Abstract
Coprosma kawaikiniensis K.R. Wood, Lorence & Kiehn (Rubiaceae), a rare endemic tree from Kaua‘i, Hawaiian Islands, is described and illustrated along with a previously undescribed endemic plant community, the Dubautia-Sadleria shrubland-fernland (DSSF). The new species differs from Hawai‘i congeners by its combination of opposite, long, elliptic to narrowly elliptic or ovate-elliptic leaves with revolute margins; caducous stipules 7–10 mm long, externally glabrous, densely hirtellous-pilose near the margins of the inner surface; unbranched inflorescences with peduncles 20–28 mm long; flowers 6–8 per cluster; and persistent calyx tube with 4–8 irregular dentate lobes. Known only from the windward slopes and ridges of southeastern Kaua‘i below the Kawaikini summit, Coprosma kawaikiniensis falls into the IUCN Critically Endangered (CR) Red List category.
Highlights
Coprosma J.R.Forst. & G.Forst., in the family Rubiaceae, is a genus of approximately 110 species of dioecious wind-pollinated shrubs or small trees widely distributed on Pacific islands, with a primary center of diversity in New Zealand, and secondary centers of diversity in the Hawaiian Islands (13 spp.), New Guinea (11 spp.), and Australia (8 spp.) (Wagner and Lorence 2011; Cantley et al 2014)
Our formal evaluation can be summarized by the following IUCN hierarchical alphanumeric numbering system of criteria and subcriteria: Critically Endangered (CR) B1ab(i,ii,iii,v)+2ab(i,ii,iii,v); C2a(ii); D; which reflects a severely limited Extent of Occurrence (EOO) and Area of Occupancy (AOO) of less than 3 km2 and a population of less than 50 individuals
Coprosma kawaikiniensis differs from C. longifolia and C. ternata in having opposite vs. usually ternate leaves
Summary
Coprosma J.R.Forst. & G.Forst., in the family Rubiaceae, is a genus of approximately 110 species of dioecious wind-pollinated shrubs or small trees widely distributed on Pacific islands, with a primary center of diversity in New Zealand (ca. 50 spp.), and secondary centers of diversity in the Hawaiian Islands (13 spp.), New Guinea (11 spp.), and Australia (8 spp.) (Wagner and Lorence 2011; Cantley et al 2014). The majority (12) of the 13 Hawaiian species form a monophyletic group closely related to red- and orange-fruited species from the Marquesas and Austral Islands, whereas the single black-fruited species (C. ernodeoides A.Gray) represents a separate colonization to Hawai‘i from an unknown origin, perhaps New Zealand or Tasmania (Wagner and Lorence 2011). This view is corroborated by the fact that C. ernodeoides is a very high polyploid (2n ≥ 220), whereas all other cytologically investigated Hawaiian taxa are tetraploids with 2n = 44 chromosomes (Kiehn 2005).The discovery and publication of C. kawaikiniensis, a member of the red- and orange-fruited group, brings the number of Hawaiian Coprosma species to 14. Coprosma kawaikiniensis (Rubiaceae) a new species from the Dubautia-Sadleria
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