Taxonomy of Vaccinium sect. Macropelma (Ericaceae)
1996
Vander Kloet, S.P.
Taxa traditionally referred to Vaccinium sect. Macropelma have a disjunct distribution; the V. cereum complex is restricted to southern Polynesia and the V. reticulatum complex to the Hawaiian Archipelago. Morphological differences in the anatomy of the calyx tube and structure of floriferous shoots between these two disjunct groups have raised the possibility that sect. Macropelma is polyphyletic. The intent of this study was to describe the anatomy and variation of floriferous shoots of V. cereum, then to compare the results with those obtained from Hawaiian plants wing numerical analyses. All specimens were scored for 24 characters. Analysis involved 18 specimens from Tahiti, six herbarium specimens from southern Polynesia, 30 specimens from Hawaii, and one specimen from the closely related Vaccinium sect. Myrtillus. In spite of its pseudo-10-locular ovary and complex floriferous shoot, V. cereum is consistently linked to V. reticulatum and V. dentatum in the resulting phenograms. The deciduous V. calycinum is the most distinct taxon in sect. Macropelma in these phenograms. It is suggested that the complex floriferous shoot of V. cereum may be plesiomorphic in Vaccinium.
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