| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
FURUKI Tatsuro Natural Museum of Natural History, Chiba, Department of Botany, Curator, 学芸研究員 (40250146)
KATO Masahiro University of Tokyo, School of Biological Sciences, Proffessor, 理学系研究科, 教授 (20093221)
HIGUCHI Masanobu Department of Botany, Senior Curator, 植物研究部, 主任研究官 (10189772)
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| Research Abstract |
Taxonomic studies on cryptogamic plants in the Hawaiian Islands are carried out basing on the collections made by the filed survey in Kauai, Molokai, Oahu, Maui and Hawaii Islands in 1997, 1998 and 1999. About 5000 specimens of cryptogamic plants were collected including lichens, mosses liverworts, and ferns.
Lichens : Taxonomic research on lichens was mainly concentrated to the genera Rimelia and Rimelia. The genus Ramalina is consists of 25 species including 6 new species, R. furcata, R. lanaiensis, R. muscicola, R. reptans, R. subgracilis, R. subrotunda. Five of the 25 species, such as R. extenuata, R. farinacea, R. leptocarpha, R. sideriza and R. subrotunda have two or three chemical races in each species. Except for R. peruviana, no species found in Asia but four species, R. celastri, R. farinacea, R. peruviana, R. pollinaria, R. subfarinacea are also found in the New World. The genus Rimelia is consists of 4 species, among which R. clavulifera is new to the islands.
Mosses and hepatics : The moss flora shows it highest diversity in wet forests dominated by Meterosideros polymorpha at higher than 1000 m, where most of endemic species grow. Areas at lower elevations (ca 900 m) have small species diversity, which, however, comprises species, prefer to grow on sunny and drier conditions. Mosses flora of the islands shows closer affinity to Asia or Oceania rather than that of North America. Study of polysety basing on Dicranum speirophyllum shows that it is more or less unstable in low sample size. Two new species for hepatics, Porella xxx and Pellia higuchii are newly described
Ferns : A new species, Deparia cataracticola, is described. A molecular phylogenetic analysis shows that D. cataracticola is the closest to a group of D. marginalis and D. prolifera among the Hawaiian species and some other related species examined. Sect. Deparia excluding D. bonincola may be a monophyletic group endemic to the Hawaii.
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