Michael Kiehn

Karyosystematic studies onRubiaceae: Chromosome counts from Sri Lanka

Chromosome numbers for 16 different taxa ofRubiaceae from Sri Lanka are presented. Counts for 13 species, including 5 genera and 1 tribe, are new. The results are listed, compared with available literature data and discussed in regard to their systematical importance.

Karyosystematische Untersuchungen anRubiaceae: Chromosomenzählungen aus Afrika, Madagaskar und Mauritius

Chromosome numbers for 81 different taxa ofRubiaceae from Africa, Madagascar and Mauritius are presented. 52 taxa, including 11 genera, have been counted for the first time. The results are listed, compared with available literature data and discussed in regard to their systematic significance.

Chromosome numbers of Hawaiian angiosperms : New records and comments

ABSTRACT In this paper chromosome counts for 90 collections representing 67 native Hawaiian angiosperm species and eight hybrids in 22 families are presented and discussed. Included are the first records for 26 species, two sub-specific taxa, eight natural hybrids, and the endemic genus Pteralyxia (Apocynaceae). In four families Hawaiian representatives have been investigated cytologically for the first time. For three species the investigations are the first on Hawaiian material. Seven counts differ from earlier reports in the literature. Implications of the results are discussed in the context of autochthonous chromosomal evolution and of colonization events for the Hawaiian Islands.

Chromosome numbers in AustralianEuphrasia (Scrophulariaceae)

Chromosome numbers for six Australian taxa ofEuphrasia have been determined. Improved staining techniques have shown that numbers for four of the taxa published previously by the first author were incorrect. The investigated taxa show high ploidy levels with an apparent base number of x = 11, the same as for the genus outside Australia.

Palynology of South Pacific Cyrtandra (Gesneriaceae) with notes on some Hawaiian taxa

Pollen of 34 accessions (23 species, one putative hybrid) of South Pacific and Hawaiian Cyrtandra was investigated by SEM. Most pollen grains are isopolar, 3-colpate, spheroidal in equatorial view, and circular in polar view. Only C. kamooloaensis (Hawaii) exhibits suboblate pollen grains. Average equatorial diameters range from 9 to 16mum. In general, colpi are long and tapering. Colpus membranes show granular elements which decrease in size from the equatorial to the polar regions. Most taxa exhibit a microreticulate mesocolpial exine pattern, in some cases with a tendency to reticulate or fossulate pattern. Lumina size varies within the mesocolpial region of single grains, average lumina diameter is either similar throughout grains or decreases towards the colpial borders or the apocolpial region. C. kamooloaensis exhibits the smallest lumina reported for Hawaiian Cyrtandra so far. In some species, distinct free-standing columellae are present. Except for a fine granular ornamentation of shallow grooves on the muri of the Samoan C. richii supratectal elements are lacking. Pollen of South Pacific Cyrtandra does not provide characters directly suitable for generic subdivisions. There is no obvious correlation between morphologically defined species groups and exine types, but some evidence for parallel evolution of these types. Nearly related taxa (e.g., the C. cymosa group of Gillett 1973) show considerable palynological differences. Variation within some currently accepted species is more prominent than between taxa clearly belonging to different evolutionary lines. This could reflect deficiencies in species delimitation.

Coprosma kawaikiniensis (Rubiaceae) a new species from the Dubautia-Sadleria shrubland-fernland community on Kaua‘i, Hawaiian Islands

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.

Chromosome numbers of angiosperms from the juan fernández islands, the tristan da cunha archipelago, and from mainland Chile

ABSTRACT Chromosome counts for eight native species in six genera from Juan Fernández Islands, five native species in three genera from Tristan da Cunha, and three species in two genera from mainland Chile are presented and discussed. They include the only chromosome number reports for angiosperms from Tristan da Cunha and first counts for the endemics Robinsonia thurifera and Wahlenbergia larrainii (Juan Fernández), Agrostis carmichaelii, Acaena sarmentosa, A. stangii, and Nertera holmboei (Tristan da Cunha), and for Galium araucanum and Ourisia coccinea from Chile. Counts for Eryngium bupleuroides and Galium hypocarpium differ from earlier published reports.

