Debregeasia Australis Sp. Nov. (Urticaceae), With a New Synopsis of and a New Key to the Genus

Abstract

A new species in the Old World genus Debregeasia (Urticaceae), D. australis Friis, Wilmot-Dear & C.J.Chen, based on material from forest habitats in eastern Queensland, Australia, is described, illustrated and mapped. A new synopsis of the genus and a new key to species recognised is provided as a supplement to the revision of Debregeasia by C. M. Wilmot-Dear in 1988. Debregeasia orientalis, described from China since 1988, is accepted, species from China and Bangladesh (D. elliptica and D. dentata) are reinstated, and other taxonomic changes made since the revision of 1988 are summarised.

Characteristics and Mutational Hotspots of Plastomes in Debregeasia (Urticaceae)

“…Debregeasia Gaud. (Urticaceae) occurs mostly in East Asia, and comprises about eight species (Chen et al, 2003;Wilmot-Dear and Friis, 2012). Debregeasia is economically important because of its stem fibers, which are usually used to make ropes and fishing nets, and its edible fruits can be used to make wines (Chen et al, 2003).…”

“…Additionally, Debregeasia has been used to treat diarrhea, bone fractures, tumors, skin diseases and urinary complaints, and contains compounds with anti-bacterial, immune suppressant, anti-fungal and anti-inflammatory properties ( Akbar and Malik, 2002 ; Almubayedh and Ahmad, 2019 ). Thus far, morphology-based taxonomic treatments for Debregeasia have been controversial ( Chen et al, 2003 ; Wilmot-Dear and Friis, 2012 ), whereas phylogenetic analyses have so far used too few loci to achieve full resolution within Debregeasia ( Wu et al, 2013 , 2018 ). Therefore, new methods based on plastome genomic data need to be explored to study the systematics of Debregeasia .…”

The complete chloroplast genome sequences of an endemic species of Urticaceae (Debregeasia hekouensis)

“…comprises eight species ( D. longifolia , D. elliptica , D. orientalis , D. saeneb , D. squamata , D. wallichiana , D. australis , and D. hekouensis ) with a worldwide distribution, but mainly found in subtropical or tropical areas of eastern Asia (Chen et al. 2003 ; Wilmot-Dear and Friis 2012 ; Wu et al. 2018 ).…”