Three new tribes in Myrtaceae and reassessment of Kanieae
Author
Wilson, Peter G.
Author
Heslewood, Margaret M.
Author
Tarran, Myall A.
text
Australian Systematic Botany
2022
2022-07-15
35
4
279
295
http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/sb21032
journal article
10.1071/SB21032
1446-5701
Tristaniopsideae Peter G.Wilson
,
trib. nov.
Type
:
Tristaniopsis
Brongn. & Gris.
Trees or occasionally shrubs. Inflorescences determinate (panicles, metabotryoids, thyrsoids or cymes). Flowers whitish to yellow. Stamens usually in multiple whorls (not in
Mitrantia
) and grouped opposite petals, sometimes fused into fascicles. Style-bases not adjacent to placentas, ovules often arranged in circular or semi-circular series. Fruit a capsule, frequently exserted from the fruiting hypanthium (except in
Sphaerantia
). Seeds various; hypocotyl straight and cotyledons sometimes foliaceous. Hypanthium vascularisation not reduced to 5 main veins.
A
tribe comprising seven genera,
Tristaniopsis
,
Lysicarpus
,
Barongia
,
Sphaerantia
,
Ristantia
,
Mitrantia
, and
Basisperma
.
Tristaniopsis
is a genus of ~50 species, with a distribution extending from
Myanmar
and
Thailand
in the north, through
Malesia
and extending to eastern
Australia
and
New Caledonia
. The remaining genera are small, comprising between one and three species, and are narrow endemics in
Papua New Guinea
(
Basisperma
) and Queensland.
Relationships within the tribe
The phylogenies show some well supported groupings of genera within the new tribe. The three genera
Sphaerantia
,
Ristantia
and
Mitrantia
form a strong subclade (>97% jk, 1.00 PP), agreeing with previous analyses (
Wilson
et al
. 2005
) and strongly correlated with pollen morphology (
Thornhill
et al
. 2012
a
) and shared presence of oil glands in the pith (
P
.
G
. Wilson, pers. obs.). Oil glands in the pith are also a feature of
Basisperma
(
P
.
G
. Wilson, pers. obs.), which was the basis for the comment in
Wilson (1982)
that
Basisperma
had no close affinities with the ‘
Kania
Alliance’ of
Briggs and Johnson (1979)
. The shared occurrence of oil glands in the pith suggested that the genus was very likely to have affinities with these particular taxa, and this has now been confirmed in genomic analyses (
Maurin
et al
. 2021
).