Adenanthos eyrei

Last updated

Adenanthos eyrei
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Proteales
Family: Proteaceae
Genus: Adenanthos
Section: Adenanthos sect. Adenanthos
Species:
A. eyrei
Binomial name
Adenanthos eyrei

Adenanthos eyrei is a species of shrub in the family Proteaceae. Restricted to a single cliff-top dune system on the remote south coast of Western Australia, it is listed as rare and endangered. It was discovered by E. Charles Nelson in 1973, and formally described and named in 1978.

Contents

Description

Adenanthos eyrei grows as an erect shrub up to a metre tall, without a lignotuber, and with warty bark on older stems. Leaves are about 15 mm long, and usually segmented into three lobes, each up to 10 mm long and around 3 mm wide. As with A. cuneata , young leaves are bright red. The flower is dark crimson, with a 25 mm long perianth and a 35 mm style. [1] Reports of flowering time vary: some say that it flowers only in October, others that it flowers throughout the year. [2]

Taxonomy

The first herbarium collection of A. eyrei was made in October 1973, when Ernest Charles Nelson visited the south coast to collect specimens for a taxonomic revision of Adenanthos . Nelson was stimulated to make that revision from an interest in the problem of disjunct plant distributions in southern Australia, and therefore made collections at several locations, including three cliff-top dune systems of siliceous sand, isolated from each other by the calcareous soils of the Nullarbor Plain. A. eyrei was found only on the sand patch at Toolinna Cove, though initially Nelson did not rule out the possibility of it occurring also on the sand patches at Twilight Cove and Point Culver. [3]

Four years later Nelson published a comprehensive taxonomic revision of Adenanthos, formally publishing this species and naming it Adenanthos eyrei in honour of Edward John Eyre, the first explorer to visit the area, who is thought to have passed through the Toolinna sandpatch around 1 May 1840. [4]

Nelson followed George Bentham in dividing Adenanthos into two sections, placing A. eyrei into A. sect. Adenanthos because its perianth tube is fairly straight, and not swollen above the middle. He further divided the section into two subsections, with A. eyrei placed into A. subsect. Adenanthos for reasons including the length of its perianth. [4] However Nelson discarded his own subsections in his 1995 treatment of Adenanthos for the Flora of Australia series of monographs. [1]

The placement of A. eyrei in Nelson's arrangement of Adenanthos may be summarised as follows: [1]

Adenanthos
A. sect. Eurylaema (4 species)
A. sect. Adenanthos
A. drummondii
A. dobagii
A. apiculatus
A. linearis
A. pungens (2 subspecies)
A. gracilipes
A. venosus
A. dobsonii
A. glabrescens (2 subspecies)
A. ellipticus
A. cuneatus
A. stictus
A. ileticos
A. forrestii
A. eyrei
A. cacomorphus
A. flavidiflorus
A. argyreus
A. macropodianus
A. terminalis
A. sericeus (2 subspecies)
A. × cunninghamii
A. oreophilus
A. cygnorum (2 subspecies)
A. meisneri
A. velutinus
A. filifolius
A. labillardierei
A. acanthophyllus

The species is most closely related to A. forrestii, from which it can be distinguished by its much larger leaves, its darker flowers, and by the absence of a lignotuber. [4] As of 2009, the question has been asked whether these differences in fact suffice to distinguish the two species from each other. Observations have shown both species to have quite variable flower colour, and neither a slight difference in leaf shape nor the presence or absence of a lignotuber as usually accepted as legitimate grounds for distinguishing species. A taxonomic review of A. eyrei is under way. [5]

Common names

The common name most often reported for A. eyrei is Toolinna Adenanthos. [6] [7] [2] However Nelson regards this as a "concocted" common name, "rather crudely made up from an English word or two tagged on to unitalicized Adenanthos", and adds that Eyre's rather than Toolinna "would have respectfully preserved the associations intended by the original author". [8]

Distribution and habitat

This species is known only from a single population growing on a cliff-top dune system about 200 m east of Toolinna Cove, on the coastal margin of the Nullarbor Plain in southern Western Australia. [5] Even at that locality it is very rare: monitoring suggests a stable population of between 200 and 250 individual plants. It grows on dunes of deep siliceous sand, amongst low open scrub, sandheath or kwongan. Associated species include A. forrestii , A. cuneatus , Banksia epica and B. media . [2]

Conservation

Adenanthos eyrei is gazetted as rare under Western Australia's Wildlife Conservation Act 1950 and is listed as endangered under the federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 . [5]

Potential threats include

Fire
Because the species lacks a lignotuber, it is killed by fire, so populations survive fire only by regenerating from seed. This makes them vulnerable to a too-frequent fire regime in which plants are burnt before they have had time to reach reproductive maturity and establish a soil seed bank adequate for regeneration. [5]
Disease
Reports vary on the susceptibility of A. eyrei to Phytophthora cinnamomi dieback. In 2006 it was reported to be highly susceptible, [9] but the species' Recovery Plan states that its susceptibility has never been assessed. [5]
Wind erosion
The occurrence of A. eyrei on a cliff-top dune system makes it vulnerable to erosion by the wind.
Vehicle tracks
One of the main access tracks within Nuytsland Nature Reserve runs through the middle of the population, creating the threat of direct damage by vehicles, providing a vector for the transmission of disease, and increasing the potential for wind erosion. [5]

