News Release:
Botanist discovers three new plants on field expedition
| 12/2/04 027/04 A PhD student from the University of New England has discovered three new plant species after a field trip through bushland east of Walcha. One of the plants, a member of the citrus family, has distinctive flowers with five white petals and pink anthers. Another is a type of bottle-brush shrub that can grow to 6m tall while the third is a member of the Banksia/Waratah family. All three appear to grow over an area no larger than the size of a football field. His findings have been authenticated by Dr Peter Weston, a leading botanist at the Botanic Gardens Trust in Sydney. They will be formally described in forthcoming editions of scientific journals such as Telopea, the journal of the Botanic Gardens of New South Wales. "It's very rare to discover a brand new plant species, let alone three in one day," said PhD student Lachlan Copeland. "These discoveries are totally new to science." The discoveries occurred during a field trip through the Oxley Wild Rivers National Park, about half-way between Sydney and Brisbane. The park, covering over 120,000ha, is also home to several other rare and endangered plant species. "If it is still possible to find two or three new species in the one short field trip, how many other unique, undiscovered species are likely to be growing nearby in the same harsh environment?" Mr Copeland pondered. He had actually been retracing his steps from a previous visit,
where Mr Copeland had discovered the plant from the Proteaceae (Banksia)
family growing in a particularly remote area. "I sent a dried
specimen of it to Dr Weston, a Proteaceae specialist, and he confirmed
that it was indeed a new, undescribed species. Peter was keen to
see the plants growing in the wild, so he came up and we ventured
into the same gorge system." It was on this second field trip
last week the pair chanced upon an additional two new plant species. |
His findings have led Mr Copeland to believe the region is a "hotspot" for rare and endangered species of plants that remain undiscovered. "Far more fieldwork and detailed botanical research is needed to gauge just how many plant species new to science may be growing within the area," Mr Copeland said. The next step is formally describing all three new plants. This
is a process which can take up to a year and is begun by writing
a detailed description of the plants in a journal like Telopea. Director of the NCW Beadle Herbarium in Armidale, Associate Professor Jeremy Bruhl, said that 'Lachlan's and Peter's discoveries represent exciting additions to our list of recent discoveries of spectacular and rare, new flowering plant species in northeastern NSW—its definitely one of Australia's biodiversity-rich areas, with many more discoveries to be made. These will lead to new species for horticulture, a better understanding of evolution and ecology of the Australian Flora, aid management and conservation, and quite likely new plant compounds of use to society.' He said 'While we watch on with interest at the plans to race across our universe and discover what is on Mars, we have more modest (but possibly more difficult) plans to capture a minute fraction of that level of funding so that we can explore and discover the biodiversity of our 'backyard' across this gorge system.' Media contact: Lachlan Copeland, 6773 3235 or Lydia Clifford, Public
Relations, UNE (02) 6773 2779 |
