Abstract
A revision of the New Zealand endemic Lepidium oleraceum and allied species is presented. Sixteen species are recognised, 10 of these are new. The new species are segregated on the basis of morphological characters supported by molecular data obtained from three DNA markers (two rDNA and one cpDNA). One species, Lepidium castellanum sp. nov., is endemic to the Kermadec Islands where it is sympatric with Lepidium oleraceum. The North Island of New Zealand supports four species, with two of them, Lepidium amissum sp. nov. and Lepidium obtusatum, now extinct. The South Island supports six species, that, aside from Lepidium banksii, Lepidium flexicaule and Lepidium oleraceum, are all confined to the south-eastern half of the island (Lepidium aegrum sp. nov., Lepidium crassum sp. nov. and Lepidium juvencum sp. nov.). One of these, Lepidium juvencum sp. nov., extends to Stewart Island. The Chatham Islands support six species (Lepidium flexicaule, Lepidium oblitum sp. nov., Lepidium oleraceum, Lepidium oligodontum sp. nov., Lepidium panniforme sp. nov., and Lepidium rekohuense sp. nov.), one of which, Lepidium oligodontum sp. nov., extends to the Antipodes Islands group. The remote, subantarctic Bounty Islands group supports one endemic, Lepidium seditiosum sp. nov., which is the only vascular plant to be recorded from there. Lepidium limenophylax sp. nov. is known from islands off the south-western side of Stewart Island/Rakiura, The Snares and Auckland islands. Lepidium naufragorum, although not related to Lepidium oleraceum and its allies, is also treated because populations with entire leaves are now known. Typification is undertaken for Lepidium banksii, Lepidium oleraceum, Lepidium oleraceum var. acutidentatum, var. frondosum and var. serrulatum.
Highlights
As currently circumscribed, the New Zealand members of the cosmopolitan genus Lepidium comprise 10 indigenous species (Garnock-Jones 1988; Garnock-Jones and Norton 1995; Heenan et al 2007)
In this paper we present a taxonomic revision of L. oleraceum s.l., along with the allied species L. banksii Kirk, L. flexicaule Kirk, and the extinct L. obtusatum Kirk
The taxonomic revision presented in this paper is based on the critical study of specimens and type material of Lepidium banksii, L. flexicaule, L. obtusatum, L. oleraceum group, and L. naufragorum held at the following herbaria AK, BM, CANU, CHR, HO, K, MEL, MPN, NSW, OTA, P, UNITEC, WAIK, WELT, and WELTU
Summary
The New Zealand members of the cosmopolitan genus Lepidium comprise 10 indigenous species (Garnock-Jones 1988; Garnock-Jones and Norton 1995; Heenan et al 2007). (hereafter referred to as the Lepidium oleraceum group), along with the allied species L. banksii Kirk, L. flexicaule Kirk, and the extinct L. obtusatum Kirk This revision began in 1990 (de Lange 2010) and has involved the critical study of type specimens and herbarium material, extensive field work to examine natural variation of wild populations throughout their geographic range, supplemented with the use of DNA sequence data and, where possible, cultivating plants under uniform conditions. It is known to have no close relationship to these species (Mitchell and Heenan 2000; Heenan et al 2007) We treat it here because of the recent discovery of some populations that have entire rather than pinnatifid rosette leaves, so necessitating a slight revision of the description provided by Garnock-Jones and Norton (1995)
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