The habitat is secure against most other threats, as it falls entirely within the Nuytsland Nature Reserve, and is in an extremely remote area rarely visited by humans. [5]

The species is currently being managed by the Western Australia's Department of Environment and Conservation under a five-year Recovery Plan. Actions being undertaken or considered include: a taxonomic review of the species; closure of the access track that passes through the population; ongoing surveys, mapping and monitoring of the population and habitat; the collection and ex-situ storage of seed; the collection of cuttings for cultivation at Kings Park and Botanic Gardens; and further research into the biology and ecology of the species. [5]

Cultivation

Adenanthos eyrei is utterly unknown in cultivation, and probably has no horticultural potential. [7]

Related Research Articles

<i>Adenanthos cygnorum</i> Species of shrub in the family Proteaceae endemic to Western Australia

Adenanthos cygnorum, commonly known as common woollybush or just woollybush, is a tall shrub in the family Proteaceae. It is endemic to Western Australia, commonly occurring in the south west of the State from north of Geraldton south to Kojonup. It is very common on road verges and in disturbed areas of Perth.

<i>Banksia epica</i> A shrub in the family Proteaceae that grows on the south coast of Western Australia

Banksia epica is a shrub that grows on the south coast of Western Australia. A spreading bush with wedge-shaped serrated leaves and large creamy-yellow flower spikes, it grows up to 3½ metres (11½ ft) high. It is known only from two isolated populations in the remote southeast of the state, near the western edge of the Great Australian Bight. Both populations occur among coastal heath on cliff-top dunes of siliceous sand.

<i>Adenanthos sericeus</i> Species of shrub native to the south coast of Western Australia

Adenanthos sericeus, commonly known as woolly bush, is a shrub native to the south coast of Western Australia. It has bright red but small and obscure flowers, and very soft, deeply divided, hairy leaves.

<i>Adenanthos obovatus</i> A shrub of the plant family Proteaceae endemic to Southwest Australia

Adenanthos obovatus, commonly known as basket flower, or, jugflower, is a shrub of the plant family Proteaceae endemic to Southwest Australia. Described by French naturalist Jacques Labillardière in 1805, it had first been collected by Archibald Menzies in 1791. Within the genus Adenanthos, it lies in the section Eurylaema and is most closely related to A. barbiger. A. obovatus has hybridized with A. detmoldii to produce the hybrid A. × pamela. Several common names allude to the prominent red flowers of the species. It grows as a many-stemmed spreading bush up to 1 m (3.3 ft) high, and about 1.5 m (4.9 ft) across, with fine bright green foliage. Made up of single red flowers, the inflorescences appear from April to December, and peak in spring.

Adenanthos terminalis, commonly known as gland flower, yellow gland flower or adenanthos, is a one metre tall shrub in the family Proteaceae. It is found in south eastern regions of Australia, in the states of South Australia and Victoria, and is the most widespread of the two Adenanthos species occurring outside of Western Australia.

<i>Adenanthos cuneatus</i> Shrub of the family Proteaceae native to the south coast of Western Australia.

Adenanthos cuneatus, also known as coastal jugflower, flame bush, bridle bush and sweat bush, is a shrub of the family Proteaceae, native to the south coast of Western Australia. The French naturalist Jacques Labillardière originally described it in 1805. Within the genus Adenanthos, it lies in the section Adenanthos and is most closely related to A. stictus. A. cuneatus has hybridized with four other species of Adenanthos. Growing to 2 m high and wide, it is erect to prostrate in habit, with wedge-shaped lobed leaves covered in fine silvery hair. The single red flowers are insignificant, and appear all year, though especially in late spring. The reddish new growth occurs over the summer.

<i>Adenanthos macropodianus</i> Species of shrub in the family Proteaceae endemic to Kangaroo Island in South Australia

Adenanthos macropodianus, commonly known as gland flower, or Kangaroo Island gland flower, is a species of shrub in the family Proteaceae. It is endemic to Kangaroo Island in South Australia. First published as a variety of A. sericeus in 1870, it was promoted to species rank in 1978.

Adenanthos cacomorphus is a small shrub in the family Proteaceae. It is found in southwest Western Australia.

<i>Adenanthos detmoldii</i> Species of shrub in the family Proteaceae endemic to the south-west of Western Australia.

Adenanthos detmoldii, commonly known as Scott River jugflower or yellow jugflower, is a species of shrub in the family Proteaceae. It is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia.

