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The generic placement of the enigmatic and extinct Logania depressa from New Zealand has been uncertain due to the paucity of available plant material. This diminutive plant has only been collected once from the central North Island, New Zealand, by William Colenso on 22 February 1847. Logania depressa is dioecious and the single collection comprises only male flowers and does not include female flowers or fruit that feature generic diagnostic characters. Previously its relationship to Geniostoma has been considered and its affinities to Orianthera are unknown. Orianthera has been recently recognised as a segregate of Logania. Using leaf material from a small fragment of L. depressa held in Allan Herbarium (CHR) we recovered 9,368 bp of plastid sequence data that mapped to Mitreola yangchuensis, with Mitreola being the closest generic relative of Logania for which whole genome data was available. Available genetic data for Loganiaceae is limited to several chloroplast markers, including the rps16 intron, petD intron, and petD–petB intergenic spacer. From the novel plastid sequence data for Logania depressa, 48 bp of the rps16 intron, 45 bp of the petD intron and 49 bp of the petD–petB intergenic spacer could be recovered to compare with available Loganiaceae sequences. Phylogenetic analysis of these sequences confirmed L. depressa as the only New Zealand member of Logania sens. str., but its relationships to Australian species are unresolved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The generic relationships of the extinct Trilepidea adamsii (Cheeseman) Tiegh. from New Zealand have been uncertain due to the paucity and age of available plant material. Last seen nearly seventy years ago in 1954, fresh material has not been available for comparative studies. Trilepidea adamsii has morphological affinities to Alepis flavida (Hook.f.) Tiegh., Peraxilla colensoi (Hook.f.) Tiegh. and P. tetrapetala (L.f.) Tiegh. with all taxa being placed in subtribe Elytranthinae, but precise phylogenetic relationships have not been determined. Using leaf material of Trilepidea adamsii from a specimen in Allan Herbarium (CHR) collected in 1920 from near Thames, Coromandel Peninsula, North Island, we recovered approximately 93% of the plastid genome by mapping Illumina sequence reads to a plastid genome sequence of Elytranthe albida (Blume) Blume, with Elytranthe being another genus of Loranthaceae. We also sequenced plastid genomes of Alepis flavida, Peraxilla colensoi and Peraxilla tetrapetala and conducted a phylogenetic analysis using other Loranthaceae plastid genome sequences from GenBank. Phylogenetic analyses of the plastid genome sequences confirmed T. adamsii as sister to a clade comprising Alepis and Peraxilla. While the level of sequence divergence is low, we do not consider that the generic boundaries need to be reassessed. We suggest re-examination of anatomical and morphological traits is warranted to better understand evolution in this lineage of four endemic mistletoe species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]