Post by Melanie on Apr 7, 2007 13:48:51 GMT 1
previous name Euphrasia sp. ‘Tamworth
Taxonomic studies in Euphrasia
(Scrophulariaceae). VIII. E. ruptura, a name for
a species apparently extinct in northeastern
New South Wales
W.R. Barker
Abstract
Barker. W.R. (State Herbarium, Botanic Gardens of Adelaide, North Terrace, Adelaide, South Australia,
5000) 1997. Taxonomic studies in Euphrasia (Scrophulariaceae). VIII. E. ruptura, a name for a species
apparently extinct in northeastern New South Wales. Telopea 7(3): 227–230. The name E. ruptura and
a description are provided for this species from Tamworth, northeastern New South Wales, which
has been recognised since 1982 by an informal phrase name. Despite efforts to find it, it is still only
known from the two flowering branches collected in 1904 and remains most likely to be extinct.
Introduction
Since the existence of a new species from the Tamworth area was publicised by an
informal phrase name 15 years ago (Barker 1982), efforts made to rediscover it (Ms
P. Horton, pers. comm. 1996) have been unsuccessful. It remains apparently extinct.
Discovery of a wider range of material than the two flowering branches of the single
known collection would have enabled a better documentation of the variability of the
new species and assessment of its diagnostic features. A similar delay in formal
publication of the endangered southeast Tasmania E. fragosa (Barker 1982) may have
assisted, for example, in promoting the species’ rediscovery and discovery of a new
population (Collier 1990). This resulted in a better assessment of its taxonomic
integrity, variation and diagnostic traits (Barker 1996).
Though brought earlier to the attention of national compilers of lists of endangered
species (Barker 1982 and in correspondence), the Tamworth species was finally given
a conservation status of 1X in the national censuses of rare and endangered plant taxa
when informal taxa were accepted (Briggs & Leigh 1988, 1996). The numeric
component of the status coding has indicated that the species is known from the one
collection, the alphabetic that it has been believed to be extinct.
The species is now being formally named to enable its inclusion in endangered species
legislation in New South Wales (Ms J. Everett, pers. comm. 1996).
Description
Euphrasia ruptura W.R. Barker, sp. nov.
[Euphrasia sp. ‘Tamworth’: W.R. Barker, J. Adel. Bot. Gard. 5 (1982) 156, fig. 49, 57;
Briggs & Leigh, Rare or Threatened Australian Plants (1988) 101, 193, as Euphrasia sp.
1 (Tamworth); Briggs & Leigh, Rare threat. Austral. pl., 1995 edn (1996) 175, 209, as
Euphrasia sp. 1 (Tamworth: Rupp s.n., 09/1904). ]
Species nova Sectionis Australium E. bellae et E. bowdeniae affinissime inflorescentiis
laxis nodibus saepe unifloribus; ab E. bella differt pilis glandulosis e ramulis foliisque
carentibus, foliis reflexis angustioribus base anguste cuneata et dentibus marginalibus
brevioribus, calyce breviori, et antheris minoribus aristis postremis brevioribus, ab
E. bowdeniae pilis eglandulosis ramos aeque et plus minusve dense cingentibus, et
foliis dentibus marginalibus pluribus.
Type: New South Wales: North-western Slopes: Tamworth, [H.M.R. Rupp], MEL
41404, Sep 1904. (Holotypus: MEL; iconotypus:Barker 1982, fig. 57).
