Sporadanthus ferrugineus

Sporadanthus ferrugineus, the bamboo rush or giant wire rush, is a restiad plant endemic to the northern North Island of New Zealand.

Sporadanthus ferrugineus
Sporadanthus ferrugineus growing at the bog of Moanatuatua Scientific Reserve

Relict (NZ TCS)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Clade: Commelinids
Order: Poales
Family: Restionaceae
Genus: Sporadanthus
Species:
S. ferrugineus
Binomial name
Sporadanthus ferrugineus
de Lange, Heenan & B.D.Clarkson, 1999[2]

Taxonomy

It was long considered that Sporadanthus plants in the North Island were the same species as Sporadanthus traversii, which is native to Chatham Island, east of the New Zealand mainland. The North Island plants were described as the separate species S. ferrugineus in 1999, with S. traversii becoming regarded as endemic to Chatham Island.[2]

Distribution

S. ferrugineus grows in acidic, ombrotrophic, restiad-dominated raised bogs. Draining of such bogs for farming in the northern North Island has greatly reduced their extent. S. ferrugineus is now mainly found at the peat domes of Kopuatai and Torehape on the Hauraki Plains and Moanatuatua Swamp in the Waikato basin.[2]

Biology
Evidence of feeding by Houdinia flexilissima

S. ferrugineus is the only known food source for the moth Houdinia flexilissima.[3]

Conservation

Under the New Zealand Threat Classification System, it is classified as "At Risk - Relict" (It has both a restricted range, and its documented decline shows it as now occupying less than 10% of its former range, but the population is considered stable.)[1]

In 2011, it was voted "Plant of the Year" in a poll run by the New Zealand Plant Conservation Network.[4]

References
  1. de Lange, P.J.; Rolfe, J.R.; Barkla, J.W.; Courtney, S.P.; Champion, P.D.; Perrie, L.R.; Beadel, S.M.; Ford, K.A.; Breitwieser, I.; Schönberger, I.; Hindmarsh-Walls, R. (2018-05-01). "Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2017" (PDF). New Zealand Threat Classification Series. 22: 38. OCLC 1041649797.
  2. de Lange, Peter J.; Heenan, Peter B.; Clarkson, B. D.; Clarkson, B. R. (1999). "Taxonomy, ecology, and conservation of Sporadanthus (Restionaceae) in New Zealand". New Zealand Journal of Botany. 37 (3): 413–431. doi:10.1080/0028825x.1999.9512645. ISSN 0028-825X.
  3. Hoare, Robert; Dugdale, John; Watts, Corinne (2006-11-02). "The world's thinnest caterpillar? A new genus and species of Batrachedridae (Lepidoptera) from Sporadanthus ferrugineus (Restionaceae), a threatened New Zealand plant". Invertebrate Systematics. 20 (5): 571–583. doi:10.1071/is06009. ISSN 1447-2600 – via Researchgate.
  4. "Rush blitzes competition". New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. 18 December 2011. Retrieved 19 December 2011.
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