Flora of Western Australia
Encyclopedia
Vascular plant
Vascular plants are those plants that have lignified tissues for conducting water, minerals, and photosynthetic products through the plant. Vascular plants include the clubmosses, Equisetum, ferns, gymnosperms and angiosperms...
species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
of 1,543 genera
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
within 226 families
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
; there are also 1,171 naturalised alien or invasive plant species more commonly known as weed
Weed
A weed in a general sense is a plant that is considered by the user of the term to be a nuisance, and normally applied to unwanted plants in human-controlled settings, especially farm fields and gardens, but also lawns, parks, woods, and other areas. More specifically, the term is often used to...
s. There are an estimated 150,000 cryptogam species or nonvascular plants which include lichens, and fungi although only 1,786 species have been published, with 948 algae
Algae
Algae are a large and diverse group of simple, typically autotrophic organisms, ranging from unicellular to multicellular forms, such as the giant kelps that grow to 65 meters in length. They are photosynthetic like plants, and "simple" because their tissues are not organized into the many...
and 672 lichen the majority.
History
Indigenous AustraliansIndigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
have a long history with the flora of Western Australia. They have for over 50,000 years obtained detailed information on most plants. The information includes its uses as sources for food, shelter, tools and medicine. As Indigenous Australians passed the knowledge along orally or by example, most of this information has been lost, along many of the names they gave the flora. It was not until Europeans started to explore Western Australia that systematic written details of the flora commenced.
1690s to 1829
The first scientific collection of flora from Western Australia was by William DampierWilliam Dampier
William Dampier was an English buccaneer, sea captain, author and scientific observer...
near Shark Bay
Shark Bay, Western Australia
Shark Bay is a World Heritage Site in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia. It is an area centred approximately on , 800 kilometres north of Perth, on the westernmost point of Australia. An expedition led by Dirk Hartog happened upon the area in 1616, becoming the second group of Europeans...
and in the Dampier Archipelago
Dampier Archipelago
The Dampier Archipelago is a group of islands near Dampier, Western Australia. It is named after William Dampier, an English buccaneer and explorer who visited in 1699. Dampier named one of the islands, Rosemary Island.-History:...
in 1699. This collection is housed in the Fielding Druce Herbarium; of the 24 species collected, 15 were published by John Ray
John Ray
John Ray was an English naturalist, sometimes referred to as the father of English natural history. Until 1670, he wrote his name as John Wray. From then on, he used 'Ray', after "having ascertained that such had been the practice of his family before him".He published important works on botany,...
and Leonard Plukenet
Leonard Plukenet
Leonard Plukenet was an English botanist, Royal Professor of Botany and gardener to Queen Mary. Plukenet published Phytographia in four parts in which he described and illustrated rare exotic plants. It is a copiously illustrated work of more than 2 700 figures and is frequently cited in books...
. There were two species of Western Australian flora published in 1768 by Burman that are thought to have been collected by Willem de Vlamingh
Willem de Vlamingh
Willem Hesselsz de Vlamingh was a Dutch sea-captain who explored the central west coast of Australia in the late 17th century.- Vlamingh and the VOC :...
during his exploration of the area around the Swan River in 1697.
Archibald Menzies
Archibald Menzies was a Scottish surgeon, botanist and naturalist.- Life and career :Menzies was born at Easter Stix in the parish of Weem, in Perthshire. While working with his elder brother William at the Royal Botanic Gardens, he drew the attention of Dr John Hope, professor of botany at...
collected specimens around the King George Sound
King George Sound
King George Sound is the name of a sound on the south coast of Western Australia. Located at , it is the site of the city of Albany.The sound covers an area of and varies in depth from to ....
area while on the Vancouver Expedition
Vancouver Expedition
The Vancouver Expedition was a four-and-a-half-year voyage of exploration and diplomacy, commanded by Captain George Vancouver. The expedition circumnavigated the globe, touched five continents and changed the course of history for the indigenous nations and several European empires and their...
. French botanist
Botany
Botany, plant science, or plant biology is a branch of biology that involves the scientific study of plant life. Traditionally, botany also included the study of fungi, algae and viruses...
Jacques Labillardiere
Jacques Labillardière
Jacques-Julien Houtou de Labillardière was a French naturalist noted for his descriptions of the flora of Australia. Labillardière was a member of a voyage in search of the La Pérouse expedition...
in December 1792 as part of the d'Entrecasteaux expedition collected specimens in the Esperance area before the expedition went onto explore parts of Tasmania. Between 1801–1803 Jean Baptiste Leschenault de la Tour
Jean Baptiste Leschenault de la Tour
Jean Baptiste Louis Claude Theodore Leschenault de la Tour was a French botanist and ornithologist.Leschenault de la Tour was chief botanist on Nicolas Baudin's expedition to Australia between 1800 and 1803...
was the botanist on Baudins exploration
Baudin expedition of 1800 to 1802
The Baudin expedition of 1800 to 1803 was a French expedition to map the coast of Australia. Nicolas Baudin was selected as leader in October 1800...
of the WA coast. Labillardiere used the specimens collected to publish the two volume Novae Hollandiae Plantarum Specimen
Novae Hollandiae Plantarum Specimen
Novae Hollandiae Plantarum Specimen is a two volume work describing the flora of Australia. The author was the French botanist Jacques Labillardière, who visited the region in 1792 with the d'Entrecasteaux expedition...
in 1804 and 1807. Of the species originally named by Labillardiere, 105 were still in use in 2000.
