Limonium wrightii (Hance) Kuntze (1891: 396)

Nakamura, Koh, Rubite, Rosario Rivera, Kokubugata, Goro, Kono, Yoshiko, Yokota, Masatsugu & Peng, Ching-I, 2013, First record of the genus Limonium (Plumbaginaceae) from the Malesian region, Phytotaxa 152 (1), pp. 56-58 : 56-57

Limonium wrightii (Hance) Kuntze (1891: 396)

Bas.: Statice wrightii Hance (1866: 236) . Holotype: — JAPAN. Ryukyu Islands , Wright s.n. ( BM!)

Description: —A shrublet with woody stems densely covered with dark brown rigid scales and leaves congested on upper part of stems ( Fig. 1A ). The species has flower color polymorphism among populations (pink, yellow, orange, ivory, and white; Matsumura et al. 2006) and the Philippines population had pink flowers ( Fig. 1B ). Based on these characters, L. wrightii is clearly distinguished from congeners in the East Asian Pacific rim, which are herbs having only basal leaves and yellow flowers ( Peng & Kamelin 1996, Matsumura et al. 2006).

Distribution and habitat: —The species has been reported previously only from Japan (the Ryukyu Archipelago, Izu Islands, and Ogasawara Islands) and southern Taiwan (southern part of Taiwan Island, Penghu Islands, and Lutao and Lanyu islands) ( Li 1998, Matsumura et al. 2006). The newly discovered population was in Sabtang Island of Batan Islands (the Philippines). The population grew on a raised coral reef terrace at seashore ( Fig. 1C ), which is the typical habitat of the species.

Conservation status: — Limonium wrightii is listed in the red lists of Japan and Taiwan as a Vulnerable (VU) and Critically endangered (CR) species, respectively ( Ministry of the Environment, Japan 2012, Wang et al. 2012). In Sabtang Island, the population of several tens of square meters comprised a few hundred individuals. This is the only known population in the Philippines and isolated from conspecific populations in Taiwan and Japan. Although Batanes Province is in its entirety a protected area (Sanga 2001), the very small population is prone to the effects of human activities or stochastic events within a very short time period. The species is here assessed as Vulnerable under Criterion D2 of IUCN (2010, 2012) for the Philippines.

Specimina visa: — THE PHILIPPINES. Batanes: Sabtang Island, Savidug Village , ca. 2 m, E121° 53' 25.45", N20° 18' 48.49", 19 December 2011, Nakamura 11922 ( HAST) .

Figures

FIGURE 1. Limonium wrightii in Sabtang Island, Batanes, the Philippines. A. Habit. B. Flower. C. Habitat. Scale bars: 5 cm (A), and 1 cm (B).