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ABSTRACT
Nineteen new records of flowering plants naturalised in the Kingdom of Tonga are recognised, with the majority of these present in the southern islands of ʻEua and Tongatapu. These records comprise earlier but unpublished collections made by G. P. Buelow and W. R. Sykes, and also collections made in 2023. These records are from seven families, with Asteraceae comprising seven species and Fabaceae and Lamiaceae three each. Basellaceae includes two new records, Anredera cordifolia (Ten.) Steenis and Basella alba L. The invasive Anredera was well-established at the location at which it was collected on ʻEua and may pose a threat to the indigenous tropical forest in ʻEua National Park. Many of the other new records are smaller-growing herbaceous species which are likely to have minimal environmental impact as they predominantly occur in disturbed waste places among other weed species. While some of the species listed here were previously recorded as observations in checklists, it has been difficult to locate herbarium vouchers supporting these records and so the vouchers reported here are a provisional first record for these.
Acknowledgements
I thank Siua Halavatau and Sione Foliaki for the invitation to attend the Climate Smart Agriculture Workshop in Nukuʻalofa which enabled the extended visit to Tonga. The collecting efforts in Tonga of Gary Buelow and Bill Sykes are also acknowledged as their unpublished herbarium vouchers deposited in CHR have been an invaluable source of information for the flora of Tonga. Ines Schoenberger is thanked for discussion and providing information on G. P. Buelow. Two anonymous referees are thanked for their comments on the draft manuscript.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).