Register      Login
Australian Systematic Botany Australian Systematic Botany Society
Taxonomy, biogeography and evolution of plants
RESEARCH ARTICLE

A taxonomic revision of the Stylidium despectum group (Stylidiaceae) from southern Australia

Juliet A. Wege
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

Western Australian Herbarium, Department of Environment and Conservation, Locked Bag 104, Bentley Delivery Centre, WA 6983, Australia. Email: Juliet.Wege@dec.wa.gov.au

Australian Systematic Botany 24(6) 375-404 https://doi.org/10.1071/SB11020
Submitted: 20 April 2011  Accepted: 12 August 2011   Published: 21 December 2011

Abstract

A morphological review of the diminutive annual species from the Stylidium despectum R.Br. group (Stylidiaceae) is presented. Twelve species are recognised, of which 10 are endemic in the south-west of Western Australia and two are widespread across southern temperate Australia. Following examination of type material, herbarium collections and field observations, a change of circumscription is presented for S. despectum and S. inundatum R.Br. The former name is applied to a widespread species that occurs in Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and Tasmania, and is characterised by scattered or rosetted leaves, pink and/or white corolla lobes in a fan-shaped arrangement, and an immobile floral column. S. brachyphyllum Sond. is newly placed into synonymy under S. despectum and a lectotype selected. S. inundatum is redefined as a south-western Australian endemic with scattered leaves, vertically-paired or evenly spreading corolla lobes, and a mobile floral column. A lectotype is designated for S. inundatum, and S. sidjamesii Lowrie & Kenneally is treated as conspecific. S. beaugleholei J.H.Willis is confirmed for Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania. S. asymmetricum Wege, a new and apparently rare species from the Northern Jarrah Forest in south-western Australia, is formally described and revised descriptions are provided for S. longitubum Benth., S. pygmaeum R.Br., S. rhipidium F.L.Erickson & J.H.Willis, S. roseoalatum F.L.Erickson & J.H.Willis, S. roseonanum Carlquist, S. tinkeri Lowrie & Kenneally, S. utricularioides Benth. and S. xanthopis F.L.Erickson & J.H.Willis. A lectotype is designated for S. longitubum Benth. and S. utricularioides var. rosulatum Mildbr. is newly placed into synonymy under S. roseoalatum. A key to species is provided, along with photographs to aid identification. Further field-based studies are required to refine the taxonomy of this group and to better understand the distribution, rarity and conservation status of some of the taxa. In Western Australia, seven species are listed as being of conservation concern, of which S. asymmetricum, S. tinkeri and S. xanthopis require immediate further survey to ascertain whether they should be given Threatened Flora status.


References

Banyard BJ, James SH (1979) Biosystematic studies in the Stylidium crassifolium complex (Stylidiaceae). Australian Journal of Botany 27, 27–37.
Biosystematic studies in the Stylidium crassifolium complex (Stylidiaceae).Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Bentham G (1837) Stylidieae. In ‘Enumeratio plantarum enumeratio plantarum quas in Novae Hollandiae ora austro-occidentali ad fluvium cygnorum et in sinu regis Georgii collegit Carolus liber baro de Hügel’. (Eds SFL Endlicher, G Bentham, E Fenzl, H Schott) pp. 71–74. (F. Beck: Vienna)

Bentham G (1868) ‘Flora Australiensis Vol. 4.’ (Reeve & Co.: London)

Black JM (1929) ‘Flora of South Australia.’ (H Weir, Government Printer: Adelaide)

Black JM (1965) ‘Flora of South Australia.’ edn 2. (WL Hawes, Government Printer: Adelaide)

Botanical Museum Berlin–Dahlem (1999) ‘List of Families including extant collections of the Botanical Museum Berlin–Dahlem (B) from the time before 1943.’ Available at http://www.bgbm.fu-berlin.de/BGBM/research/colls/herb/phanerog.htm [accessed 31 March 2011].

Brown R (1810) ‘Prodromus florae Novae Hollandiae et insulae Van-Diemen, exhibens characteres plantarum quas annis 1802–1805. Vol. 1.’ (Johnson: London)

Brown R (1814) ‘General remarks, geographical and systematical, on the botany of Terra Australis.’ (W. Bulmer: London)

Buchanan AM (2008) ‘A census of the vascular plants of Tasmania and index to the student’s flora of Tasmania: web edition for 2008.’ (Tasmanian Herbarium, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery: Hobart)

Burbidge NT, Gray M (1970) ‘Flora of the Australian Capital Territory.’ (Australian National University Press: Canberra)

Carlquist SJ (1969) Studies in Stylidiaceae: new taxa, field observations, evolutionary tendencies. Aliso 7, 13–64.

