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Nomenclatural Notes on Hawaiian Myrsinaceae 
Robert L. Wilbur 1 
The HAWAIIAN REPRESENTATIVES of the 
genus Myrsine L., including those entities some- 
times assigned to the segregated Suttonia A. 
Rich, and Rapanea Aubl., were most recently 
revised by Hosaka ( Occ. Pap. Bishop Mus. 
16:25-76, 1940). In this paper 25 Hawaiian 
taxa were recognized and 21 of these were con- 
sidered species. Hosaka’s account appears to 
be a very significant milestone in elucidating 
a difficult group of Hawaiian trees and shrubs. 
Unfortunately for the sake of stability, the 
names applied to three of the species and one 
variety are not in accord with the International 
Code. The four required new combinations or 
names and the synonymy of these taxa are pre- 
sented below. 
1. Myrsine Hosakae nom. nov. 
Suttonia angustifolia Mez, Pflanzenreich. 9 
(IV. 236) :337, 1902. 
Myrsine angustifolia (Mez) Hosaka, Occ. 
Pap. Bishop Mus. 16:42, 1940, non D. 
Dietr, Syn. Pi. 1:619. 1839. 
The name of this species is of course in- 
tended as a memorial to the late Edward Y. 
Hosaka, student of the Hawaiian vegetation 
and flora, whose efforts to delineate the Ha- 
waiian taxa of Myrsine resulted in a most use- 
ful publication. 
2. Myrsine Meziana (Levi.) comb. nov. 
Myrsine Gaudichaudii A. DC. forma acumi- 
nata Wawra, Flora 57:524, 1874. 
Suttonia Meziana Levi., Repert. Sp. Nov. 
10:443, 1912. 
Myrsine Fosbergii Hosaka var. acuminata 
(Wawra) Hosaka, Occ. Pap. Bishop Mus. 
16:47, 1940. 
1 Department of Botany, Duke University, Durham, 
North Carolina. The National Science Foundation, 
through a grant of research funds to Duke University 
(NSF-Grant 18799), supported this study. Manuscript 
received March 13, 1964. 
Hosaka overlooked Leveille s binominal, Sut- 
tonia Meziana , but cited one of its isotypes 
( Faurie 428 ) among the specimens examined. 
Unfortunately there may be some confusion in 
names between this species from Oahu and 
Molokai and Myrsine Mezii Hosaka from 
Kauai. 
3. Myrsine Meziana (Levi.) Wilb. var. Fos- 
bergii (Hosaka) comb. nov. 
Myrsine Fosbergii Hosaka, Occ. Pap. Bishop 
Mus. 16:46, 1940. 
4. Myrsine punctata (Levi.) comb. nov. 
Myrsine Sandwicensis A.DC. var. lanceolata 
Wawra, Flora 57:526, 1874. 
Myrsine lanceolata (Wawra) Heller, Minn. 
Bot. Stud. 9:873, 1897, non Wallich, 
1829. 
Myrsine tenuifolia Heller, l.c. invalid name, 
published in synonymy of M. lanceolata. 
Myrsine sandwicensis A.DC. var. punctata 
Levi., Repert. Sp. Nov. 10:157, 1911. 
Suttonia punctata (Levi.) Levi., Repert. Sp. 
Nov. 10:443, 1912. 
Suttonia apodocarpa Levi., Repert. Sp. Nov. 
10:444, 1912. 
Suttonia sandwicensis ( A.DC. ) Mez var. 
apodocarpa (Levi.) Rock, Indigenous 
Trees Haw. Is. 379, 1913. 
Suttonia lanceolata (Wawra) Rock, Indige- 
nous Trees Haw. Is. 379, 1913. 
Rapanea Rockii Degener & Hosaka, FI. 
Haw. 1939. 
Myrsine Rockii (Degener & Hosaka) Ho- 
saka, Occ. Pap. Bishop Mus. 16:50, 1940. 
There appears to be no obstacle to using 
either of Leveille’s binomial epithets in Myr- 
sine or Rapanea and hence Degener and Ho- 
saka should have taken up one of them. Skotts- 
berg (Acta Horti Gothob. 15:428, 1944) 
questioned their failure to adopt ( Leveille’s S. 
punctata, but to my knowledge the necessary 
combination has not been made. 
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