Apparently a perennial subshrub, over 26 cm high; branchlets with more than
22–25 pairs of leaves (Note 2), surrounded over whole length by moderately dense to
dense, retrorse scaberulous eglandular hairs c. 0.05 mm long; shoots or young branches
occurring sporadically in leaf axils up to 2–5 nodes below the inflorescence, in groups
of 2–5 nodes, with no buds for several nodes between, the internodes 2–5 nodes below
the inflorescence longer than the subtending leaf, shorter below. Leaves reflexed, at
least in the material seen (Notes 2, 3), narrow oblong, covered by sparse to moderately
dense, antrorse minutely scaberulous eglandular hairs c. 0.02 mm long; uppermost
0.6–1.3 cm × 1.0–1.5 mm; base narrow cuneate; teeth 2 pairs, 0.2–0.3 mm long; apex
1.3–1.5 × c. 0.8 mm, blunt acute; lower leaves similar, the longest seen 1.3–1.9 cm
× 1.2–1.8 mm with rare instances of 3 pairs of teeth; sessile gland patches narrow,
extending almost to the base of the leaf. Inflorescences erect, relatively compact with
flowers spaced at lower nodes, at the third node the flower reaching past the node
above, the nodes above the inflorescence without buds (see Note 5) and sometimes the
nodes bearing only one flower; rachis retrorsely eglandular scaberulous all around like
the branches; flowers c. 8 in specimens seen; bracts like the upper leaves, but with
1–2 pairs of teeth; pedicels 2.5–4 mm long, ascending, retrorsely eglandular scaberulous
all around. Calyx 3.8–4.5 mm long, with scattered spreading or slightly antrorse very
short eglandular hairs c. 0.05 mm long, the teeth bluntly acute, covered inside by
moderately dense, antrorse, scaberulous, eglandular hairs; median clefts 1.5–1.8 mm
long, lateral clefts 0.8–1.1 mm long. Corolla 8.0–10.8 mm long along the upper side, of
unknown colour; tube c. 5.0 mm long, narrow cylindrical for c. 4.5 mm to the base of
the anterior filaments, distally broadened, externally glabrous at the base, distally in
exposed parts covered by dense long eglandular hairs; hood 2.0–2.5 mm long,
externally covered by dense long eglandular hairs mixed with scattered moderately
long to long glandular hairs; upper lobes emarginate, with front surface glabrous, with
cleft between c. 1.3 mm deep; lower lip c. 5.0–9.0 long, downturned from about the base
of the lobes, covered externally by dense long eglandular hairs mixed with scattered
moderately long to long glandular hairs; lower lobes shallowly emarginate, with cleft
between 3.2–4.0 mm deep. Stamens with anthers c. 1.3 × 1.1 mm, with connectives
surrounded by dense long eglandular hairs; rearmost pair of awns c. 0.2–0.25 mm long,
the other 6 awns c. 0.1 mm long. Ovary not seen. Young fruits ovate-elliptic in lateral
view; apex broadly obtuse in lateral view, with 1 or 2 setae.
Distribution: E. ruptura is known from a single collection from Tamworth in the
Northern Tablelands (New England) region of New South Wales (Barker 1982, fig. 49).
Ecology: nothing is known of its ecology, although it may share the cliff face or cliff
edge habitat of its closest relatives E bowdeniae and E. bella.
Conservation status: 1X (Briggs & Leigh 1996). As mentioned, endeavours to discover
this species in the Tamworth area have proved fruitless.
Notes: 1. As indicated in Barker (1982), this species is closest allied to two species of
Sect. Australes, E. bella S.T. Blake of the ranges in the Tweed River watershed to the
north and E. bowdeniae W.R. Barker of the Blue Mountains to the south, by its lax
inflorescences, often with a single flower at a node. Ovule number has not been
228 Telopea 7(3): 1997 determined owing to the paucity of material available; this is lower in E. bella and
E. bowdeniae than for other members of Sect. Australes (Barker 1982). From E. bella it
differs by the absence of glandular hairs on the branches and upper leaves, by its
reflexed narrower leaves with a narrowly cuneate base and shorter marginal teeth, by
its shorter calyx, and by its shorter anthers with shorter rearmost awns. From
E. bowdeniae it is separated by eglandular hairs distributed completely and evenly
around the branchlets, and by its leaves immediately below the inflorescence with two
teeth along each margin.
2. Measurements in the description of length and number of leaves on main
inflorescence-bearing branches represent measurements from the two flowering
branches in the type and are clearly less than the actual value for these specimens. The
branches have apparently been plucked from above their base; in Euphrasia leaves
towards the base of such branches are much shorter and the internodes reduced in
length compared with the distal parts.