While Baudin was exploring the coast with Jean Leschenault de la Tour taking specimens, botanist Robert Brown
Robert Brown (botanist)
Robert Brown was a Scottish botanist and palaeobotanist who made important contributions to botany largely through his pioneering use of the microscope...
was with Matthew Flinders
Matthew Flinders
Captain Matthew Flinders RN was one of the most successful navigators and cartographers of his age. In a career that spanned just over twenty years, he sailed with Captain William Bligh, circumnavigated Australia and encouraged the use of that name for the continent, which had previously been...
in the Investigator circumnavigating Australia. During this voyage Brown collected over 600 specimens from Western Australia between December 1801 and January 1802 and from a short stopover in 1803 before returning to England. On returning to England using the specimens he collected and those of other collectors, Brown published Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae in 1810. Along with further publications in 1814 and 1849, Brown created many of the now readily recognisable names of Western Australian flora like Leschenaultia
Lechenaultia
Lechenaultia is a genus of plants in the Goodeniaceae family. Some species of this genus are used like ornamental plants. Lechenaultia species are diverse in form, they may appear as trees, shrubs, or small herbaceous plants....
, which was named after Jean Baptiste Leschenault de la Tour, Caladenia
Caladenia
The genus Caladenia belongs to the subfamily Orchidoideae of the orchid family . The abbreviation Calda. is often used in trade journals to indicate the genus....
, and Dryandra
Dryandra
Banksia ser. Dryandra is a series of 94 species of shrub to small tree in the plant genus Banksia. It was considered a separate genus named Dryandra until early 2007, when it was merged into Banksia on the basis of extensive molecular and morphological evidence that Banksia was paraphyletic with...
. As of January 2000, over 800 of the species published by Brown are still current.
Allan Cunningham (botanist)
Allan Cunningham was an English botanist and explorer, primarily known for his travels in New South Wales to collect plants.- Early life :...
was aboard the Mermaid in King's surveys between 1817 and 1822 of the Western Australian coast; Cunningham's collections included significant specimens from the northern areas of Western Australia. The establishment of an outpost at King George Sound in 1827 and the founding of the Swan River Colony
Swan River Colony
The Swan River Colony was a British settlement established in 1829 on the Swan River, in Western Australia. The name was a pars pro toto for Western Australia. In 1832, the colony was officially renamed Western Australia, when the colony's founding Lieutenant-Governor, Captain James Stirling,...
in 1829 opened Western Australia up to exploration by botanists.
1829 to 1900
Southwest Australia
Southwest Australia is a biodiversity hotspot that includes the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub ecoregions of Western Australia. The region has a wet-winter, dry-summer Mediterranean climate, one of five such regions in the world...
was more accessible to botanists. During the 1830s–1840s, this included Stephen Endlicher, John Lindley
John Lindley
John Lindley FRS was an English botanist, gardener and orchidologist.-Early years:Born in Catton, near Norwich, England, John Lindley was one of four children of George and Mary Lindley. George Lindley was a nurseryman and pomologist and ran a commercial nursery garden...
, Johann Lehmann and Ludwig Preiss
Ludwig Preiss
Johann August Ludwig Preiss was a German-born British botanist and zoologist.Preiss was born in Herzberg am Harz, Germany. He obtained a doctorate, probably at Hamburg, then emigrated to Western Australia...
. The botanists depended on local settlers James Drummond
James Drummond (botanist)
James Drummond was a botanist and naturalist who was an early settler in Western Australia.-Early life:...
, George Maxwell
George Maxwell
George Maxwell was a professional collector of plants and insects in Southwest Australia. The botanical specimens he obtained were used to make formal descriptions of the region's plant species....
and many more both during their stay and afterwards for further specimens and observations. From December 1838 through to January 1842 Preiss collected approximately 200,000 plant specimens, including specimens purchased from settlers like Drummond. Naturalist
Naturalist
Naturalist may refer to:* Practitioner of natural history* Conservationist* Advocate of naturalism * Naturalist , autobiography-See also:* The American Naturalist, periodical* Naturalism...
