Nuytsia
The journal of the Western Australian Herbarium

Acacia gibsonii Maslin, a new species with distinctively short, 3-nerved phyllodes and short spikes, and having affinities to A. incongesta R.S.Cowan & Maslin is described. The species is known from a geographically very restricted area of greenstone hills between Norseman and Hyden. It is currently listed by its phrase name, Acacia sp. Lake Johnson (N. Gibson & M. Lyons 1959), as Priority One under the Department of Environment and Conservation’s Conservation Codes for Western Australian Flora.

Most members of the south-western Australian genus Hypocalymma (Endl.) Endl. have seeds with a shallowly to very deeply pitted testa. Two small groups of species, both revised here, differ in having a smooth or colliculate testa. Both groups occur in humid environments in the extreme south-west of Western Australia and show vegetative adaptations consistent with this habitat preference. The larger group, Hypocalymma sect. Cardiomyrtus Schauer, is reinstated. A new combination, H. minus (Strid & Keighery) Keighery, is made, bringing the total species recognised to five, and lectotypes are selected for two synonyms, H. boroniaceum F.Muell. ex Benth. and H. hypericifolium Benth. The other group is extremely rare, consisting of the possibly extinct species H. connatum Strid & Keighery, and a new species known from a single population, H. verticillare Rye. The latter group, named here as Hypocalymma sect. Verticilla Rye, is readily disitinguished by its 3-ridged young stems and consistently whorled leaves, and the new species is unusual in having extreme differences in the sizes of the anthers on different stamens within each flower. Molecular data indicate that sect. Verticilla is sister to sect. Cardiomyrtus. Evidence of taxonomic relationships is also presented from studies of hybridisation and insect associations.

Four new species from the Western Australian endemic genus Conostephium Benth., C. hortiorum Hislop, C. laeve Hislop, C. papillosum Hislop and C. prolatum Hislop are described, illustrated and their distributions mapped. Among these, C. prolatum has a very restricted distribution and is a conservation priority. A key to the 11 recognised species is provided as well as one to distinguish between the two putative generic taxa in the Conostephium clade. Lectotypes are designated for C. pendulum Benth., C. preissii Sond. and for the genus Conostephiopsis Stschegl. Taxonomic notes pertaining to C. drummondii (Stschegl.) C.A.Gardner, C. pendulum, C. preissii and C. roei Benth. are also included.

The generic limits of Wedelia Jacq., Melanthera Rohr, and Wollastonia DC. ex Decne., as currently recognised, are re-examined on the basis of comparative morphology, and a new classification recognising the first two genera in a restricted sense is proposed, with other taxa redistributed through nine genera. In this classification, Wedelia (including Aspilia Thouars) with c. 100 species, is restricted to the Americas and Africa. Melanthera is restricted to c. five species of the Caribbean basin and northern Andes. It is proposed that African species formerly in Melanthera be transferred to Lipotriche R.Br. and the following new combinations are made: L. scandens (Schum. & Thonn.) Orchard; L. scandens subsp. subsimplicifolia (Wild) Orchard; L. scandens subsp. dregei (DC.) Orchard; L. triternata (Klatt) Orchard; L. abyssinica (Sch.Bip. ex Rich.) Orchard; L. gambica (Hutch. & Dalziel) Orchard; L. pungens (Oliver & Hiern.) Orchard. The autonym L. scandens subsp. scandens is newly created. Echinocephalum Gardner of South America is resurrected, with a single species (E. latifolium Gardner). It is proposed that Wollastonia be retained as a genus distinct from Wedelia, Melanthera and Lipochaeta DC., with which it has been variously synonymised by recent authors. In Australia two species of Wollastonia are recognised, W. biflora (L.) DC. and W. uniflora (Willd.) Orchard. These species are keyed, described and illustrated. The Hawai‘ian species of Lipochaeta sect. Aphanopappus (Endl.) Benth. & Hook.f. are transferred to Wollastonia, and placement of Wollastonia lifuana (Hochr.) Fosb. of New Caledonia and Vanuatu, and the Asian species Wedelia prostrata Hemsl. in Wollastonia (as Wollastonia dentata) is confirmed. New combinations are made for Wollastonia biflora var. ryukyuensis (H.Koyama) Orchard, W. bryanii (Sherff) Orchard, W. dentata (H.Lév. & Vaniot) Orchard, W. fauriei (H.Lév.) Orchard, W. integrifolia (Nutt.) Orchard, W. kamolensis (O.Deg. & Sherff) Orchard, W. lavarum (Gaudich.) Orchard, W. micrantha (Nutt.) Orchard, W. micrantha subsp. exigua (O.Deg. & Sherff) Orchard, W. perdita (Sherff) Orchard, W. populifolia (Sherff) Orchard, W. remyi (A.Gray) Orchard, W. subcordata (A.Gray) Orchard, W. tenuifolia (A.Gray) Orchard, W. tenuis (O.Deg. & Sherff) Orchard, W. venosa (Sherff) Orchard, W. waimeaensis (H.St.John) Orchard and W. uniflora (Willd.) Orchard. The autonym W. micrantha subsp. micrantha is newly created. Lipochaeta DC. in Hawai‘i is restricted to the species with 4-lobed disc floret corollas, formerly treated as Lipochaeta sect. Lipochaeta. The Australian and New Guinean species formerly placed in Wedelia are transferred to two new genera: Apowollastonia Orchard, with eight species, including four new combinations (A. longipes (Klatt) Orchard, A. spilanthoides (F.Muell.) Orchard, A. stirlingii (Tate) Orchard and A. verbesinoides (Benth.) Orchard) and five new taxa (A. cylindrica Orchard, A. hamersleyensis Orchard, A. hibernica Orchard, A. major Orchard and A. stirlingii subsp. fontaliciana Orchard). The autonym A. stirlingii subsp. stirlingii is newly created, as is the genus Acunniana Orchard, with one species (A. procumbens (DC.) Orchard). In Malesia/Asia, two monotypic new genera are proposed, Indocypraea Orchard (with a single species, I. montana (Blume) Orchard, formerly Wedelia (Wollastonia) montana), and Quadribractea Orchard (with a single species, Q. moluccana (Blume) Orchard, formerly Wedelia moluccana). Five species related to the former Wedelia urticifolia (Blume) DC. are transferred to the new genus Lipoblepharis Orchard (L. urticifolia (Blume) Orchard, with two subspecies L. urticifolia subsp. urticifolia and subsp. hortorum Orchard, L. thailandica (Koyama) Orchard, L. asperrima (Decne.) Orchard, L. stenophylla (Merr.) Orchard and L. floribunda Orchard). Lectotypes are chosen for Verbesina urticifolia Blume, V. moluccana Blume, V. montana Blume, Buphthalmum australe Biehler (≡ Buphthalmum helianthoides sensu Forster), Wedelia spilanthoides F.Muell., Wedelia verbesinoides Benth. and Wedelia stirlingii Tate.