3. Deflexed leaves, which I have observed arising from branches pendent from sheer
cliff faces in E. bowdeniae, are also evident in E. ruptura. Contrary to Barker (1982),
however, plants of E. bella observed in 1989 on the forest floor in the MacPherson
Range had ascending to decumbent branches with ascending leaves, more typical of
Australian perennials in the genus.
4. Measurements of the flower were taken from flowers in the dried state because of
the limited material available, whereas I have used in the past spirit or soaked
material; this will result in slightly shorter measurements in comparison with previous
descriptions. Also as a result the internal indumentum of the corolla, hood and lower
lip width and filament lengths have not been described.
5. No buds are apparent in a number of leaves distal of the inflorescences in each
branch seen. It is uncertain whether the rachis of the inflorescence continues after
flowering into a vegetative phase, as in Sect. Phragmostomae of southeastern Tasmania
(Barker 1982, 1987) or whether the inflorescences terminate the branch, the normal
situation in Euphrasia and in this instance the related E. bella and E. bowdeniae.
6. The species epithet is a noun in apposition. It has two meanings. On the one hand it
commemorates in a play on words H.M.R. Rupp, an important collector of plants in
general in New South Wales and Victoria, later specialising in Orchidaceae (Clarke
1990); the type specimen comes from the period when he first began to collect plants
seriously, in Tamworth in 1903–4. On the other hand the epithet is a Latin substantive,
meaning literally the result of the breaking up, referring both to the three closely
related species recognised in revisional study since the 1980s, and to the lineal stepped
variation and disjunct geography of this group of three species.
Acknowledgments
I thank Ms Joy Everett for encouragement to publish the species and the National
Herbarium of Victoria (MEL) for access to the sole collection and facilities for its
measurement. Ms Karen Wilson of the University of Melbourne herbarium (MELU),
the repository of the Rupp herbarium (Clarke 1990), kindly searched the collections
there in vain for duplicate or other material of the species. Professor Phil Garnock-
Jones (Victoria University of Wellington) and Dr Barbara Briggs, Joy Everett, Karen
Wilson and Dr Peter Wilson (National Herbarium of New South Wales) provided
useful criticism of the manuscript.
Barker W.R. (1982) Taxonomic studies in Euphrasia L. (Scrophulariaceae). A revised infrageneric
classification, and a revision of the genus in Australia. J. Adelaide Bot. Gard. 5: 1–304.
Barker W.R. (1987) Taxonomic studies in Euphrasia L. (Scrophulariaceae). V. New and rediscovered
taxa, typifications, and other notes on the genus in Australia. J. Adelaide Bot. Gard. 10: 201–221.
Barker W.R. (1996) Taxonomic studies in Euphrasia L. (Scrophulariaceae), VII. A new species and
a widely disjunct population from south-east Tasmania. J. Adelaide Bot. Gard. 17: 217–221.
Briggs J.D. & Leigh, J.H. (1988) Rare and Threatened Australian Plants, revised edition. Australian
National Parks & Wildlife Service, Special Publication No. 14. Canberra.
Briggs J.D. & Leigh, J.H. (1996) Rare or Threatened Australian Plants, 1995 revised edition. (CSIRO
Publishing: Collingwood).
Clarke I.C. (1990) The history of the herbarium, School of Botany, University of Melbourne.
Pp. 13–21 in P.S. Short (ed.), History of Systematic Botany in Australasia (Australian Systematic
Botany Society, c/- National Herbarium of Victoria: South Yarra).
Collier, P.A. (1990) Rare taxa in the genus Euphrasia L. from lowland south-eastern Tasmania.
Tasmanian Naturalist 103: 1–5.
Manuscript received 2 April 1997
Manuscript accepted 15 August 1997
Taxonomic studies in Euphrasia
(Scrophulariaceae). VIII. E. ruptura, a name for
a species apparently extinct in northeastern
New South Wales
W.R. Barker
Abstract
Barker. W.R. (State Herbarium, Botanic Gardens of Adelaide, North Terrace, Adelaide, South Australia,
5000) 1997. Taxonomic studies in Euphrasia (Scrophulariaceae). VIII. E. ruptura, a name for a species
apparently extinct in northeastern New South Wales. Telopea 7(3): 227–230. The name E. ruptura and
a description are provided for this species from Tamworth, northeastern New South Wales, which
has been recognised since 1982 by an informal phrase name. Despite efforts to find it, it is still only
known from the two flowering branches collected in 1904 and remains most likely to be extinct.