Adenanthos ileticos is a species of shrub in the family Proteaceae. It has roughly triangular, lobed leaves, and pale pink-red and cream, inconspicuous flowers. A rare species, it is known only from a single location in the south-west of Western Australia. It was discovered in 1968, and immediately brought into cultivation, but it would not be formally published and named until a decade later.

<i>Adenanthos barbiger</i> Species of shrub in the family Proteaceae endemic to the south-west of Western Australia

Adenanthos barbiger, the hairy jugflower or hairy glandflower, is a species of shrub in the family Proteaceae. It is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It usually grows to 1 metre high, and has bright red flowers that appear mostly between August and December. The species was first formally described in 1839 by English botanist John Lindley in A sketch of the vegetation of the Swan River colony.

<i>Adenanthos meisneri</i> Species of shrub in the family Proteaceae endemic to the south-west of Western Australia

Adenanthos meisneri, commonly known as prostrate woollybush, is a species of shrub in the family Proteaceae. It is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia.

<i>Adenanthos pungens</i> Species of shrub in the family Proteaceae endemic to the south-west of Western Australia

Adenanthos pungens, the spiky adenanthos, is a species of shrub in the family Proteaceae. It is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia.

<i>Adenanthos <span style="font-style:normal;">×</span> cunninghamii</i> Species of hybrid shrub in the family Proteaceae endemic to the south-west of Western Australia

Adenanthos × cunninghamii, commonly known as woollybush, Albany woollybush or prostrate woollybush, is a hybrid shrub in the family Proteaceae. It is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia.

Adenanthos dobagii, commonly known as Fitzgerald woollybush, is a shrub in the family Proteaceae. It grows to a mere 50 cm high, with crowded small silvery leaves and insignificant pink or cream flowers. It occurs only in southwestern Australia, where it is found in Fitzgerald River National Park on the south coast.

<i>Adenanthos <span style="font-style:normal;">sect.</span> Adenanthos</i> Taxonomic section of plants in the genus Proteaceae

Adenanthos sect. Adenanthos is a taxonomic section of the flowering plant genus Adenanthos (Proteaceae). It comprises 29 species. The centre of diversity is southwest Western Australia, with two species extending into South Australia and western Victoria.

<i>Adenanthos glabrescens</i> Species of shrub endemic to southwest Western Australia

Adenanthos glabrescens is a species of small shrub endemic to the Ravensthorpe area in southwest Western Australia. First published in 1978, there are two subspecies.

Adenanthos labillardierei is a species of erect shrub endemic to the slopes of the Barren Ranges in the Fitzgerald River National Park in southwest Western Australia.

<i>Adenanthos oreophilus</i> Species of shrub endemic to southwest Western Australia

Adenanthos oreophilus, commonly known as woollybush, is a species of tall shrub endemic to southwest Western Australia. It is closely related to the better known A. sericeus, and was only classified as a species distinct from the latter in 1978 by Irish botanist E. Charles Nelson.

<i>Adenanthos sericeus <span style="font-style:normal;">subsp.</span> sericeus</i> Subspecies of flowering plant

Adenanthos sericeus subsp. sericeus, commonly known as coastal woollybush, is a shrub native to the south coast of Western Australia. It has bright red but small and obscure flowers, and very soft, deeply divided, hairy leaves. It is the western subspecies of Adenanthos sericeus, occurring mostly in the vicinity of King George Sound.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Nelson, Ernest Charles (1995). "Adenanthos". In McCarthy, Patrick (ed.). Flora of Australia . Vol. 16. Collingwood, Victoria: CSIRO Publishing / Australian Biological Resources Study. pp. 314–342. ISBN   0-643-05692-0.
  2. 1 2 3 Adenanthos eyrei — Toolinna Adenanthos , Species Profile and Threats Database , Department of the Environment and Heritage, Australia.
  3. E. Charles Nelson (1974). "Disjunct plant distributions on the south-western Nullarbor Plain, Western Australia". Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia . 57 (4): 105–117.
  4. 1 2 3 Nelson, Ernest Charles (1978). "A taxonomic revision of the genus Adenanthos Proteaceae". Brunonia. 1: 315. doi:10.1071/bru9780303.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Department of Environment and Conservation (2009). "Toolinna Adenanthos (Adenanthos eyrei) Recovery Plan" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-03-21. Retrieved 2010-11-17.
  6. "Adenanthos eyrei E.C.Nelson". FloraBase . Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
  7. 1 2 Wrigley, John; Fagg, Murray (1991). Banksias, Waratahs and Grevilleas. Sydney: Angus & Robertson. pp. 68–69. ISBN   0-207-17277-3.
  8. Nelson, E. Charles (2005). "The koala plant and related monickers" (PDF). Australian Systematic Botany Society Newsletter (125): 2–3. Retrieved 2010-04-17.
  9. "Part 2, Appendix 4: The responses of native Australian plant species to Phytophthora cinnamomi" (PDF). Management of Phytophthora cinnamomi for Biodiversity Conservation in Australia. Department of the Environment and Heritage, Australian Government. 2006. Retrieved 12 February 2015.