A new native family and new endemic species for the flora of New Caledonia: Patersonia neocaledonica sp. nov. (Iridaceae, Patersonioideae), from the Mount Humboldt massif.

Peter Goldbatt (1) , John C. Manning (2) , Jérôme Munzinger (3) , Porter P. Lowry (1, 4)

1 Missouri Botanical Garden
2 Compton Herbarium - South African National Biodiversity Institute,
3 UMR AMAP - Botanique et Modélisation de l'Architecture des Plantes et des Végétations
4 OSEB - Origine, structure et évolution de la biodiversité

Patersonia neocaledonica sp. nov., a new endemic species from New Caledonia of this predominantly Australian genus, is the fi rst record of Iridaceae as native from this southwestern Pacifi c island. Eighteen species of Patersonia occur in Australia, and one or several more (depending on taxonomy) occur in Malesia, including New Guinea, where they grow in temperate highland areas. Patersonia neocaledonica sp. nov. is distinguished by the fan of relatively broad, sword-shaped to subfalcate leaves with woolly margins, large, brown infl orescence spathes 35 mm long, particularly large white fl owers and woolly tomentose ovary, bract margins and septa of the capsules. Known from a single population subjected to fi re and impacts from human visitors, P. neocaledonica sp. nov. is assigned a preliminary threat assessment of Critically Endangered.

Mots clés: Iridaceae; Patersonioideae; Patersonia; Conservation status; Maquis; New species

Domaines: Biodiversité et Ecologie

Peter Goldbatt, John C. Manning, Jérôme Munzinger, Porter P. Lowry. A new native family and new endemic species for the flora of New Caledonia: Patersonia neocaledonica sp. nov. (Iridaceae, Patersonioideae), from the Mount Humboldt massif.. Adansonia, 2011, 33 (2), pp.201-208. ⟨10.5252/a2011n2a4⟩. ⟨halsde-00675892⟩