official: Portugal has only the Bushy Needlewood - no Silky Needlebush in Europe
It is official: Silky Needlebush Hakea sericea is present in South Africa, but in Portugal there is only the Bushy Needlewood Hakea decurrens ssp. physocarpa.
At least from all the samples collected to date.
Which raises a problem for the EU because they have banned the wrong species. Interestingly it appears to be politically more acceptable to pretend to use the wide concept of the species, and get around the problem that way, than to simply accept that they made an error and change the name in the legislation.
So rather than change the legislation from Hakea sericea Schrad. & J.C.Wendl. to Hakea decurrens subsp. physocarpa W.R.Barker, the proposal is to call it Hakea sericea Schrad. & J.C.Wendl. s.l. (in the broad sense), because Hakea decurrens subsp. physocarpa was considered to be part of Hakea sericea for a short period in the past.
A lot of talk!!
Naturalised Hakea. What species are we actually talking about in Europe?
J.L.C.H. van Valkenburg, J. Beyer, P. Champion, J. Coetzee, K. Diadema, S. Kritzinger-Klopper, E. Marchante, L. Piet, D. M. Richardson & I. Schönberger (2024), Botany Letters, DOI: 10.1080/23818107.2024.2318761
ABSTRACT
Hakea sericea Schrad. & J.C.Wendl. (Proteaceae) is a shrub or small tree native to south-eastern Australia. The species has been introduced to other countries; it has naturalised and become invasive in France, New Zealand, Portugal, and South Africa. During the review process of the Pest Risk Analysis for the European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization (EPPO) on Hakea sericea in 2017, the actual identity of the plant causing major negative biodiversity impact in Portugal was questioned.
Flowering material from Portugal and additional collections from South Africa and New Zealand were collected in order to clarify the taxonomical status. To make the survey on the proper identity of the Hakea plants invasive in Portugal more concise, all Hakea species encountered in Portugal, France, South Africa and New Zealand were included. For morphological distinction of the species the length of the pistil and fruit characters were used. For molecular analysis Illumina sequencing in combination with de novo assembly and extraction of loci was used.
Results show that invasive populations of Hakea in Portugal belong to H. decurrens R.Br a species that, although very similar and sometimes considered synonymous with H. sericea, can be distinguished both morphologically and on the basis of cpDNA. Both species occur in France and in New Zealand, while only H. sericea occurs in South Africa. Both species are invasive and seem to have similar impacts on biodiversity in invaded ranges.
The morphologically similar species H. gibbosa (J.White) Cav. occurs in both New Zealand and South Africa.
By adopting the H. sericea sensu lato concept for inclusion of the species on the List of Union Concern pursuant of Regulation (EU) No 1143/2014, a potential legislative controversy can be prevented.
KEYWORDS: Barcoding, Regulation (EU) No 1143/2014, invasive species, Bushy Needlewood, Silky Needlebush
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/23818107.2024.2318761
