CSIRO PUBLISHING
© CSIRO 2003 10 November 2003 10.1071/SB03014 1030-1887/03/050595
www.publish.csiro.au/journals/asb Australian Systematic Botany 16, 595–619
A revision of Lissanthe (Styphelioideae: Ericaceae)
Darren M. Crayn
A,C
, Elizabeth A. Brown
A
and Jocelyn M. Powell
A,B
A
National Herbarium of New South Wales, Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust, Mrs Macquaries Road,
Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia.
B
Current address: PO Box 158, Berowra Heights, NSW 2082, Australia.
C
Corresponding author; email: darren.crayn@rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au
Abstract. A revision of the styphelioid genus Lissanthe recognises seven species and two subspecies: L. brevistyla
A.R.Bean, L. sapida R.Br., L. strigosa (Sm.) R.Br. subsp. strigosa, L. strigosa subsp. subulata (R.Br.) J.M.Powell.
New combinations are made for two species transferred from Leucopogon: Lissanthe rubicunda (F.Muell.)
J.M.Powell, D.M.Crayn & E.A.Br. and Lissanthe pluriloculata (F.Muell.) J.M.Powell, D.M.Crayn & E.A.Br. Two
new species from Western Australia, Lissanthe powelliae D.M.Crayn & E.A.Br. and L. scabra D.M.Crayn & E.A.Br.
are described, and Lissanthe sapida is lectotypified. Keys, illustrations and distribution maps are provided for all
taxa. Lissanthe as defined here is a strongly supported clade based on analyses of sequence data from two
chloroplast loci, the atpB–rbcL intergenic spacer and the matK gene. Potential morphological synapomorphies for
Lissanthe include flowers pedicellate above the bracteoles, styles hairy at least at the base, and leaves with an
abaxial surface that is grooved longitudinally.
SB03014
RevisionofLissant he D.M.Crayn etal .
Introduction
Lissanthe, erected by Robert Brown in (1810), originally
comprised six species within three sections. Most modern
authors, however, have recognised only two species, namely
Li. sapida R.Br. and Li. strigosa (Sm.) R.Br., from the first
section. A third species, Li. brevistyla A.R.Bean, has been
described recently (Bean 2001) from ultramafic soils near
Marlborough, Queensland.
Lissanthe sensu Brown (1810) has the following
characteristics: erect shrubs, the leaves sparse, with parallel
veins below; flowers small, white, the sepals bibracteate or
ebracteate, the corolla funnel-shaped, the lobes beardless;
ovary five-locular; hypogenous disk cup-shaped, five-lobed;
drupe berry-like with solid bony endocarp.
Brown's first section is characterised by having
few-flowered axillary racemes with two bracts at the base of
the pedicel; the corolla tube is villous inside. Included are
Li. sapida, Li. subulata and Li. strigosa (the last based on
Styphelia strigosa Sm.). His second section, comprising
Li. montana R.Br., has few-flowered axillary spikes with two
bracteoles subtending the sepals; the corolla is urceolate, the
tube and throat bare. The third section comprises
Li. daphnoides (Sm.) R.Br. (based on Styphelia daphnoides
Sm.) and Li. ciliata R.Br. and is characterised by having
solitary axillary flowers and the sepals bibracteate; the
corolla is funnel-shaped and the throat has deflexed hairs
included.
Bentham (1869) retained the two species Li. sapida R.Br.
and Li. strigosa (Sm.) R.Br. within Brown's Section I but
submerged Li. subulata R.Br. in Li. strigosa on the basis of
specimens showing overlapping size ranges. He also retained
Li. montana R.Br. (Section II) but removed Section III of
Brown's Lissanthe to Brachyloma Sond. on the basis of the
inflorescence structure and the more or less imbricate corolla
lobes being more typical of Brachyloma. Bentham (1869)
also noted that Leucopogon rubicundus F.Muell. Herb. (not
of Fragm. 6: 99), Le. pleiospermus (F.Muell.) Benth. and
Le. pluriloculatus F.Muell. ‘…with their pedicellate flowers,
come very near to the first two species of Lissanthe
[Li. sapida and Li. strigosa], but with bearded corolla-lobes
and drier fruits.’
Ferdinand Mueller (1867) applied very broad generic
concepts in Epacridaceae (now Styphelioideae: Ericaceae),
sinking the majority of the fleshy-fruited genera, including
Lissanthe R.Br., into Styphelia Sm. Furthermore, he
combined Li. montana R.Br. with Le. hookeri Sond. under
the name Styphelia montana. He later recognised
Brachyloma (Mueller 1882, 1889) as including Brown's
section III species (as did Bentham), continuing to include
the first two sections of Lissanthe in Styphelia. Drude (1889)