Ourisia

Mountain foxglove Ourisia macrophylla, photographed by Phil Bendle.

Belongs within: Scrophulariaceae.

Ourisia is a genus of flowering plants found in South America, New Zealand and Tasmania, most commonly in alpine habitats. New Zealand species bear predominantly white flowers whereas those of South American species may be red.

Characters (from Allan 1961): Low-growing perennial herbs with opposite, usually strongly veined leaves. Flowers in terminal verticillate bracteate panicles, stems much reduced. Calyx five-lobed, some or all of clefts extending almost to base. Corolla weakly zygomorphic, with short slightly oblique tube more or less hairy within, and five spreading lobes, the posterior two shortest and overlapping the lateral ones in bud. Stamens 4, didynamous, inserted near base of corolla-tube, staminode minute, anther-cells apically confluent. Style long, stigma capitate. Capsule ovoid-conical, loculicidal; seeds many, reticulate.

<==Ourisia Comm. ex Juss. 1789 A61
    |--O. breviflora D03
    |--O. caespitosa Hooker 1853 [incl. Euphrasia hectori Petrie 1926] A61
    |    |--O. c. var. caespitosa A61
    |    `--O. c. var. gracilis Hooker 1867 A61
    |--O. cockayniana Petrie 1897 A61
    |--O. colensoi Hooker 1864 A61
    |--O. crosbyi Cockayne 1915 [incl. O. macphersonii Cockayne & Allan 1926] A61
    |--O. glandulosa Hooker 1864 A61
    |--O. integrifolia A61
    |--O. macrocarpa Hooker 1854 A61
    |    |--O. m. ssp. macrocarpa [incl. O. macrocarpa var. cordata Cockayne 1916] A61
    |    `--O. m. ssp. calycina (Colenso) Cockayne 1916 [=O. calycina Colenso 1889] A61
    |--O. macrophylla Hook. 1843 A61
    |    |--O. m. var. macrophylla A61
    |    |--O. m. var. drucei Moore in Allan 1961 A61
    |    |--O. m. var. lactea Moore in Allan 1961 A61
    |    |--O. m. var. meadii Moore in Allan 1961 A61
    |    `--O. m. var. robusta (Colenso) Simpson & Thomson 1943 [=O. robusta Colenso 1886] A61
    |--O. modesta Diels in Fedde 1909 A61
    |--O. nana D03
    |--O. prorepens Petrie 1893 (n. d.) A61
    |--O. sessilifolia Hooker 1864 A61
    |    |--O. s. var. sessilifolia A61
    |    |--O. s. var. simpsonii Moore in Allan 1961 A61
    |    `--O. s. var. splendida Moore in Allan 1961 A61
    `--O. vulcanica Moore in Allan 1961 A61

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[A61] Allan, H. H. 1961. Flora of New Zealand vol. 1. Indigenous Tracheophyta: Psilopsida, Lycopsida, Filicopsida, Gymnospermae, Dicotyledones. R. E. Owen, Government Printer: Wellington (New Zealand).

[D03] Dusén, P. 1903. The vegetation of western Patagonia. In: Scott, W. B. (ed.) Reports of the Princeton University Expeditions to Patagonia, 1896–1899 vol. 8. Botany pp. 1–34. The University: Princeton (New Jersey).

Last updated: 5 September 2019.