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Jaffrea, a new genus of Rhamnaceae endemic to New Caledonia, with notes on Alphitonia and Emmenosperma

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Summary

Molecular phylogenetic and morphological data show that two species of Rhamnaceae endemic to New Caledonia, Alphitonia xerocarpa and A. erubescens, are misplaced. They form a clade that is sister to Emmenosperma, and they differ from Alphitonia s.s. in their indumentum, venation, lower leaf surface, flowers, fruits and seeds. Although morphologically closer to Emmenosperma, both their flowers and fruits are distinct from those of Emmenosperma s.s., and so a new genus, Jaffrea H. C. Hopkins & Pillon, is described to accommodate them, and the combinations Jaffrea xerocarpa (Baill.) H. C. Hopkins & Pillon and Jaffrea erubescens (Baill.) H. C. Hopkins & Pillon are published. Members of this new genus have a conical hypanthium, petals somewhat incurved at anthesis, a thick disc that is either ± lumpy or annular but not or only partly covering the semi-inferior ovary, and fruits that are ovoid-ellipsoid, strongly beaked and tardily dehiscent. As in Emmenosperma and most species of Alphitonia, the seeds in Jaffrea can remain attached to the base of the fruit after most of the pericarp has fallen. Alphitonia is now represented in New Caledonia by a single species, A. neocaledonica, and its nomenclature and types are reviewed. The generic description of Alphitonia is amended to include the unique fruits of the New Guinean endemic A. macrocarpa, which are much larger than those of its congeners, strongly beaked, lacking a mealy endocarp, and with seeds that fall before the persistent valves. Relationships within Emmenosperma s.l., especially the affinities of E. papuanum and E. micropetalum, require further investigation.

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Acknowledgements

HH is grateful to K for the use of herbarium facilities and to BM for access to material. We thank Kevin Thiele (PERTH) and Tony Bean (BRI) for unpublished information, Laure Barrabé and Daniel Létocart for the use of photographs, Patricia K. R. Davies for her exceptional work on the line drawings, and Wendy Applequist for nomenclatural advice. Laure Barrabé, Paul Coulerie, Gilles Dagostini, Shelley James, Jérôme Munzinger, Jean-Yves Meyer, Ravahere Taputuarai, the Bishop Museum (US NSF grant DEB 0950207), NOU and K all kindly provided leaf or DNA samples. We are also grateful to an anonymous reviewer for helpful comments that improved the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. c/o Herbarium, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, TW9 3AB, U.K.

    H. C. F. Hopkins

  2. Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Science, University of Hawai’i at Hilo, 200 West Kawili Street, Hilo, HI, 96720, U.S.A.

    Y. Pillon & E. A. Stacy

  3. State Herbarium of South Australia, PO Box 2732, Kent Town, SA, 5071, Australia

    J. Kellermann

  4. Australian Centre for Evolutionary Biology and Biodiversity (ACEBB), School of Biological Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, 5005, Australia

    J. Kellermann

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  1. H. C. F. Hopkins
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Correspondence to H. C. F. Hopkins.

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Hopkins, H.C.F., Pillon, Y., Stacy, E.A. et al. Jaffrea, a new genus of Rhamnaceae endemic to New Caledonia, with notes on Alphitonia and Emmenosperma . Kew Bull 70, 42 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12225-015-9593-6

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