Novae Hollandiae Plantarum Specimen

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Novae Hollandiae Plantarum Specimen is a two-volume work describing the flora of Australia. Facsimiles of the originals can be found in the online Biodiversity Heritage Library (Vol.1) and Vol 2).

The author was the French botanist Jacques Labillardière, who visited the region in 1792 with the d'Entrecasteaux expedition. Published between 1804 and 1806, it is one of the earliest works to describe the plants of the continent; [1] according to Denis and Maisie Carr, "[i]n practical terms, this was the first general flora of Australia." [2]

The work describes the botanical collections made by himself and his companion on the d'Entrecasteaux expedition, Charles Riche, and the unattributed and later collections of Nicolas Baudin's expedition. [3] Labillardière's collections were seized by the English, but were returned to him in France at the intervention of Joseph Banks. [4] He made his collections at Observatory Island and other locations at the Archipelago of the Recherche. Extensive collection were also made at Recherche Bay, during his two visits to Tasmania. [5] [6]

Tab. 37 Adenanthos obovata Novae Hollandiae plantarum specimen (Tab. 037) (8223073069).jpg
Tab. 37 Adenanthos obovata

The preface describes the journey "from Cape of Good Hope to Australia", an example of the continent being named as 'Australia' before its popularisation by Flinders' use in A Voyage to Terra Australis . [1] The work includes 256 black-and-white botanical illustrations, including contributions by Pierre-Joseph Redouté. [1] Copper plates drawn by Pierre Antoine Poiteau and engraved by Auguste Plée were produced for other illustrations. [7]

Labillardière had named and described more Australian flora than any other botanist of the day; the work was the most comprehensive until Robert Brown published his Prodromus . [8] This work featured the first descriptions of Cephalotus follicularis , [9] a carnivorous plant, and species Adenanthos obovatus and Gahnia trifida from the southern coast. The collections made at southwest Australia also produced new genera Adenanthos (Proteaceae) and Calytrix (Myrtaceae), species Astartea fascicularis , Hakea clavata and Taxandria marginata , and the first description of the now widely introduced Acacia saligna . [1] Tasmanian species include Eucryphia lucida (leatherwood) and Phyllocladus aspleniifolius (celery-top pine). [6] The first confirmed collection of Australian bryophytes are described and illustrated by the author; the current name for these species are the mosses Cyathophorum bulbosum and Hypnodendron comosum and a liverwort Hymenophyton flabellatum . [10]

Novae Hollandiae Plantarum Specimen has been praised for the accuracy of its descriptions and for the elegant scientific names coined therein. It has been criticised for its imprecision and occasional errors in collection locality and habitat; for example it attributes the collection of Eucalyptus ovata to southwest Australia, but it occurs only in Tasmania and southeast Australia. Labillardière has also been criticised for publishing species based upon specimens collected by other botanists, without providing attribution or acknowledgement for the specimens. [11]

The standard abbreviation for the work, Nov. Holl. Pl., is used in botanical literature, [12] and is also known by the title Specimens of the Plants of New Holland. [13] It is the second publication by Labillardière to describe Australian flora; the first was Relation du Voyage à la Recherche de la Pérouse in 1799, a popular account of the voyage in search of the La Pérouse expedition. [14] The earlier work contains the first description of plant species such as Eucalyptus cornuta . [15]

Related Research Articles

<i>Cephalotus</i> genus of plants

Cephalotus is a genus which contains one species, Cephalotus follicularis the Albany pitcher plant, a small carnivorous pitcher plant. The pit-fall traps of the modified leaves have inspired the common names for this plant, which include 'Albany pitcher plant", "Western Australian pitcher plant", "Australian pitcher plant", or "fly-catcher plant."

Jacques Labillardière French botanist

Jacques-Julien Houtou de Labillardière was a French biologist noted for his descriptions of the flora of Australia. Labillardière was a member of a voyage in search of the La Pérouse expedition. He published a popular account of his journey and produced the first Flora on the region.

<i>Adenanthos</i> genus of plants

Adenanthos is a genus of Australian native shrubs in the flowering plant family Proteaceae. Variable in habit and leaf shape, it is the only genus in the family where solitary flowers are the norm. It was discovered in 1791, and formally published by Jacques Labillardière in 1805. The type species is Adenanthos cuneatus, and 33 species are recognised. The genus is placed in subfamily Proteoideae, and is held to be most closely related to several South African genera.

<i>Podolepis</i> genus of plants

Podolepis is a genus of the pussy's-toes tribe within the daisy family. It is endemic to Australia and can be found in every state.

<i>Calothamnus</i> genus of plants

Calothamnus is a genus of shrubs in the family Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. The common names one-sided bottlebrush or claw flower are given to some species due to their having the flowers clustered on one side of the stem or because of the claw-like appearance of their flowers. Calothamnus species are generally medium to tall woody shrubs with crowded leaves. In most species the leaves are crowded and linear in shape, and the flowers are usually arranged in dense clusters. The petals are small and fall off the flower soon after it opens but the stamens are long, numerous and usually bright red.

<i>Adenanthos sericeus</i> species of plant

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>Eucalyptus ovata</i> species of plant

Eucalyptus ovata, commonly known as swamp gum or black gum, is a species of small to medium-sized tree that is endemic to south-eastern Australia. It has mostly smooth bark, glossy green, lance-shaped to egg-shaped adult leaves, green flower buds in groups of seven, white flowers and conical to bell-shaped fruit.

<i>Melaleuca cuticularis</i> species of plant

Melaleuca cuticularis, commonly known as the saltwater paperbark is a tree in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is native to the south-west of Western Australia. There is also a disjunct population on Kangaroo Island in South Australia. It is distinguished from other melaleucas by its unusual fruits and very white, papery bark.

