The genus Tapeinosperma was created by Hooker f. The diagnosis has been resumed and developed by Mez. However it involves uncertainties and it is sometimes difficult to separate Tapeinosperma from other genera having similar distribution areas but not yet known from New Caledonia. Considering the new taxa described in this study, 79 species would have been recognised until now, 47 among them – all endemics – in New Caledonia, the others in the archipelagoes of the southwestern part of the tropical Pacific, in Insulindia (New Guinea, Borneo) and in Australia; but, certainly, the inventory is still incomplete. In the classification by groups and in the description of the species, emphasis is placed on the position of the inflorescences – terminal on normal or special branches – and the degree of their ramification, as well as on the size and shape of leaves and fruits – more or less globular, turbinate or discoid –, and finally on the vegetative apparatus, pachycaulous or leptocaulous. For a not yet described species, the creation of a new genus, Mangenotiella gen. nov., is needed, considering the unusual features of the inflorescence and fruit.
Adansonia
34 (2) - Pages 279-341
