Fifty new species of vascular plants from Western Australia—celebrating fifty years of the Western Australian Botanic Garden at Kings Park

Abstract

Barrett, R.L. Fifty new species of vascular plants from Western Australia-celebrating fifty years of the Western Australian Botanic Garden at Kings Park. Nuytsia 26: 3-20 (2015). This paper introduces a special issue of Nuytsia containing seven collaborative papers naming 50 new species of Western Australian vascular plants. It has been compiled to celebrate the 50 th anniversary of the opening of the Western Australian Botanic Garden at Kings Park. Several species are named after former Kings Park staff to honour their contributions to botany in Western Australia, including one that occurs naturally in the Kings Park bushland and is named after one of the designers of the Botanic Garden. Field research by Kings Park staff across Western Australia, including the rediscovery of Auranticarpa resinosa (Domin) L.W.Cayzer, Crisp & I.Telford, missing for 180 years, is documented.

Dianella lignosa (Asphodelaceae), a new species from the north-west Kimberley region of Western Australia

“…The leaves are seasonally senescent, not evergreen, reflecting the long dry season in the Kimberley. Ongoing studies in the Kimberley region continue to reveal significant numbers of new species (Barrett 2015). Dianella lignosa joins a suit of recently named geophytic or perennial, petaloid monocots endemic to Western Australia (Macfarlane & Conran 2015;Macfarlane & Keighery 2015;Macfarlane et al 2020), and particularly from the Kimberley region (Barrett 2018;Barrett & Barrett 2015;Barrett et al , 2021Barrett et al , 2022.…”