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A NOTE ON THE OF IN NEW ZEALAND

By I.M. Johnstone*

There are two references in the New Zealand literature on aquatic macrophytes which refer to the heterosporic genus Salvinia viz. Armiger (1964) and Mason (1964), who both identify the material as Salvinia natans L. Armiger's material was collected from Western Springs, while Mason cites the locality as "still water Auckland".

The localities where Salvinia is to be found growing, that are known to the present writer are Western Springs, the Chelsea sugar refinery water supply dams and the "winter gardens" in the Auckland Domain. The material from all these localities, as well as the specimens lodged in the University of Auckland Botany Department Herbarium by Armiger, have been shown not to be S. natans L.

Although there is an immense amount of data available on Salvinia in general, the taxonomy of the genus has for a long time been indecisive, while identification of the species has been made more difficult since none of the main monographs of the genus has been in English (i.e. Herzog 1935 — German, Shaparenko 1956 - Russian and De la Sota 1962 — Spanish).

The Salvinia growing in the Auckland district agrees with the description of Salvinia auriculata Aublet given by Herzog and Shaparenko, but De la Sota points out that S. auriculata as described by Aublet (1775) is a quite different (notably no primary spindle on the fertile submerged leaf) to that described by Herzog.

A further possibility is that the material could be Salvinia rotundifolia Wild., but this is not tenable because the leaf morphology of S. rotundifolia is quite different from that of S. auriculata (sensu Herzog) (viz. petiolate and leaf hair tips not rejoining). De la Sota concludes then, that S. auriculata (sensu Herzog) is a new species, which he describes as Salvinia herzogii nov. sp.

The Salvinia to be found in the Auckland district is then Salvinia herzogii De la Sota.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank Miss Pat O'Connor for translating De la Sota (1962).

•Department of Botany, University of Auckland. 98

FIG.l TAXONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS OF SAL VIM A HERZOGII

(a) Leaf hair with outer end composed of looped cells. (b) Submerged fertile leaf bearing sporocarps arranged on a central axis.

REFERENCES

ARMIGER, L.C. 1964 A guide to the more common freshwater of the Auckland Province. Tane 10: 49- 57.

AUBLET, F.M. 1775 "Histoire des plantes de la Guiane Francoise" 2 Vol. Londres et Paris.

DE LA SOT A, E. 1962 Contribucion al conocimiento de las ncotropicales. Parts 1,11, and 111. Darwiniana 12: 465 -520.

HERZOG, R. 1935 Ein beitrag zur systematik der gattung Salvinia. Hedwigia 74: 257 - 284.

MASON, R. 1964 Aquatic weed identification in New Zealand. Proc. 17th N.Z. Weed and Pest Cont. Conf., pp. 229- 250.

SIIAPARENKO,K.R. 1956 Historia de las Salvinias (en ruso). Act. Inst. Bot. Komarov, ser VI11, Paleobotanica 2: 1 - 44.