John Gilbert
John Gilbert (naturalist)
John Gilbert was an English naturalist and explorer.Gilbert's birthday is 14 March, but the year is not known, estimates range from 1810 to 1815.He came from New Zealand to Australia in 1838....
, employed by John Gould
John Gould
John Gould was an English ornithologist and bird artist. The Gould League in Australia was named after him. His identification of the birds now nicknamed "Darwin's finches" played a role in the inception of Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection...
to collect specimens in Western Australia, was dismayed at the prices he was paying.
In 1863 George Bentham
George Bentham
George Bentham CMG FRS was an English botanist, characterized by Duane Isely as "the premier systematic botanist of the nineteenth century".- Formative years :...
published the first volume of a seven volume series called Flora Australiensis
Flora Australiensis
Flora Australiensis: a description of the plants of the Australian Territory, more commonly referred to as Flora Australiensis, and also known by its standard abbreviation Fl. Austral., is a seven-volume flora of Australia published between 1863 and 1878 by George Bentham, with the assistance of...
which included descriptions for 8,125 taxa. This was the first detailed account of Australian flora
Flora of Australia
The flora of Australia comprises a vast assemblage of plant species estimated to over 20,000 vascular and 14,000 non-vascular plants, 250,000 species of fungi and over 3,000 lichens...
which included many Western Australian species as the work covered the relationship between many of the larger plant families which occurred across the continent. As Bentham had never been to Australia, he based all his work on the material already collected, assisted by Ferdinand von Mueller
Ferdinand von Mueller
Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, KCMG was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist.-Early life:...
Victoria's colonial botanist. Mueller made two visits to WA in 1867 and 1871 to collect material and 1,122 of the Western Australian species described by Mueller are still in use. In 1882, and revised in 1889, Mueller produced a census of WA flora listing 3,560 individual species.
1901 to 1928
During 1900–01 Ludwig Deils and Ernst Pritzel collected around 5700 specimens, publishing an account of the specimens in 1904-05 that included 200 new species. In 1906 Deils published the first ecological regions for Western Australia flora, dividing the state into three biological provinces. J. J. East in 1912, as part of the Cyclopedia of Western AustraliaCyclopedia of Western Australia
Cyclopedia of Western AustraliaEdited by James Battye - was the pre-eminent written summary of Western Australia's development and context prior to World war one.-Publication details:*Battye, J.S...
, wrote an essay that noted 4,166 plant species had been identified and included the three biological provinces described by Diels.
After Federation in 1901 many new government departments began small herbaria, run by botanists like Alexander Morrison
Alexander Morrison (botanist)
Alexander Morrison was the first Government Botanist of Western Australia.Born in Western Dalmeny, Scotland, he began a medicine degree at Edinburgh, but suffered from ill health, prompting him to break his studies and visit Australia. He spent two years in Melbourne before returning to Edinburgh...
, Frederick Stoward
Frederick Stoward
Frederick Stoward was the Government Botanist with the Department of Agriculture in Western Australia from 1911 to 1917.Born at Axbridge, Somerset, England, he was a member of the Hardy family famous for the Hardy Wine Company...
and Desmond Herbert
Desmond Herbert
Desmond Andrew Herbert CMG was an Australian botanist.The son of a fruit-grower, Herbert was born in Diamond Creek, Victoria in 1898; was educated at Malvern State School and the Melbourne Church of England Grammar School, then matriculated to the University of Melbourne, from which he obtained a...
. These departments contributed to local history journals along with other collectors, such as William Fitzgerald
William Fitzgerald
William Fitzgerald was an American politician who represented in the United States House of Representatives.-Biography:He was born at Port Tobacco Village in Charles County, Maryland on August 6, 1799. He was educated in England and studied law. He was admitted to the bar at Dover, Tennessee in 1821...
, who in 1918 published an extensive work on the botany of the Kimberleys. In 1928 the amalgamation of the Forestry and the Agricultural departments' herbaria formed the state herbarium
Western Australian Herbarium
The Western Australian Herbarium is the State Herbarium in Perth, Western Australia, Western Australia. It is part of the State government's Department of Environment and Conservation, and has responsibility for the description and documentation of the flora of Western Australia.The Herbarium is...
.
Western Australian Herbarium
The Western Australian Herbarium is the state herbariumHerbarium
In botany, a herbarium – sometimes known by the Anglicized term herbar – is a collection of preserved plant specimens. These specimens may be whole plants or plant parts: these will usually be in a dried form, mounted on a sheet, but depending upon the material may also be kept in...
. Part of the State government
Government of Western Australia
The formation of the Government of Western Australia is prescribed in its Constitution, which dates from 1890, although it has been amended many times since then...
's Department of Environment and Conservation, it is responsible for the description and documentation of the flora of Western Australia.