Carolin R (1967) The concept of the inflorescence in the order Campanulales. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 92, 7–26.

Coates DJ, James SH (1996) Chromosome repatterning, population genetic structure and local speciation in southwestern Australian triggerplants (Stylidium). In ‘Gondwanan heritage: past, present and future of the Western Australian biota’. (Eds SD Hopper, JA Chappill, MS Harvey, AS George) pp. 276–286 (Surrey Beatty: Sydney)

Curtis WM (1963) ‘The student’s flora of Tasmania. Part 2.’ (L. G. Shea Government Printer: Hobart)

Department of the Environment Water, Heritage and the Arts (2005) ‘Interim biogeographic regionalisation for Australia (IBRA) Version 6.1.’ Available at http://www.environment.gov.au/parks/nrs/science/bioregion-framework/ibra/index.html [accessed 31 March 2011].

Department of Primary Industries Parks, Water and Environment (2011) ‘List of threatened species.’ Available at http://www.dpiw.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/WebPages/SJON-58E2VD?open [accessed 14 April 2011].

Dixon KW, Kuo J, Pate JS (1983) Storage reserves of the seed-like aestivating organs of geophytes inhabiting granite outcrops in south-western Australia. Australian Journal of Botany 31, 85–103.
Storage reserves of the seed-like aestivating organs of geophytes inhabiting granite outcrops in south-western Australia.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | 1:CAS:528:DyaL3sXhsVSmur8%3D&md5=8da194498167295988ac2154da8c3f4fCAS |

Erickson R (1958) ‘Triggerplants.’ (Paterson Brokensha: Perth)

Erickson R, Willis JH (1956) New species and varieties of Stylidium from Western Australia. Muelleria 1, 7–20.

Ewart AJ (1930) ‘Flora of Victoria.’(Melbourne University Press: Melbourne)

George AS (2009) ‘Australian botanist’s companion.’ (Four Gables Press: Perth)

Grieve BJ, Blackall WE (1982). ‘How to know Western Australian wildflowers. Part IV.’ 2nd edn. (University of Western Australia Press: Perth)

Hopper SD, Gioia P (2004) The Southwest Australian Floristic Region: evolution and conservation of a global hot spot of biodiversity. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 35, 623–650.
The Southwest Australian Floristic Region: evolution and conservation of a global hot spot of biodiversity.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

IUCN (2001) ‘IUCN red list categories and criteria Version 3.1.’ (IUCN: Cambridge, UK)

James SH (1979) Chromosome numbers and genetic systems in the triggerplants of Western Australia (Stylidium; Stylidiaceae). Australian Journal of Botany 27, 17–25.
Chromosome numbers and genetic systems in the triggerplants of Western Australia (Stylidium; Stylidiaceae).Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Lowrie A, Carlquist S (1991) Studies in Stylidium from Western Australia: new taxa; rediscoveries and range extensions. Phytologia 71, 5–28.

Lowrie A, Kenneally KF (1997) A taxonomic review of Stylidium subgenus Forsteropsis (Stylidiaceae). Nuytsia 11, 353–364.

Lowrie A, Kenneally KF (2000) Three new species of Stylidium (Stylidiaceae) from south-west Western Australia. Nuytsia 13, 293–302.

Mabberley DJ (1985) ‘Jupiter Botanicus. Robert Brown of the British Museum.’ (Braunschweig Verlag Von J. Cramer: London)

Mabberley DJ, Pignatti-Wikus E, Riedl-Dorn C (2000) ‘Ferdinand Bauer’s field drawings of endemic Western Australian plants made at King George Sound and Lucky Bay, December 1801 – January 1802. I’. Rendiconti Lincei 11, 69–109.
‘Ferdinand Bauer’s field drawings of endemic Western Australian plants made at King George Sound and Lucky Bay, December 1801 – January 1802. I’.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

McNeill J, Barrie FR, Burdet HM, Demoulin V, Hawksworth DL, Marhold K, Nicolson DH, Prado J, Silva PC, Skog JE, Wiersema JH, Turland NJ (2006) ‘International code of botanical nomenclature (Vienna code) adopted by the seventeenth international botanical congress, Vienna, Austria, July 2005.’ (Gantner: Ruggell, Liechtenstein)

Mildbraed J (1908) Stylidiaceae. In ‘Das Pflanzenreich. Heft 35. IV’. (Ed. A Engler) p. 278. (Wilhelm Engelmann: Weinheim, Germany)

Moore D (2000) Some aspects of the work of the botanist Robert Brown (1773–1858) in Tasmania in 1804. Tasforests 12, 123–146.

