CAPITULUM: The International Compositae Alliance Newsletter

Diversity in New Zealand Gnaphalieae

Ilse Breitwieser

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3208-7000

Josephine M. Ward

DOI: https://doi.org/10.53875/capitulum.01.2.02

Keywords: convergent evolution, endemism, hybridism, morphology, Raoulia alliance

---

Abstract

New Zealand indigenous Gnaphalieae are examined for endemism, ecological and morphological diversity,
hybridism and taxonomic difficulty. The Raoulia alliance, an almost endemic clade, is shown to be remarkably
diverse in morphology but with some interconnections within this diversity. Similarities between Leucogenes and
Leontopodium, Anaphalioides and Anaphalis, Raoulia and Mniodes, and Ewartiothamnus and Ewartia are hypothesized
to be due to the independent acquisition of remarkably similar morphological adaptations.