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A Revision of the New Zealand Kunzea Ericoides (Myrtaceae) Complex

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A Revision of the New Zealand Kunzea Ericoides (Myrtaceae) Complex A peer-reviewed open-access journal PhytoKeys 40: 1–185A (2014) revision of the New Zealand Kunzea ericoides (Myrtaceae) complex 1 doi: 10.3897/phytokeys.40.7973 MONOGRAPH www.phytokeys.com Launched to accelerate biodiversity research A revision of the New Zealand Kunzea ericoides (Myrtaceae) complex Peter J. de Lange1 1 Science & Capability Group, Terrestrial Ecosystems, Department of Conservation, Private Bag 68908 New- ton, Auckland 1145, New Zealand Corresponding author: Peter J. de Lange ([email protected]) Academic editor: Hanno Schaefer | Received 29 May 2014 | Accepted 14 August 2014 | Published 26 August 2014 Citation: de Lange PJ (2014) A revision of the New Zealand Kunzea ericoides (Myrtaceae) complex. PhytoKeys 40: 1–185. doi: 10.3897/phytokeys.40.7973 Abstract A revision of the New Zealand Kunzea ericoides complex is presented. This paper is the final of a series that has explored the systematics of the New Zealand Kunzea complex using cytological and molecu- lar variation, as well as experimental hybridisations between postulated segregates. As a result of those studies ten species, all endemic to New Zealand, are recognised; seven of these are new. One species, K. triregensis sp. nov., is endemic to the Three Kings Islands and another species K. sinclairii, endemic to Aotea (Great Barrier Island). The North Island of New Zealand has seven species,K. amathicola sp. nov., K. salterae sp. nov., K. serotina sp. nov., K. robusta sp. nov., K. tenuicaulis sp. nov., K. toelkenii sp. nov., and K. linearis comb. nov. Of these, K. linearis, K. salterae, K. tenuicaulis and K. toelkenii are endemic to the North Island, and K. amathicola, K. robusta and K. serotina extend to the South Island which also supports one endemic, K. ericoides. Typifications are published forLeptospermum ericoides A.Rich., L. ericoides var. linearis Kirk, L. ericoides var. microflorum G.Simps., L. ericoides var. pubescens Kirk, and L. sinclairii Kirk, names here all referred to Kunzea. The ecology, conservation, extent of natural hy- bridisation and some aspects of the ethnobotany (vernacular names) of these Kunzea are also discussed. Keywords New Zealand Archipelago, Myrtaceae, Kunzea, K. ericoides, K. sinclairii, new combination, K. linearis comb. nov., new species, K. amathicola sp. nov., K. triregensis sp. nov., K. robusta sp. nov., K. salterae sp. nov., K. serotina sp. nov., K. tenuicaulis sp. nov., K. toelkenii sp. nov., typifications,Leptospermum ericoides, L. ericoides var. lineare, L. ericoides var. microflorum, L. ericoides var. pubescens, L. sinclairii, ecology, con- servation, ethnobotany Copyright Peter J. de Lange. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. 2 Peter J. de Lange / PhytoKeys 40: 1–185 (2014) Table of contents Introduction ............................................................................................................. 3 Materials and methods ............................................................................................. 4 Characters ................................................................................................................ 6 Growth habit ..................................................................................................... 6 Bark ................................................................................................................. 17 Branchlet hairs ................................................................................................. 18 Vegetative buds ................................................................................................ 19 Leaves .............................................................................................................. 19 Inflorescences ................................................................................................... 21 Perules.............................................................................................................. 22 Pherophylls ...................................................................................................... 22 Flower buds ..................................................................................................... 22 Hypanthia ........................................................................................................ 23 Petals ................................................................................................................ 23 Stamens............................................................................................................ 23 Pollen ............................................................................................................... 24 Ovary ............................................................................................................... 24 Style and stigma ............................................................................................... 25 Fruit ................................................................................................................. 25 Seed ................................................................................................................. 26 Chromosome and molecular evidence .............................................................. 26 Species concept ................................................................................................ 28 Ethnobotany .................................................................................................... 29 Systematics ............................................................................................................. 30 Kunzea Rchb. Consp. Regn. Veg.: 175. (Dec 1828) nom. cons. .......................... 30 1. Kunzea ericoides (A.Rich.) Joy Thomps. .................................................. 33 2. Kunzea serotina de Lange et Toelken ....................................................... 47 3. Kunzea tenuicaulis de Lange ................................................................... 62 4. Kunzea salterae de Lange ........................................................................ 80 5. Kunzea toelkenii de Lange....................................................................... 89 6. Kunzea linearis (Kirk) de Lange & Toelken, comb. et stat. nov. .............. 98 7. Kunzea amathicola de Lange et Toelken ................................................ 112 8. Kunzea triregensis de Lange ................................................................... 127 9. Kunzea sinclairii (Kirk) W.Harris ......................................................... 137 10. Kunzea robusta de Lange et Toelken ................................................... 155 Incertae sedis ............................................................................................ 175 Acknowledgements ............................................................................................... 177 References ............................................................................................................ 177 A revision of the New Zealand Kunzea ericoides (Myrtaceae) complex 3 Introduction It has long been recognised that New Zealand populations of Kunzea ericoides (A.Rich) Joy Thomps. are extremely variable (Hooker 1867; Cheeseman 1906, 1925; Allan 1961; Harris 1996; de Lange and Murray 2004, de Lange et al. 2005). Nevertheless, despite attempts to formally describe this variation (Kirk 1869, 1889, 1899; Simpson 1945), there has been no critical revision of the complex as a whole. The most modern treatments available favour either a single broadly circumscribed Australasian species, K. ericoides (Thompson 1983, Wilson 1991), or two species: the AustralasianK. eri- coides, and a narrow-range New Zealand endemic K. sinclairii (Kirk) W.Harris (Harris 1987; Harris et al. 1992). Within New Zealand, K. ericoides was further subdivided into three varieties by Harris (1987) who made combinations in Kunzea at the rank of variety for two New Zealand taxa previously regarded as varieties of Leptospermum eri- coides (var. linearis Kirk and var. microflorum G.Simpson), and which had been treat- ed by Thompson (1983) as synonyms ofK. ericoides. Subsequent research by Harris (1996) into the variation within K. ericoides using ‘genecology’ investigated flowering patterns within cultivated ‘populations’ of K. ericoides sens. lat. and K. sinclairii. Harris used 25 New Zealand and two Australian sources for his K. ericoides plants and one from Aotea (Great Barrier Island) for K. sinclairii. Although Harris (1996) adopted a broad treatment of K. ericoides he noted different flowering patterns for his two Aus- tralian population samples, and, furthermore, he observed that these samples differed from the New Zealand populations in having larger leaves and capsules. Of the New Zealand populations of K. ericoides, he suggested that, aside from K. ericoides var. mi- croflora and var. linearis (samples of which he lacked in his study), there appeared to be two further taxonomic entities present based on leaf form and geographic distribution. One of these, his “southern taxon”, was characterised as having small leaves and was confined to stations south of Latitude 38°S. Within it he suggested that K. ericoides var. microflora could be included, as it differed only by its prostrate habit and restriction to geothermal habitats. The other entity
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