''Commersonia tahitensis'' is a species of flowering plant in the family

Malvaceae Malvaceae, or the mallows, is a family of flowering plants estimated to contain 244 genera with 4225 known species. Well-known members of economic importance include okra, cotton, cacao and durian. There are also some genera containing familiar o ...

and is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found els ...

to the

Society Islands The Society Islands (french: Îles de la Société, officially ''Archipel de la Société;'' ty, Tōtaiete mā) are an archipelago located in the South Pacific Ocean. Politically, they are part of French Polynesia, an overseas country of the F ...

. It was first formally described in 2004 by

Laurence Joseph Dorr Laurence "Larry" Joseph Dorr (born September 18, 1953, in Boston) is an American botanist and plant collector. He specializes in the systematics of the order Malvales and the family Ericaceae. Biography In 1971 Dorr graduated from Roxbury Latin Sch ...

who gave it the name ''Commersonia bartramia'' var. ''tahitensis'' in the '' Flore de la Polynésie française''. In 2011, Carolyn Wilkins and

Barbara Whitlock Barbara may refer to: People * Barbara (given name) * Barbara (painter) (1915–2002), pseudonym of Olga Biglieri, Italian futurist painter * Barbara (singer) (1930–1997), French singer * Barbara Popović (born 2000), also known mononymously ...

raised the variety to species status as ''C. tahitensis'' in ''

Australian Systematic Botany ''Australian Systematic Botany'' is an international peer-reviewed scientific journal published by CSIRO Publishing. It is devoted to publishing original research, and sometimes review articles, on topics related to systematic botany, such as bi ...

''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q17579751 tahitensis Endemic flora of the Society Islands Plants described in 2004