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Australian Systematic Botany Australian Systematic Botany Society
Taxonomy, biogeography and evolution of plants
RESEARCH ARTICLE

A new species of Lepidosperma (Cyperaceae) allied to L. congestum of southern Australia

George T. Plunkett https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1413-665X A C , Jeremy J. Bruhl https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9112-4436 A and Karen L. Wilson B
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Botany, School of Environmental and Rural Science, University of New England, Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia.

B National Herbarium of New South Wales, Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust, Mrs Macquaries Road, Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia.

C Corresponding author. Email: gplunke2@une.edu.au

Australian Systematic Botany 31(4) 357-372 https://doi.org/10.1071/SB17055
Submitted: 19 October 2017  Accepted: 26 October 2018   Published: 6 December 2018

Abstract

We investigated the limits of Lepidosperma congestum R.Br. and a putative new species of Lepidosperma Labill. from Victoria and South Australia. Phenetic analyses (flexible UPGMA agglomerative hierarchical fusion and semi-strong hybrid multidimensional scaling) were conducted on a dataset derived from morphological characters scored from herbarium material. The results of our analyses supported the recognition of a new species, which we describe here as Lepidosperma hispidulum G.T.Plunkett, J.J.Bruhl & K.L.Wilson. Our results clarified the differences among L. congestum, L. laeve R.Br. and L. hispidulum, the first two of which have often been misidentified. We also discuss the distribution, habitat and conservation status of L. hispidulum.

Additional keywords: fruit, morphology, morphometrics, phenetic analysis, Schoeneae, taxonomy.


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