''Lordhowea'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

in the family

Asteraceae The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae w ...

, native to eastern and south-eastern

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and

Lord Howe Island Lord Howe Island (; formerly Lord Howe's Island) is an irregularly crescent-shaped volcanic remnant in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand, part of the Australian state of New South Wales. It lies directly east of mainland P ...

. The genus was established by Bertil Nordenstam in 1978.

Description

circumscribed In geometry, the circumscribed circle or circumcircle of a polygon is a circle that passes through all the vertices of the polygon. The center of this circle is called the circumcenter and its radius is called the circumradius. Not every polyg ...

in a 2020 study, species of the genus ''Lordhowea'' are somewhat tall and open

herbaceous Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials. Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous" The fourth edition of t ...

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

by plants with wide and undivided leaves. ''Lordhowea insularis'' is particularly shrubby. The

flower heads A pseudanthium (Greek for "false flower"; ) is an inflorescence that resembles a flower. The word is sometimes used for other structures that are neither a true flower nor a true inflorescence. Examples of pseudanthia include flower heads, compos ...

are arranged in a cymose

panicle A panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit) be pedicellate (having a single stem per flower). The branches of a panicle are of ...

. All except ''L. insularis'' have long ray florets. The three species whose

chromosome A chromosome is a long DNA molecule with part or all of the genetic material of an organism. In most chromosomes the very long thin DNA fibers are coated with packaging proteins; in eukaryotic cells the most important of these proteins are ...

number is known have the unusual value of ''n'' = 19.

Taxonomy

The genus ''Lordhowea'' was established by Bertil Nordenstam 1978 with the sole species ''

Lordhowea insularis ''Lordhowea insularis'' is a species of flowering plants in the groundsel tribe within the daisy family. It is endemic to Australia's Lord Howe Island in the Tasman Sea. ''Lordhowea insularis'' is a tall, woody herb growing to 1–2 m in h ...

'',

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

, which Nordenstam transferred from ''

Senecio ''Senecio'' is a genus of flowering plants in the daisy family (Asteraceae) that includes ragworts and groundsels. Variously circumscribed taxonomically, the genus ''Senecio'' is one of the largest genera of flowering plants. Description Morp ...

''. The genus remained

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

until 2020, when a

molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

study of Australian species placed in the tribe

Senecioneae Senecioneae is the largest tribe of the Asteraceae, or the sunflower family, comprising over 150 genera and over 3,500 species. Almost one-third of the species in this tribe are placed in the genus ''Senecio''. Its members exhibit probably the w ...

found that ''L. insularis'' formed a clade with three species then placed in ''Senecio''. This clade was clearly distinct from other ''Senecio'' species, both genetically and morphologically. Accordingly, the authors of the 2020 study expanded ''Lordhowea'' to include these three mainland Australian species.

Species

Plants of the World Online Plants of the World Online (POWO) is an online database published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. It was launched in March 2017 with the ultimate aim being "to enable users to access information on all the world's known seed-bearing plants by ...

accepted four species: *''

Lordhowea amygdalifolia ''Lordhowea amygdalifolia'', synonym ''Senecio amygdalifolius'', is a species of flowering plant in the daisy family (Asteraceae). It occurs in the Australian states of New South Wales and Queensland, in wet eucalyptus forest or around the margin ...

'' (F.Muell.) Schmidt-Leb. *''

'' (Benth.) B.Nord. *''

Lordhowea pilosicrista ''Lordhowea'' is a generic name that may refer to: * ''Lordhowea'' (plant), a genus of plants native to Australia and Lord Howe Island * a monotypic genus of spiders with the sole species '' Lordhowea nesiota'', native to Australia {{Genus di ...

'' (I.Thomps.) Schmidt-Leb. *''

Lordhowea velleioides ''Lordhowea velleioides'', synonym ''Senecio velleioides'', is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. It is commonly known as forest groundsel. The species occurs in the Australian states of New South Wales, Victoria and Tasman ...

'' (A.Cunn. ex DC.) Schmidt-Leb.

References

Senecioneae Asteraceae genera {{Senecioneae-stub