Additions to the naturalised vascular flora of the Kingdom of Tonga

Abstract

ABSTRACT Nineteen new records of flowering plants naturalised in the Kingdom of Tonga are recognised, with the majority of these present in the southern islands of ʻEua and Tongatapu. These records comprise earlier but unpublished collections made by G. P. Buelow and W. R. Sykes, and also collections made in 2023. These records are from seven families, with Asteraceae comprising seven species and Fabaceae and Lamiaceae three each. Basellaceae includes two new records, Anredera cordifolia (Ten.) Steenis and Basella alba L. The invasive Anredera was well-established at the location at which it was collected on ʻEua and may pose a threat to the indigenous tropical forest in ʻEua National Park. Many of the other new records are smaller-growing herbaceous species which are likely to have minimal environmental impact as they predominantly occur in disturbed waste places among other weed species. While some of the species listed here were previously recorded as observations in checklists, it has been difficult to locate herbarium vouchers supporting these records and so the vouchers reported here are a provisional first record for these.