Azorella polaris

Azorella polaris is a species of flowering plant in the family Apiaceae.{{Cite web |title=Azorella polaris |url=https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/azorella-polaris/ |access-date=2024-11-01 |website=New Zealand Plant Conservation Network |language=en}} A plate of Azorella polaris (Hombr. & Jacq.) G. M. Plunkett & A. N. Nicolas was published in 1843 as Aralia polaris by French naturalist Jacques Bernard Hombron and Dutch botanist Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin.{{Cite web |title=Flora of New Zealand {{!}} Taxon Profile {{!}} Azorella polaris |url=https://www.nzflora.info/factsheet/Taxon/Azorella-polaris.html |access-date=2024-11-01 |website=www.nzflora.info}} But they did not provide a description. The original description of the species was provided by Joseph Dalton Hooker in his Flora Antarctica in 1844.{{Cite book |last1=Hooker |first1=Joseph Dalton |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/3011357 |title=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 |last2=Hooker |first2=Joseph Dalton |last3=Fitch |first3=W. H. |last4=Brothers |first4=Reeve |date=1844 |publisher=Reeve Brothers |volume=v.1 Text (1844) |location=London}} The species was transferred to the genus Stilbocarpa in 1854 by American botanist Asa Gray. Finally, in 2016, American botanists Gregory Plunkett and Antoine Nicolas transferred the species to the genus Azorella.{{Cite journal |last1=Plunkett |first1=Gregory M. |last2=Nicolas |first2=Antoine N. |date=2016-09-15 |title=Assessing Azorella (Apiaceae) and its allies: Phylogenetics and a new classification |url=https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q54555244 |journal=Brittonia |volume=69 |issue=1 |pages=31–61 |doi=10.1007/S12228-016-9446-0|url-access=subscription }}

Azorella polaris is closely related to two other subantarctic species, Azorella robusta and Azorella lyallii.{{Cite journal |last1=Mitchell |first1=Anthony D. |last2=Meurk |first2=Colin D. |last3=Wagstaff |first3=Steven J. |date=1999-06-01 |title=Evolution of Stilbocarpa , a megaherb from New Zealand's sub-antarctic islands |url=https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q130753707 |journal=New Zealand Journal of Botany |volume=37 |issue=2 |pages=205–211 |doi=10.1080/0028825X.1999.9512628|bibcode=1999NZJB...37..205M |url-access=subscription }}

A. polaris is a large, herbaceous, rosette plant ("megaherb") up to 2 m tall and 2 m in diameter. It has branched stems and thick, fleshy rhizomes up to 4 cm thick. The leaves have long hairy petioles up to 60 cm long, and bright green, toothed leaf blades with prominent veins that are 20–35 cm long by 30–45 cm wide, suborbicular-reniform, fleshy, and very hairy with appressed hairs that are 1–2 cm long, or sometimes almost hairless on the underside. The flowers are arranged in compound, axillary and terminal umbels that can be up to 30 cm in diameter. The umbels are at the tips of hairy peduncles 10–15 cm long. Each flower is borne on a pedicel up to 1 cm long with entire bracts. The numerous flowers are about 5 mm wide, with waxy, yellow petals with a purple base. Fruits are subglobose, shiny, and 4–6 mm wide.{{Cite web |title=Flora of New Zealand |url=https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q20897699 |access-date=2024-11-02 |website=www.wikidata.org |language=en}}

File:Stilbocarpa polaris at the Sub Antarctic Plant House, Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens 11.jpg

A. polaris has fruits mainly from November to February, but sometimes in October or March.

Flowers are co-sexual, protandrous and dichogamous, meaning each umbel presents either stigmas or pollen.{{Cite journal |last=Lord |first=Janice |date=2012-03-01 |title=Hermaphroditism and dichogamy in Stilbocarpa polaris (Araliaceae) on Campbell Island |url=https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q63601350 |journal=New Zealand Journal of Botany |volume=50 |issue=1 |pages=89–93 |doi=10.1080/0028825X.2011.638645|bibcode=2012NZJB...50...89L }} There is only circumstantial evidence that the species is self-compatible. Small flies are likely the pollinators.

File:Azorella polaris 319294353.jpeg

A. polaris is native to two subantarctic island groups of New Zealand, Campbell Island and Auckland Islands, as well as the Australian subantarctic island, Macquarie Island.

On Macquarie Island, A. polaris is part of the dominant vegetation.{{Cite journal |last1=Fitzgerald |first1=Nicholas |last2=Kirkpatrick |first2=James Barrie |last3=Dickson |first3=Catherine R. |last4=Williams |first4=Laura K. |last5=Fergus |first5=Alexander J. F. |last6=Whinam |first6=Jennie |date=2022-07-08 |title=Determining the distributions of plant communities in subantarctic vegetation using species distribution models |url=https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q114832897 |journal=Australian Journal of Botany |language=English |volume=70 |issue=4 |pages=311–322 |doi=10.1071/BT21124|doi-access=free }}{{Cite journal |last1=Stephenson |first1=Steven Lee |last2=Laursen |first2=Gary A. |last3=Seppelt |first3=Rodney D. |date=2007-01-01 |title=Myxomycetes of subantarctic Macquarie Island |url=https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q100713545 |journal=Australian Journal of Botany |language=English |volume=55 |issue=4 |pages=439 |doi=10.1071/BT06169|url-access=subscription }} Many species of myxomycetes were found on A. polaris and another megaherb, Pleruophyllum hookeri, as these species are the primary substrates available for slime moulds.

