Identity of Aralia bastardiana Decaisne

Abstract

Aralia bastardiana Decne., since its written description in 1864 [as Panax bastardianus (Decne.) Decne.] thought to be from Tahiti but never recollected there, is considered almost certainly to have been collected in the Marquesas. It is identical to Cheirodendron marquesense F. Brown, the name by which the Marquesanpimata, the only species of the genus outside the Hawaiian Islands, is usually known. A new combination, Cheirodendron bastardianum, is therefore made. Spirally arranged leaves, seemingly exceptional in Cheirodendron but depicted on the main shoot in Decaisne's illustration of Aralia bastardiana, also occur in juvenile plants and on reversion shoots of Hawaiian species, at least in C. trigynum subsp. helleri and C. platyphyllum subsp. kauaiense. A list of localities and specimens seen of C. bastardianum is given.