Gahnia trifida, the coastal saw-sedge, is a tussock-forming perennial in the family Cyperaceae, endemic to southern Australia.

<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.

<i>Podotheca angustifolia</i> species of plant

Podotheca angustifolia, commonly known as Sticky Longheads, is a species of herb native to Australia.

Relation du Voyage à la Recherche de la Pérouse is an 1800 book that gives an account of the 1791-1793 d'Entrecasteaux expedition to Australasia. The title refers to the search for La Pérouse, who disappeared in the region in 1788, a popular, though unsuccessful, object of the mission. Many of the discoveries made by the scientists attached to the expedition were published in the two volumes. The author, Jacques Labillardière, was a French botanist on the voyage, engaged to collect and describe the flora of the continent. The work includes some of the earliest descriptions of Australian flora and fauna, and an account of the indigenous peoples of Tasmania.

<i>Siloxerus</i> genus of plants

Siloxerus is a genus of Australian plants in the pussy's-toes tribe within the daisy family.

Nelsons taxonomic arrangement of <i>Adenanthos</i>

Ernest Charles Nelson's taxonomic arrangement of Adenanthos was the first modern-day arrangement of that plant genus. First published in his 1978 Brunonia article "A taxonomic revision of the genus Adenanthos (Proteaceae)", it superseded the arrangement of George Bentham, which had stood for over a hundred years. It was updated by Nelson in his 1995 treatment for the Flora of Australia series of monographs.

<i>Adenanthos cuneatus</i> A 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>Calothamnus sanguineus</i> species of plant

Calothamnus sanguineus, commonly known as silky-leaved blood flower, is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. The Noongar peoples know the plant as Boolgalla. It is an erect to spreading shrub with short, cylindrical leaves and red or white flowers with an unusual arrangement of stamens, often flowering in autumn, winter or spring. It was the first of its genus to be formally described.

George Bentham's taxonomic arrangement of Adenanthos was the first comprehensive taxonomic arrangement of that plant genus. It was published in 1870 in his landmark flora of Australia, Flora Australiensis. It would stand for over a hundred years before being superseded by the 1978 arrangement of Ernest Charles Nelson.

Calorophus is a group of plants in the Restionaceae described as a genus in 1806. The entire genus is endemic to Australia, found in the States of Victoria and Tasmania.

<i>Pileanthus limacis</i> species of plant

Pileanthus limacis, commonly known as coastal coppercups, is a plant species of the family Myrtaceae endemic to Western Australia.

<i>Billardiera fusiformis</i> species of plant

Billardiera fusiformis is a species of plant in the family, Pittosporaceae, which is endemic to Western Australia.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Hopper, Stephen (2003). "South-western Australia, Cinderella of the world's temperate floristic regions 1". Curtis's Botanical Magazine. 21 (2): 132–179. doi:10.1111/1467-8748.00380.
  2. ↑ Carr, S. G. M.; Carr, D. J. (1981). "A charmed life: The collections of Labillardière". In Carr, D. J.; Carr, S. G. M. (eds.). People and plants in Australia. Sydney: Academic Press. pp. 79–115. ISBN   0-12-160720-8.
  3. ↑ "Labillardière, Jacques J.H. de (1755 - 1834)". Biography. Australian National Herbarium. 14 November 2007. Retrieved 9 February 2009.
  4. ↑ 'La Billardière, Jacques-Julien Houtou de (1755 - 1834)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Online Edition, Copyright 2006, updated continuously, ISSN 1833-7538, published by Australian National University
  5. ↑ Mulvaney, John (c. 2006). "4. Botanising". ‘The axe had never sounded’: place, people and heritage of Recherche Bay, Tasmania (Online ed.). Australian National University. ISBN   978-1-921313-21-9 . Retrieved 2009-02-16.
  6. 1 2 Kantvilas, Gintaras (26–28 February 2007). "Labillardière and the beginnings of botanical exploration in Tasmania". Symposia. National Academies Forum. Archived from the original on 8 September 2008. Retrieved 9 February 2009.
  7. ↑ Hewson, Helen (1999). Australia: 300 years of botanical illustration. Collingwood, Victoria: CSIRO Publishing. ISBN   0-643-06366-8.
  8. ↑ Hamilton, J. (1998). "19 Australia at Malmaison". The Flower Chain The early discovery of Australian plants (Etext University of Sydney Library ed.). Sydney: Kangaroo Press. ISBN   0-86417-922-7.
  9. ↑ "Cephalotus follicularis Labill". Australian Plant Name Index (APNI), IBIS database. Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, Australian Government.
  10. ↑ Lepp, Heino (29 January 2009). "The first century". Episodes in Australian bryology. Australian National Herbarium. Retrieved 14 February 2009.
  11. ↑ Duyker, Edward (2003). Citizen Labillardière: A naturalist's life in revolution and exploration. Carlton: Miegunyah Press. pp. 98, 231. ISBN   0-522-85160-6.
  12. ↑ "Novae Hollandiae Plantarum Specimen". Publication Details. International Plant Names Index. 2005.
  13. ↑ Hooker, William Jackson (1831). "Cephalotus follicularis. Follicled Cephalotus". Curtis's Botanical Magazine. Samuel Curtis. 58 (Pl. 3118 & 3119).
  14. ↑ "Jacques-Julien Houtou De Labillardière". Dictionary of Australian Artists Online. Australian Research Council. Retrieved 13 February 2009.
  15. ↑ "Eucalyptus cornuta Labill". Australian Plant Name Index (APNI), IBIS database. Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, Australian Government.
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