In 1970 the Herbarium began publication of the journal Nuytsia
Nuytsia (journal)
Nuytsia is a peer-reviewed journal published by the Western Australian Herbarium. It publishes papers on systematic botany, giving preference to papers related to the flora of Western Australia. Nearly twenty percent of Western Australia's plant taxa have been published in Nuytsia. First published...
. The name came from the genus of a parasitic trees more commonly known as Christmas Trees, Nuytsia floribunda. The journal gives preference to original publications on Western Australian flora including systematic analyses, taxa revisions and highlighting potential invasive species. Approximately 20% of all published Western Australia flora have been formally described in the journal since its inception. Kevin Thiele
Kevin Thiele
Kevin R. Thiele is curator of the Western Australian Herbarium. His research interests include the systematics of the plant families Proteaceae, Rhamnaceae and Violaceae, and the conservation ecology of grassy woodland ecosystems...
is the current editor of Nutysia and curator of the Herbarium.
FloraBase
FloraBase is a public access web-based database of the flora of Western Australia. It provides authoritative scientific information on taxaTaxonomy
Taxonomy is the science of identifying and naming species, and arranging them into a classification. The field of taxonomy, sometimes referred to as "biological taxonomy", revolves around the description and use of taxonomic units, known as taxa...
, including descriptions, maps, images, conservation status and nomenclatural details. In addition to native species, FloraBase provides information on alien taxa
Weed
A weed in a general sense is a plant that is considered by the user of the term to be a nuisance, and normally applied to unwanted plants in human-controlled settings, especially farm fields and gardens, but also lawns, parks, woods, and other areas. More specifically, the term is often used to...
that have naturalised in Western Australia.
Biodiversity
Western Australia has 9,437 native vascular plantVascular plant
Vascular plants are those plants that have lignified tissues for conducting water, minerals, and photosynthetic products through the plant. Vascular plants include the clubmosses, Equisetum, ferns, gymnosperms and angiosperms...
species from 1,543 genera within 226 families which is half of the identified plant species in Australia
Flora of Australia
The flora of Australia comprises a vast assemblage of plant species estimated to over 20,000 vascular and 14,000 non-vascular plants, 250,000 species of fungi and over 3,000 lichens...
. There are an estimated 150,000 Cryptogam species or non vascular plants which include Lichens, and Fungi although only 1,786 species have been published, with 948 Algae
Algae
Algae are a large and diverse group of simple, typically autotrophic organisms, ranging from unicellular to multicellular forms, such as the giant kelps that grow to 65 meters in length. They are photosynthetic like plants, and "simple" because their tissues are not organized into the many...
and 672 lichen the majority.
Southwest Australia
Southwest Australia is a biodiversity hotspotBiodiversity hotspot
A biodiversity hotspot is a biogeographic region with a significant reservoir of biodiversity that is under threat from humans.The concept of biodiversity hotspots was originated by Norman Myers in two articles in “The Environmentalist” , revised after thorough analysis by Myers and others in...
that includes the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub
Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub
Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome, defined by the World Wildlife Fund, characterized by dry summers and rainy winters. Summers are typically hot in low-lying inland locations but can be cool near some seas, as near San Francisco, which have a sea of cool waters...
ecoregion
Ecoregion
An ecoregion , sometimes called a bioregion, is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than an ecozone and larger than an ecosystem. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and contain characteristic, geographically distinct assemblages of natural...
s of Western Australia. The region has a wet-winter, dry-summer Mediterranean climate
Mediterranean climate
A Mediterranean climate is the climate typical of most of the lands in the Mediterranean Basin, and is a particular variety of subtropical climate...
, covers 356,717 km², consisting of a coastal plain 20-120 kilometers wide, transitioning to gently undulating uplands made up of weathered granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
, gneiss
Gneiss
Gneiss is a common and widely distributed type of rock formed by high-grade regional metamorphic processes from pre-existing formations that were originally either igneous or sedimentary rocks.-Etymology:...
and laterite
Laterite
Laterites are soil types rich in iron and aluminium, formed in hot and wet tropical areas. Nearly all laterites are rusty-red because of iron oxides. They develop by intensive and long-lasting weathering of the underlying parent rock...
. Desert and xeric shrubland
Deserts and xeric shrublands
Deserts and xeric shrublands is a biome characterized by, relating to, or requiring only a small amount of moisture.-Definition and occurrence:...
s lie to the north and east across the center of Australia, separating Southwest Australia from the other Mediterranean and humid-climate regions of the continent.
See also
- Flora of AustraliaFlora of AustraliaThe flora of Australia comprises a vast assemblage of plant species estimated to over 20,000 vascular and 14,000 non-vascular plants, 250,000 species of fungi and over 3,000 lichens...
- Wildlife Conservation Act 1950Wildlife Conservation Act 1950The Wildlife Conservation Act 1950 is an act of the Western Australian Parliament that provides the statute relating to conservation and legal protection of flora and fauna....
- Declared Rare and Priority Flora List