Murfet D, Taplin R (1994) New locations for Stylidium beaugleholei in South Australia. The South Australian Naturalist 68, 36–39.

Paczkowska G, Chapman A (2000) ‘The Western Australian flora: a descriptive catalogue.’ (Wildflower Society of Western Australia Inc., the Western Australian Herbarium, CALM, and the Botanic Gardens & Parks Authority: Perth)

Philipson WR (1953) The relationships of the Compositae, particularly as illustrated by the morphology of the inflroescence in the Rubiales and the Campanulatae. Phytomorphology 3, 391–404.

Prenner G, Vergara-Silva F, Rudall P (2009) The key role of morphology in modeling inflorescence architecture. Trends in Plant Science 14, 302–309.
The key role of morphology in modeling inflorescence architecture.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | 1:CAS:528:DC%2BD1MXnt1Kjs7Y%3D&md5=77a1ac0685cfee60e6d80d690fe70a3dCAS |

Raulings EJ (1999) Stylidiaceae. In ‘Flora of Victoria. Vol. 4. Dicotyledons Cornaceae to Asteraceae’. (Eds NG Walsh, TJ Entwisle) pp. 579–587. (Inkata Press: Melbourne)

Smith M (2010) ‘Declared Rare and Priority Flora List for Western Australia.’ (Department of Environment and Conservation: Perth)

Sonder OG (1845) Stylideae. In ‘Plantae Preissianae. Vol. 1’. (Ed. C Lehmann) pp. 370–393 (Meissneri: Hamburg, Germany)

South Australian Department of Environment and Natural Resources (2010). South Australia National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972. Version: 1.6.2010. Available at http://www.environment.sa.gov.au/biodiversity/threatened-species/threatened.html [accessed 2 December 2010].

Stanberg L (1992) Stylidiaceae. In ‘Flora of New South Wales. Vol. 3.’ (Ed. GJ Harden) pp. 442–445. (New South Wales University Press: Sydney)

Tasmanian Department of Primary Industries Parks, Water and Environment (2010) ‘List of threatened species.’ Available at http://www.dpiw.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/WebPages/SJON-58E2VD?open [accessed 2 December 2010].

Thiers B (continuously updated) ‘Index herbariorum: a global directory of public herbaria and associated staff. New York Botanical Garden’s Virtual Herbarium.’ Available at http://sweetgum.nybg.org/ih/ [accessed 5 March 2010].

Toelken HR (1986) Family – Stylidiaceae. In ‘Flora of South Australia’. 3. edn. 4 (Eds JP Jessop, HR Toelken) pp. 1418–1423 (South Australian Government Printing Division: Adelaide)

Wapstra M, Wapstra A, Wapstra H (2010) ‘Tasmanian plant names unravelled.’ (Fullers Bookshop Pty Ltd: Launceston, Tas.)

Weberling F (1989) ‘Morphology of flowers and inflorescences.’ (Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK)

Wheeler JR (1987) Family 107 Stylidiaceae. In ‘Flora of the Perth region. Vol. 2’. (Eds NG Marchant, JR Wheeler, BL Rye, EM Bennett, NS Lander, TD Macfarlane) pp. 606–625 (Western Australian Herbarium: Perth)

Wheeler J, Marchant N, Lewington M (2002) ‘Flora of the South West. Vol. 2.’ (Australian Biological Resources Study: Canberra)

Willis JH (1956) Sundry notes on Australian stylidia (including a new name for a tropical trigger-plant). The Victorian Naturalist 73, 43–44.

Willis JH (1967) Systematic notes on the indigenous Australian flora. Muelleria 1, 117–163.

Willis JH (1973) ‘A handbook to plants in Victoria. Vol 2. Dicotyledons.’ (Melbourne University Press: Melbourne)