And then there were ten . . .
Kunzea amathicola. Photo: Simon Walls
The culmination of a 15 year study investigating the cytology, ecology, hybridisation, molecular phylogeny and taxonomy of the New Zealand members of the Kunzea ericoides complex (Kunzea subg. Niviferae) has just been published in the international journal PhytoKeys. The monograph builds on a series of papers published in the Australian Journal of Botany, Australasian Systematic Journal of Botany and Conservation Biology that have examined the status of Kunzea ericoides. The monograph reaffirms that Kunzea ericoides is a New Zealand endemic, and furthermore that it is confined naturally to the northern South Island. Kunzea sinclairii is confirmed as a distinct species, whilst the much misunderstood Kunzea ericoides var. linearis is elevated to species rank. Kunzea ericoides var. microflora is redescribed using a new type at the rank of species as K. tenuicaulis - this change in name and type results from the ambiguous way the variety (based on a garden plant) was described and the poor condition of the type specimen. A further six species, all new to science are described. Of these Kunzea robusta is the most common, and is the species which most people have been erroneously calling K. ericoides - it is the largest species in the genus, and the most wide ranging (North and South Islands).
Another species Kunzea serotina is widespread and common from the Central North Island Mountains and Volcanic Plateau throughout much of the eastern South Island plains, intermontane basins and mountain slopes - this species has the highest altitudinal limit of any Kunzea having been found at 2000m a.s.l. on Mt Ruapehu. Kunzea amathicola is a species of mostly sand dune habitats, ranging from Te Paki south to Wellington and thence from Farewell Spit along the north-western Nelson coastline. The remaining species are much more localised - Kunzea triregensis is endemic to the Three Kings, K. toelkenii was once the dominant Kunzea on the dunefields of the Bay of Plenty but now survives only as scattered trees and one remnant near Whakatane. Kunzea salterae appears to be endemic to Moutohora (Whale Island). Despite popular mythology no Kunzea species are known from Rakiura / Stewart Island and none are shared with Australia.
Kunzea serotina de Lange et Toelken. Photo: Jeremy Rolfe
Of these species - K. amathicola, K. robusta, and K. serotina had been recognised as distinct as early as the 1840s but their species status was rejected by northern hemisphere botanist Joseph Hooker (1817-1911) who took a broad view on species diversity - a view which is now being increasingly challenged by modern treatments of southern hemisphere plants. Many of the species were also recognised by Maori who gave them names that related to their growth habits and wood properties, and significantly noted them as distinct because they occurred in zones where they are sympatric. The revision owes much to the pioneering efforts of Thomas Kirk (1828–1898) who openly challenged the views of Joseph Hooker, William Colenso (1811–1899), Harry Carse (1857–1930), Donald Petrie (1846–1925), George Simpson (1880–1952), and Australian Kunzea expert Hellmut Toelken.