website=(Government Printer: Wellington, New Zealand) floraseries.landcareresearch.co.nz}}</ref><ref name="Hooker" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Myosotis uniflora |url=https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/myosotis-uniflora/ |access-date=2022-06-22 |website=New Zealand Plant Conservation Network |language=en}}</ref> It is morphologically most similar to the other two cushion- or mat-forming species, ''[[Myosotis pulvinaris|M. pulvinaris]]'' and ''[[Myosotis glabrescens|M. glabrescens]].<ref name="csiro" /><ref name=":2" /> Myosotis uniflora'' differs from these two species in its ecology and morphology, including its cream to yellow corollas; acute, lanceolate to ovate narrow (< 1.3 mm) rosette leaf lamina; and narrow petioles (< 1.2 mm wide).<ref name="csiro">{{Cite journal |last1=Meudt |first1=Heidi M. |last2=Prebble |first2=Jessica M. |date=2018-02-28 |title=Species limits and taxonomic revision of the bracteate-prostrate group of southern hemisphere forget-me-nots (Myosotis, Boraginaceae), including description of three new species endemic to New Zealand |url=https://www.publish.csiro.au/sb/SB17045 |journal=Australian Systematic Botany |language=en |volume=31 |issue=1 |pages=48–105 |doi=10.1071/SB17045 |s2cid=90834744 |issn=1446-5701|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

The lectotype specimen of ''Myosotis uniflora'' is lodged at [[Kew Herbarium]] (K000787907).<ref name="csiro" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Myosotis uniflora lectotype on JSTOR |url=https://plants.jstor.org/stable/10.5555/al.ap.specimen.k000787907?searchUri=filter=name&so=ps_group_by_genus_species+asc&Query=%2528myosotis+uniflora%2529 |access-date=2022-06-29 |website=plants.jstor.org |doi=}}</ref> Two isolectotypes (K000787908 and K000787910) are also found on the same sheet as the lectotype, and a third isolectotype is at the Allan Herbarium of [[Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research|Manaaki Whenua - Landcare Research]] (CHR 97402).<ref name="csiro" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Myosotis uniflora |url=https://scd.landcareresearch.co.nz/Specimen/CHR%2097402?collection=CHR&searchCollection=CHR&query=97402&currentDisplayTab=list&pageNumber=0&sortField=relevance |access-date=2022-06-29 |website=scd.landcareresearch.co.nz}}</ref>

The [[specific epithet]], ''uniflora'', is derived from Latin for 'one-flowered'.<ref name="csiro" />

=== Phylogeny === ''Myosotis uniflora'' was shown to be a part of the [[monophyletic]] southern hemisphere lineage of ''Myosotis'' in [[Phylogenetics|phylogenetic]] analyses of standard DNA sequencing markers ([[Ribosomal DNA|nuclear ribosomal DNA]] and [[chloroplast DNA]] regions).<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Meudt |first1=Heidi M. |last2=Prebble |first2=Jessica M. |last3=Lehnebach |first3=Carlos A. |date=2015-05-01 |title=Native New Zealand forget-me-nots (Myosotis, Boraginaceae) comprise a Pleistocene species radiation with very low genetic divergence |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/s00606-014-1166-x |journal=Plant Systematics and Evolution |language=en |volume=301 |issue=5 |pages=1455–1471 |doi=10.1007/s00606-014-1166-x |s2cid=254048318 |issn=2199-6881|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The two sequenced individuals of ''M. uniflora'' were near but not sister to each other in the nuclear ribosomal DNA phylogeny, grouping with other bracteate-prostrate species such as ''M. glauca'' and ''M. antarctica.<ref name=":0" />'' Within the southern hemisphere lineage, species relationships were not well resolved.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last1=Winkworth |first1=Richard C |last2=Grau |first2=Jürke |last3=Robertson |first3=Alastair W |last4=Lockhart |first4=Peter J |date=2002-08-01 |title=The origins and evolution of the genus Myosotis L. (Boraginaceae) |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1055790302002105 |journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution |language=en |volume=24 |issue=2 |pages=180–193 |doi=10.1016/S1055-7903(02)00210-5 |pmid=12144755 |issn=1055-7903|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name=":0" />

== Distribution and habitat == [[File:Myosotis uniflora 1259526.jpg|thumb|440x440px|Flowering plants in herbfield and cushionfield terrace habitat]] ''Myosotis uniflora'' is a [[forget-me-not]] endemic to the South Island of New Zealand in the ecological districts of Canterbury and Otago from 210–850 m ASL elevation.<ref name=":2" /> It is mainly found in Otago, but is also known from Westland, Canterbury and Fiordland from 1020–2130 m ASL.<ref name="csiro" /> ''M. uniflora'' plants are found scattered throughout lowland river-bed flats and terraces, with other cushions, herbs and subshrubs.<ref name="csiro" /> They are closely associated with cushionfield, moss-stonefield and stonefield plant communities in upper river catchments.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Woolmore |first=CB |url=https://www.doc.govt.nz/Documents/conservation/land-and-freshwater/Freshwater/braided-river-vegetation.pdf |title=The Vegetation of Braided Rivers in the Upper Waitaki Basin: South Canterbury, New Zealand |publisher=Department of Conservation, Canterbury Conservancy |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-478-14881-7 |location=Christchurch, New Zealand |pages=1–67}}</ref>

== Conservation status == The species is listed as "At Risk - Naturally Uncommon" on the most recent assessment (2017-2018) under the [[New Zealand Threat Classification System|New Zealand Threatened Classification]] system for plants, with the qualifiers "Sp" (Sparse) and "DP" (Data Poor).<ref name="NZTCS">{{Cite journal |last1=Lange |first1=Peter J. de |last2=Rolfe |first2=Jeremy R. |last3=Barkla |first3=John W. |last4=Courtney |first4=Shannel P. |last5=Champion |first5=Paul D. |last6=Perrie |first6=Leon R. |last7=Beadel |first7=Sarah M. |last8=Ford |first8=Kerry A. |last9=Breitwieser |first9=Ilse |last10=Schönberger |first10=Ines |last11=Hindmarsh-Walls |first11=Rowan |date=May 2018 |title=Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2017 |url=https://www.doc.govt.nz/globalassets/documents/science-and-technical/nztcs22entire.pdf |journal=New Zealand Threat Classification Series |volume=22 |pages=45 |oclc=1041649797}}</ref><ref name="csiro" />

== References == {{Reflist|refs=}}

== External links ==

* [https://avh.ala.org.au/occurrences/search?taxa=myosotis+uniflora#tab_mapView ''Myosotis uniflora'' occurrence data from Australasian Virtual Herbarium] * {{commons category-inline}}

[[Category:Myosotis|uniflora]] [[Category:Endemic flora of New Zealand]] [[Category:Endangered flora of New Zealand]] [[Category:Taxa named by Joseph Dalton Hooker]] [[Category:Plants described in 1867]]