The

Abstract

Crinum flaccidum Herb. is widespread across southern and eastern Australia, but suffers from taxonomic uncertainty. This ambiguity is in part due to widespread hybridisation in the genus, but also morphological variability within and among populations. Morphological and molecular analyses of the complex using 24 morphological characters and 59 chloroplast coding and non-coding regions (~50 000 bp) provided support for the separation of C. flaccidum from C. luteolum Traub & L.S.Hannibal ex Traub, with the latter representing populations from the Flinders Ranges and Lake Eyre Basin. Within Crinum flaccidum, there was greater inferred genetic structure at the population level for New South Wales flood plain accessions, compared with South Australian populations from along the Murray River. The greater structure of the South Australian populations is theorised to be attributed to lower seed-dispersal rates leading to lower gene flow.