title: Melicope oppenheimeri, section Pelea (Rutaceae), a new species from West Maui, Hawaiian Islands: with notes on its ecology, conservation, and phylogenetic placement.
abstract: Melicope oppenheimeriK.R. Wood, Appelhans & W.L. Wagner (section Pelea (A. Gray) Hook. f., Rutaceae), a rare endemic tree from West Maui, Hawaiian Islands, is described and illustrated with notes on its ecology, conservation, and phylogenetic placement. The new species differs from Hawaiian congeners by its carpels basally connate 1/5, narrowed into a strongly reflexed beak 10-15 mm long. It also differs in a combination of leaves with 7-10 pair of secondary veins; cymes to 3 cm long; peduncles 5-6.5 mm long; flowers perfect; capsules 4-9 × 40-52 mm; and a densely appressed short-sericeous ovary.Melicope oppenheimeriis known only from an isolated cliff-base plateau in upper Waihe'e Valley, West Maui. Its discovery brings the number of recognizedMelicopeJ.R. Forst. & G. Forst. species in the Hawaiian Islands to 49. A table is included indicating the conservation status of HawaiianMelicopeandPlatydesmaH. Mann., which is nested within Melicope sect. Pelea.Melicope oppenheimerifalls into the IUCN Critically Endangered (CR) Red List category.
authors.affiliation: National Tropical Botanical Garden, 3530 Papalina Road, Kalaheo, HI 96741, USA.
authors.forename: Kennetah R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Wood
authors.affiliation: Department of Systematic Botany, Albrecht-von-Haller Institute of Plant Sciences, University of Göttingen, Untere Karspüle 2, 37073 Göttingen, Germany; Department of Botany, Smithsonian Institution, PO Box 37012, Washington, DC 20013-7012, USA.
authors.forename: Marc S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Appelhans
authors.affiliation: Department of Botany, Smithsonian Institution, PO Box 37012, Washington, DC 20013-7012, USA.
authors.forename: Warren L
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Wagner
keywords: Critically Endangered; Hawaiian Islands; Melicope; Melicope section Pelea; Rutaceae; West Maui; new species