Euphrasia cuneata

Euphrasia cuneata

Not Threatened (NZ TCS)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Lamiales
Family: Orobanchaceae
Genus: Euphrasia
Species:
E. cuneata
Binomial name
Euphrasia cuneata

Euphrasia cuneata, or North Island eyebright, is a perennial herb or subshrub in the genus Euphrasia, native to New Zealand. It grows to 60 centimetres (24 inches), with woody stems and white flowers with a yellow lower lip.[2]

Taxonomy and etymology

The species was first described by Georg Forster in 1876.[3] The genus name Euphrasia derives from Greek, and means joy, or delight. The specific epithet cuneata is from the Latin cuneum or ‘wedge’, referring to the wedge-shaped leaves.[4] The common name eyebright refers to the use of plants in the Euphrasia genus for therapeutic purposes.[5]

Description

E. cuneata is a perennial herb or shrub-like plant up to 60 cm (24 in) tall. Plants have variable leaf-shape, flower size and colour. Stems may be simple to very branched, the surfaces with, or without hairs. Leaves have a short leaf-stem and are variable in arrangement, occurring in pairs, clusters or produced on short branchlets. The leaf form is somewhat variable; ‘cuneata’ refers to ‘wedge-shape’ angle of the leaf blade at its base, and leaves have a lobe-shaped tip. There are a variable number of blunt teeth on the leaf margins and leaves are hairless.[6][7]

Flowers with short flower-stems are borne in clusters or on short racemes originating in leaf axils. The calyx is 4-8 mm long, bell-shaped and four-lobed, the lobes may be rounded or pointed and lobes divided up to half the length of the calyx. The corolla is most often described as white, although Hooker (1844) describes the colour as pink, purplish or yellowish.[8] It is funnel-shaped, opening out to an upper and lower lip which are also lobed, with the lower lip longer than the upper. Anthers are reddish-brown, hairy, two lobed, with those of the lower-most anthers much longer. The seed capsule is much longer than the calyx once mature, narrowly oblong with tapered ends, and with dense bristles at the tip. The seeds are approximately 2 mm long.[6][7]

Distribution

E. cuneata is endemic to New Zealand.[9] It is found primarily in northern New Zealand, from East Cape, the easternmost point of the North Island, to the north-easternmost point of the South Island, the Marlborough Sounds. However, E. cuneata can be found as far south as Lake Ellesmere / Te Waihora in Canterbury. It grows from the coast up to subalpine areas at altitudes of up to 1,500 m (4,900 ft) in "open rocky places, stream-sides and among scrub."[4]

Conservation status

E. cuneata was listed as Not Threatened in the 2023 New Zealand Threat Classification Series for vascular plants.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b Peter J. de Lange; Jane Gosden; Shannel P. Courtney; et al. (October 2024). "Conservation status of vascular plants in Aotearoa New Zealand, 2023" (PDF). New Zealand Threat Classification Series. 43: 78. ISSN 2324-1713. Wikidata Q130392985.
  2. ^ "Euphrasia cuneata". Hebe Society. Retrieved 29 April 2012.
  3. ^ Forster 1786, p. 234.
  4. ^ a b "Euphrasia cuneata". New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. Retrieved 8 August 2025.
  5. ^ Paduch, Roman; Woźniak, Anna; Niedziela, Piotr; Rejdak, Robert (1 March 2014). "Assessment of eyebright (euphrasia officinalis L.) extract activity in relation to human corneal cells using in vitro tests". Balkan Medical Journal. 31 (1): 29–36. doi:10.5152/balkanmedj.2014.8377. ISSN 2146-3123. PMC 4115993. PMID 25207164.
  6. ^ a b Webb, Sykes & Garnock-Jones 1988, p. 1186.
  7. ^ a b Allan 1963, pp. 851–852.
  8. ^ Hooker 1844, p. 199.
  9. ^ "Euphrasia cuneata G.Forst". New Zealand Organisms Register. Retrieved 9 August 2025.

Sources cited

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