Systematics of the Australian species of Rhodamnia (Myrtaceae)

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In Australia, nineteen species of Rhodamnia (Myrtaceae) are recognized, based on data from morphology and scanning electron microscopy, and are assigned to five informal groups, based primarily on the type of indumentum on the abaxial leaf surface. Stellate hairs, found in two species, appear to represent the first report of this hair type in Myrtaceae. A review of essential oil profiles is presented. In Australia Rhodamnia occurs mostly in eastern Queensland from the northern tip of Cape York Peninsula south through eastern New South Wales, although one species, R. australis, ranges from the Northern Territory to Cape York Peninsula. As circumscribed here, all Australian species are endemic to that continent apart from R. spongiosa, which extends into Papua New Guinea. Detailed descriptions, illustrations of new taxa, distribution maps, and keys are included. Lectotypes are designated for the basionyms Rhodamnia argentea, R. blairiana, R. trinervia var. glabra, and R. trinervia var. spongiosa. Four species are newly described: Rhodamnia arenaria, R. sharpeana, R. fordii, and R. hylandii.

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