Gossia, N. Snow & Guymer

Snow, Neil, 2020, A revision of New Caledonian Gossia N. Snow & Guymer (Myrtaceae), Adansonia (3) 42 (7), pp. 131-177 : 174

SYNONYMIZATION OF GOSSIA BYRNESII UNDER EUGENIA REINWARDTIANA

Described from a single specimen from northeastern Australia ( Snow et al. 2003), Gossia byrnesii N. Snow & Guymer here is reduced to synonymy under Eugenia reinwardtiana (Blume) DC. , given its 4-merous flowers and dibrachiate trichomes, the latter being common in Eugenia but unknown for Gossia . Fruiting material, absent from the holotype, would have clarified unambiguously its generic placement, given the pronounced differences in seed number and testal texture (seeds few and with a soft or leathery testa in Eugenia).

The taxonomy of E. reinwardtiana itself is complex and in need of further study, summarized recently by Veldkamp (2013). Moreover, Bernardini et al. (2014) used maximum likelihood analysis of combined nuclear (ITS and ETS) and plastid (ndh F, mat K, and rpl 16) on six accessions of E. reinwardtiana from across a broad geographical area ( Philippines south to Australia and east to Hawaii). The sampled specimens were found to be closely related to, or perhaps conspecific with, Eugenia bryanii Kaneh., E. palumbis Merr., E. confusa DC., and E. koolauensis O. Deg. ( Bernardini et al. 2014).