A new record for the fern flora of south-western Australia: a single plant of Histiopteris incisa from Mt Lindesay

2 Pages·1999·0.56 MB·

by  G Wardell-Johnson

3
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Nuytsia 1 (1):259-260(1999) 259
A new record for thefern flora ofsouth-western Australia: a single plant
ofHistiopterisincisafromMtLindesay
A single large (rhizome length 0.4 m, leaf length 0.5 m) individual of the cosmopolitan fern
Histiopterisincisa(Thunb.)J.Sm.(Dennstaedtiaceae)waslocatedonthelowersouth-westernslopes
(altitude110m)ofMtLindesayon3January 1999. Theplantwasfoundgrowinginapartiallyshaded,
horizontal creviceofalargegranite boulder 1.5 m from the ground and 100 metres up a steep slope
to the east of the Denmark River. The general area included substantial areas of outcropping in
otherwisewoodland/foresthabitat. Thisisthefirstrecordofthisspeciesfromsouth-westernAustralia,
and increasesthepteridophyte flora(ferns andfern allies) oftheJarrah ForestBioregionto 30.
In Australia,H. incisa iscommon alongthesouth-easternandeasterncoasts from south-eastern
South Australia and Tasmaniato south-eastern Queensland, with scattered populations north to the
Atherton Tableland and in the MacDonald Ranges and Kakadu area of the Northern Territory
(Brownsey 1998).ThereisalsoasinglerecordfromtheDurrackRangeinthe KimberleyofWestern
Australia(Wheeleretal. 1992). Itisalsofoundwidelythroughoutthetropicsandsoutherntemperate
regions whereitoccurs in generally moistopen sites (Brownsey 1998).
The as yet undescribed locally endemic Eucalyptus ‘Virginia ms. (Hopper & Wardell-Johnson
unpublished) is the most common overstorey species in the immediate site. Other plant species
associatedwiththissiteincludeCorymbiacalophylla, Eucalyptusmarginata,Xanthosiarotundifolia,
Hypocalymna angustifolium, Loxocarya flexuosa, Agonis hypericifolia, Xanthorrhoea preissii,
Leucopogon capitellatus, Hovea elliptica, Agonis marginata, Lepidosperma effusum, Hakea
undulata and Dodonaea ceratocarpa.
,
Despitetheseeminglyappropriatehabitatforawiderangeoffernsandfernallies inthesouth-west,
fewspeciesoccurthere. Thusonly22speciesincludingthreeintroductions,areknownfromtheWarren
Bioregion,themostimportantcentreforconservative,relictualhighrainfallvascularplanttaxainthe
State (Hopperetal. 1992, Lyonsetal. in press). No species areconfined to thehigh rainfall south-
westernforests. Rather,allfromtheWarrenBioregionarewidespreadgeneralists,manyofwhichare
outliersinthesouth-westernforestswheretheyareknownfromfewrecords(e.g.Hypolepisrugosula
(Labill.)J.Sm.,AspleniumobtusatumG. Forst., Christelladentata(Forssk.)Brownsey&Jermy).
MtLindesayliesonthemarginsoftheWarrenandthegenerallydriermoreseasonalJarrahForest
Bioregion. Thisareaisnotableasacentreforendemismintheregion(Wardell-Johnson&Williams
&
1996, Wardell-Johnson Horwitz 1996). Onlyoneofthepteridophyte species found intheJarrah
ForestBioregionisendemictoWesternAustralia(lsoetestripusA.Braun). Severalotherspeciesare
notableendemicstoWesternAustralia,thoughallarespeciesfromthetransitionalratherthanthehigh
rainfall zone, providing further support to south-western Australia having been through climatic
bottlenecksinthepast(e.g.Brimhall<?/«/. 1988). Westerlyweatherpatternsalsopreventsouth-western
Australiahavinganearby sourceforthe re-establishmentofspecies(Chinnockpers. comm.).
The Histiopteris individual is 15 km from the nearest population centre (Denmark), and over a
kilometrefromclearedland,andfromthepicnicareaatthebaseofMtLindesay. Thereisnoevidence
thatthespecimenwasplanted,asitiswellestablishedwithinanarrowledgeandtherhizomeisdifficult
to access. However, the possibility ofrelatively recent natural establishment (< 20 years) from a
cultivatedsourcewithinthesouth-westcannotberuledout,giventheprolificsporeproductionofthis
260 Nuytsia Vol. 13, No. 1 (1999)
speciesanditsgeneralcultivationingreenhouses. Itispossiblethatsubstantialareasofsuitablehabitat
forthis species wouldexistwithin the south-western forests. It is also likely that several otherfern
species might appearand subsequently be lostfrom time-to-time within the region.
Onespecimenhasbeen lodgedwith theWestern Australian Herbarium(PERTH05243912) and
onewiththeQueenslandHerbarium(BRIAQ671573).
Acknowledgements
I gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Guy Wardell-Johnson and Nigel Creasey in the field
andhelpful comments on an earlierversion ofthemanuscriptfrom PeterBostock, BarbaraRye and
Robert Chinnock.
References
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bauxites by deposition of chemically mature aeolian dust. Nature 330: 819-824.
Brownsey, P.J. (1998). Dennstaedtiaceae. In: McCarthy, P.M. (ed.) “Flora of Australia 48, Ferns, Gymnosperms and
Allied Groups.” pp. 214-228. (ABRS/CSIRO: Melbourne.)
Hopper, S.D.. Keighery, G.J. & Wardell-Johnson, G.W. (1992). Flora ofthe Karri forest and other communities in the
Warren SubdistrictofWestern Australia. In: "Research on the impact ofForest Management in South-West Western
Australia” Occasional paper 2/92, pp. 1-32. (Department of Conservation and Land Management: Perth.)
Lyons. M.N., Keighery. G.J., Gibson, N. & Wardell-Johnson, G. (in press). The vascular floraofthe Warren Bioregion,
south-west Western Australia. Composition, Reservation status and endemism. CALMScience.
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ofthe Royal Society of Western Australia 79: 249-276.
Wheeler, J.R., Rye, B.L., Kock, B.L. & Wilson, A.J.G. (1992). "Flora of the Kimberley Region.” (Department of
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GrantWardell-Johnson
Australian School ofEnvironmental Studies, Griffith University, Queensland41 11, Australia