|Scientific Name:||Pennantia baylisiana|
|Species Authority:||(W.R.B.Oliv.) G.T.S.Baylis|
|Red List Category & Criteria:||Critically Endangered D ver 3.1|
|Assessor(s):||de Lange, P.|
This is a small tree species endemic to New Zealand where it is found only on Great Island in the Three Kings Island Group. Only a single tree is remaining in the wild and therefore, this species is assessed as Critically Endangered based on criterion D.
|Previously published Red List assessments:|
|Range Description:||This species is endemic to Great Island (Manawa Tawhi) in Three Kings Islands Group, New Zealand where it was discovered in 1946.|
This species has an extent of occurrence (EOO), and maximum area of occupancy (AOO), of c. 0.5 km2.
Native:New Zealand (North Is.)
|Range Map:||Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.|
|Population:||This species has only ever been known from a single tree. Although sexed as female, the tree has produced viable pollen.|
|Current Population Trend:||Stable|
|Habitat and Ecology:||This species grows in coastal forest. It is a rare, multi-trunked small tree bearing very large broad glossy curled leaves. The leaves are 120-160 mm long and widest towards the tip. The flowers are small, green and in clusters along branches. Flowering is from October to November. The fruit is purple, 10 mm long and contains a single seed. Fruiting occurs between January and April in cultivated material. Ripe fruit has been seen in the wild during February and March.|
|Major Threat(s):||Initially P. baylisiana and indeed all other Three Kings endemic plants were at serious risk from goats and habitat destruction as a consequence of human occupation. Goats were successfully eradicated from the islands in 1946. Since then the single individual tree has persisted despite periodic storm and drought damage which may kill entire trunks. However, being female the tree was until recently considered functionally extinct. Apparently viable fruits were first found in the wild in 1989, and these, along with fruiting cutting grown plants in New Zealand, provide one source of securing the species. However, until such time as more trees occur in the wild, P. baylisiana remains seriously at risk of extinction through natural events such as storms or senescence through old age.|
In 2012, this species was classified as 'Threatened - Nationally Critical' based on the New Zealand Threat Classification System with the qualifiers Conservation Dependent (CD), Island Endemic (IE) and One Location (OL). This is based on criterion A(1) which is met when there are under 250 mature individuals in the population (Townsend et al. 2008, de Lange et al. 2013).
Some seedlings have been raised ex situ.
|Citation:||de Lange, P. 2014. Pennantia baylisiana. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2014: e.T30481A62768931.Downloaded on 22 October 2016.|
|Feedback:||If you see any errors or have any questions or suggestions on what is shown on this page, please provide us with feedback so that we can correct or extend the information provided|