Epilobium glabellum
{{Short description|Species of flowering plant}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=March 2025}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Speciesbox
| image = Epilobium_glabellum_-_naturewatchwidow_-_113243467.jpeg
| image_caption = Epilobium glabellum in Fiordland National Park
| image_alt = A small plan growing between rocks with green leaves and white petalled flowers
| status = NT
| status_system = NZTCS
| status_ref = {{Cite web |title=NZTCS |url=https://nztcs.org.nz/nztcs-species/6240 |access-date=2025-03-21 |website=nztcs.org.nz}}
| genus = Epilobium
| species = glabellum
| authority = G.Forst.
}}
Epilobium glabellum, or willowherb, is a species of flowering plant, endemic to New Zealand.{{Cite web |title=Epilobium glabellum |url=https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/epilobium-glabellum/ |access-date=2025-03-21 |website=New Zealand Plant Conservation Network |language=en}}
Description
Epilobium glabellum can grow as a small bush or in mats, with many stems coming from a single taproot. The stems themselves can be hairy, but the capsules and floral tubes are glabrous.{{Cite web |title=Flora of New Zealand {{!}} Taxon Profile {{!}} Epilobium glabellum |url=https://www.nzflora.info/factsheet/taxon/Epilobium-glabellum.html |access-date=2025-03-21 |website=www.nzflora.info}} The leaves are close-set and opposite along most of the stem, and sometimes overlapping, with tiny margins.{{Cite web |title=Epilobium glabellum G.Forst. - Biota of NZ |url=https://biotanz.landcareresearch.co.nz/scientific-names/a631dac7-61fc-4069-b5fd-844796414b77 |access-date=2025-03-21 |website=Biota of NZ}}
The flowers are white, purple or pink after pollination and appear from November to May. The seeds are anemochorous, meaning dispersed by the wind,{{Cite journal |last1=Thorsen |first1=Michael J. |last2=Dickinson |first2=Katharine J.M. |last3=Seddon |first3=Philip J. |date=2009-11-20 |title=Seed dispersal systems in the New Zealand flora |url=https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ppees.2009.06.001 |journal=Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics |volume=11 |issue=4 |pages=285–309 |doi=10.1016/j.ppees.2009.06.001 |bibcode=2009PPEES..11..285T |issn=1433-8319}} possibly from sites as far as 50 km away.{{Cite journal |last=Clarkson |first=Bruce D. |date=1990 |title=A Review of Vegetation Development Following Recent ( |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24053312 |journal=New Zealand Journal of Ecology |volume=14 |pages=59–71 |jstor=24053312 |issn=0110-6465}}
Distribution and habitat
Epilobium glabellum is known from the North and South Island.{{Cite web |title=Epilobium glabellum G.Forst. {{!}} Plants of the World Online {{!}} Kew Science |url=https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:611873-1 |access-date=2025-03-21 |website=Plants of the World Online |language=en}} It can grow on stony ground at altitude near glaciers.{{Cite web |title=Loading... {{!}} Collections Online - Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa |url=https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/object/607403 |access-date=2025-03-21 |website=collections.tepapa.govt.nz}} They are early colonisers of screefields.{{Cite book |last=Barlow |first=Bryan A. |url=https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004631458 |title=Flora and fauna of alpine Australasia |date=1986-01-01 |publisher=BRILL |doi=10.1163/9789004631458 |isbn=978-90-04-63145-8}}{{Cite journal |last=Wardle |first=P. |date=1972-09-01 |title=Plant succession on Greywacke gravel and scree in the Subalpine Belt in Canterbury, New Zealand |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0028825X.1972.10428613 |journal=New Zealand Journal of Botany |volume=10 |issue=3 |pages=387–398 |doi=10.1080/0028825X.1972.10428613 |bibcode=1972NZJB...10..387W |issn=0028-825X}}
Etymology
Glabellum is Latin for 'glabrous', meaning 'hairless'.
Taxonomy
Epilobium glabellum has three distinct forms, which are thought to have evolved for specific habitat usage. These forms have at times led to multiple descriptions of E. glabellum.{{Cite book |last=Lorimer |first=Naomi Grace |date=2007 |title=Phylogenetic Reconstruction and Gene Tree Incongruence in New Zealand Epilobium L. (Onagraceae) |url=http://rgdoi.net/10.13140/RG.2.2.35179.44328 |language=en |doi=10.13140/RG.2.2.35179.44328}}