Plant Introductions: Historical Sketches

Abstract: Plant species, their parts and derivatives have been transferred by humans since the beginning of history: unintentionally (e.g., with propagules adhering to clothes) or intentionally (e.g., when species or parts of them were used for food or as sources of tools). Numerous plant transfers resulted in species becoming permanently naturalized in new areas, in some cases with extremely negative effects for the region to which they were brought. However, transfers also often proved neutral or even beneficial. This article does not intend to give a comprehensive survey of the history and the consequences of plant transfers in space and time but presents and discusses illustrative examples of plant movements by people. Special emphasis is given to effects on islands and to historical, political, and economic aspects of long-distance plant trade in the Old World often little known by botanists.

Description of Four New Species of Bulbophyllum (Orchidaceae) from Madagascar

Abstract Four new orchid species from Madagascar are described and illustrated. Notes on the distribution, ecology, and conservation status are provided. Bulbophyllum uroplatoides Hermans & G. A. Fischer, B. histrionicum Reichenbach f. ex G. A. Fischer & P. J. Cribb, and B. senghasii G. A. Fischer & Sieder belong to section Calamaria Schlechter, whereas B. bryophytoides G. A. Fischer & Andriantiana belongs to section Lichenophylax Schlechter. Bulbophyllum uroplatoides Hermans & G. A. Fischer is related to B. cardiobulbum Bosser, but differs in the thickened racemes, overall plant size, the shape of the sepals, petals, and lip, and coloration. Bulbophyllum histrionicum Reichenbach f. ex G. A. Fischer & P. J. Cribb was previously recognized by Reichenbach as a new species, but was never formally described. It is characterized by its large, orbicular to somewhat ovoid pseudobulbs that are green flushed with red, large, ovate-oblong to ovate-lanceolate leaves, red floral bracts, long sepals, narrowly triangular petals, and glabrous lip. Bulbophyllum senghasii G. A. Fischer & Sieder has orbicular, non-compressed bifoliate pseudobulbs, flowers with greenish yellow sepals that are spotted with dark brown on the outside, and an elliptic lip that is not compressed in the middle and has erose rather than long-ciliate margins and falcate rather than straight stelidia. Bulbophyllum bryophytoides G. A. Fischer & Andriantiana is a very tiny plant distinguishable from other species of section Lichenophylax by its densely long-ciliate petals and its ciliate lip that lacks a median callus and has a glabrous surface.

The odd one out or a hidden generalist: Hawaiian Melicope (Rutaceae) do not share traits associated with successful island colonization: Melicope lack traits characteristic for island colonization

Oceanic islands are unique in their species composition, which is defined by arrival of colonizers via long distance dispersal followed by establishment of species followed in some cases by adaptive radiation. Evolutionary biologists identified traits facilitating successful colonization of islands as including polyploidy, self‐compatibility, herbaceousness and ability for long‐distance dispersal. Successful establishment and evolutionary diversification of lineages on islands often involves shifts to woodiness and shifts in methods of outcrossing as well as changes in dispersal ability. The genus Melicope colonized numerous archipelagos throughout the Pacific including the Hawaiian Islands, where the lineage comprises currently 54 endemic species and represents the largest radiation of woody plants on the islands. The wide distributional range of the genus illustrates its high dispersibility, most likely due to adaption to bird dispersal. Here we investigate ploidy in the genus using flow cytometry and chromosome counting. We find the genus to be paleopolyploid with 2n = 4x = 36, a ploidy level characterizing the entire subfamily Amyridoideae and dating back to at least the Palaeocene. Therefore Hawaiian Melicope have not undergone recent polyploidization prior to colonization of the islands. Thus Melicope retained colonization success while exhibiting a combination of traits that typically characterize well established island specialists while lacking some traits associated to successful colonizers.