Species of plant
Azorella polaris , commonly known as the Macquarie Island cabbage , is a species of flowering plant usually placed in the family Araliaceae and only very distantly related to cabbage . It is a megaherb , growing up to about a metre in height, native to the subantarctic islands of New Zealand and to Australia ’s Macquarie Island .
Uses
A. polaris was used as a food source and a scurvy preventative by early explorers and sealers .[ 2] [ 3] It was eaten by the survivors of the 1907 shipwreck of the Dundonald on Disappointment Island .[ 4] [ 3]
Conservation status
It is classified as "At Risk - Naturally Uncommon" in the New Zealand threatened plants classification system.[ 5] On Macquarie Island, it was threatened by introduced black rats and European rabbits ,[ 2] until their eradication in 2011.
References
^ a b Azorella polaris (Hombr. & Jacquinot) G.M.Plunkett & A.N.Nicolas . Plants of the World Online . Retrieved 12 May 2023.
^ a b Skotnicki, M.; Selkirk, P.; Kitajima, E.; McBride, T.; Shaw, J. & Mackenzie, A. (January 2003). "The first subantarctic plant virus report: Stilbocarpa mosaic bacilliform badnavirus (SMBV) from Macquarie Island". Polar Biology . 26 (1): 1–7. doi :10.1007/s00300-002-0421-8 . S2CID 22489620 .
^ a b Hartley, Karri Horton; Guy, Paul; Lord, Janice (2024). "A tale of two species: Pringlea antiscorbutica and Azorella polaris , sub-Antarctic scurvy remedies" . Polar Record . 60 . doi :10.1017/S0032247424000019 .
^ Escott-Inman, Herbert (1911). The Castaways of Disappointment Island . London: S.W. Partridge & Co.
^ de Lange, Peter; et al. (2012). Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2012 (PDF) . Department of Conservation. ISBN 978-0-478-14995-1 .
External links
Azorella polaris Stilbocarpa polaris Aralia polaris