A. polaris was used as a food source and a scurvy preventative by early explorers and sealers.{{cite journal |last1=Skotnicki |first1=M.|last2=Selkirk |first2=P. |last3=Kitajima |first3=E. |last4=McBride |first4=T. |last5=Shaw |first5=J. |last6=Mackenzie |first6=A. |name-list-style=amp |date=January 2003 |title=The first subantarctic plant virus report: Stilbocarpa mosaic bacilliform badnavirus (SMBV) from Macquarie Island |journal=Polar Biology |volume=26 |issue=1 |pages=1–7 |doi=10.1007/s00300-002-0421-8|bibcode=2003PoBio..26....1S |s2cid=22489620}}{{Cite journal |last1=Hartley |first1=Karri Horton |last2=Guy |first2=Paul |last3=Lord |first3=Janice |date=2024 |title=A tale of two species: Pringlea antiscorbutica and Azorella polaris , sub-Antarctic scurvy remedies |url=https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q124395802 |journal=Polar Record |volume=60 |doi=10.1017/S0032247424000019|doi-access=free |bibcode=2024PoRec..60E...7H }} It was eaten by the survivors of the 1907 shipwreck of the Dundonald on Disappointment Island.{{Cite book |last=Escott-Inman |first=Herbert |url=https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q123924640 |title=The Castaways of Disappointment Island |publisher=S.W. Partridge & Co. |year=1911 |location=London |language=English}}

It is classified as "At Risk — Naturally Uncommon" in the New Zealand Threat Classification System, with the qualifiers CD (Conservation Dependent), PD (Partial Decline), RR (Range Restricted), SO (Secure Overseas).{{Cite journal |last1=Lange |first1=Peter de |last2=Gosden |first2=Jane L. |last3=Courtney |first3=Shannel P. |last4=Fergus |first4=Alexander J. F. |last5=Barkla |first5=John |last6=Beadel |first6=Sarah M. |last7=Champion |first7=Paul D. |last8=Hindmarsh-Walls |first8=Rowan |last9=Makan |first9=Troy |last10=Michel |first10=Pascale |date=2024-10-01 |title=Conservation status of vascular plants in Aotearoa New Zealand, 2023 |url=https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q130392985 |journal=New Zealand Threat Classification Series |language=English |volume=43 |pages=1–105 |issn=2324-1713}}{{Cite web |title=NZTCS - Azorella polaris |url=https://nztcs.org.nz/assessments/111179 |access-date=2024-11-01 |website=nztcs.org.nz}}

File:Azorella polaris 319805203.jpeg

Azorella polaris is extremely palatable and vulnerable to several introduced mammals to the subantarctic islands.{{Cite journal |last1=Brown |first1=Derek |last2=Broome |first2=Keith |last3=Timpson |first3=Kingsley |date=2022-11-28 |title=The eradication of feral goats from Auckland Island |url=https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q130753488 |journal=New Zealand Journal of Ecology |doi=10.20417/NZJECOL.46.3486|doi-access=free }}{{Cite journal |last1=Brown |first1=Derek |last2=Cox |first2=Finlay |date=2022-11-28 |title=The eradication of cattle from Enderby Island and subsequent ecological response |url=https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q130753602 |journal=New Zealand Journal of Ecology |doi=10.20417/NZJECOL.46.3485|doi-access=free }}{{Cite journal |last1=Brown |first1=Derek |last2=Cox |first2=Finlay |last3=Fergus |first3=Alexander |date=2022-11-28 |title=The eradication of Campbell Island sheep and subsequent ecological response |url=https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q130753616 |journal=New Zealand Journal of Ecology |doi=10.20417/NZJECOL.46.3483|doi-access=free }} Prior to the eradication of feral goats on Auckland Island, goat gut samples showed that Azorella polaris was one of the most palatable and preferred plants that the goats ate there, together with species of Anisotome and Pleurophyllum. On Enderby Island, A. polaris was restricted to inaccessible cliffs but recovered to other areas of the island after cattle were removed. Similarly, there was a significant recovery of A. poliaris and other subantarctic megaherbs and grasses in range, abundance, and individual plant size for subantarctic megaherbs on Campbell Island after sheep were removed. On Macquarie Island, the species was threatened by introduced black rats and European rabbits, until their eradication in 2011.

{{Reflist}}

{{Commons category|Azorella polaris}}

• [https://biocache.ala.org.au/occurrences/search?q=taxa%3A%22azorella+polaris%22#tab_mapView Azorella polaris occurrence data from Australasian Virtual Herbarium]
• Azorella polaris discussed on RNZ Critter of the Week, [https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/afternoons/collections/critter-of-the-week/audio/2018946577/critter-of-the-week 12 July 2024]

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polaris

Category:Flora of New Zealand

Category:Flora of Macquarie Island

Category:Flora of the Campbell Islands

Category:Flora of the Auckland Islands

Category:Plants described in 1854