Introduction
Since the existence of a new species from the Tamworth area was publicised by an
informal phrase name 15 years ago (Barker 1982), efforts made to rediscover it (Ms
P. Horton, pers. comm. 1996) have been unsuccessful. It remains apparently extinct.
Discovery of a wider range of material than the two flowering branches of the single
known collection would have enabled a better documentation of the variability of the
new species and assessment of its diagnostic features. A similar delay in formal
publication of the endangered southeast Tasmania E. fragosa (Barker 1982) may have
assisted, for example, in promoting the species’ rediscovery and discovery of a new
population (Collier 1990). This resulted in a better assessment of its taxonomic
integrity, variation and diagnostic traits (Barker 1996).
Though brought earlier to the attention of national compilers of lists of endangered
species (Barker 1982 and in correspondence), the Tamworth species was finally given
a conservation status of 1X in the national censuses of rare and endangered plant taxa
when informal taxa were accepted (Briggs & Leigh 1988, 1996). The numeric
component of the status coding has indicated that the species is known from the one
collection, the alphabetic that it has been believed to be extinct.
The species is now being formally named to enable its inclusion in endangered species
legislation in New South Wales (Ms J. Everett, pers. comm. 1996).
Description
Euphrasia ruptura W.R. Barker, sp. nov.
[Euphrasia sp. ‘Tamworth’: W.R. Barker, J. Adel. Bot. Gard. 5 (1982) 156, fig. 49, 57;
Briggs & Leigh, Rare or Threatened Australian Plants (1988) 101, 193, as Euphrasia sp.
1 (Tamworth); Briggs & Leigh, Rare threat. Austral. pl., 1995 edn (1996) 175, 209, as
Euphrasia sp. 1 (Tamworth: Rupp s.n., 09/1904). ]
Species nova Sectionis Australium E. bellae et E. bowdeniae affinissime inflorescentiis
laxis nodibus saepe unifloribus; ab E. bella differt pilis glandulosis e ramulis foliisque
carentibus, foliis reflexis angustioribus base anguste cuneata et dentibus marginalibus
brevioribus, calyce breviori, et antheris minoribus aristis postremis brevioribus, ab
E. bowdeniae pilis eglandulosis ramos aeque et plus minusve dense cingentibus, et
foliis dentibus marginalibus pluribus.
Type: New South Wales: North-western Slopes: Tamworth, [H.M.R. Rupp], MEL
41404, Sep 1904. (Holotypus: MEL; iconotypus:Barker 1982, fig. 57).
Apparently a perennial subshrub, over 26 cm high; branchlets with more than
22–25 pairs of leaves (Note 2), surrounded over whole length by moderately dense to
dense, retrorse scaberulous eglandular hairs c. 0.05 mm long; shoots or young branches
occurring sporadically in leaf axils up to 2–5 nodes below the inflorescence, in groups
of 2–5 nodes, with no buds for several nodes between, the internodes 2–5 nodes below
the inflorescence longer than the subtending leaf, shorter below. Leaves reflexed, at
least in the material seen (Notes 2, 3), narrow oblong, covered by sparse to moderately
dense, antrorse minutely scaberulous eglandular hairs c. 0.02 mm long; uppermost
0.6–1.3 cm × 1.0–1.5 mm; base narrow cuneate; teeth 2 pairs, 0.2–0.3 mm long; apex
1.3–1.5 × c. 0.8 mm, blunt acute; lower leaves similar, the longest seen 1.3–1.9 cm
× 1.2–1.8 mm with rare instances of 3 pairs of teeth; sessile gland patches narrow,
extending almost to the base of the leaf. Inflorescences erect, relatively compact with
flowers spaced at lower nodes, at the third node the flower reaching past the node
above, the nodes above the inflorescence without buds (see Note 5) and sometimes the
nodes bearing only one flower; rachis retrorsely eglandular scaberulous all around like
the branches; flowers c. 8 in specimens seen; bracts like the upper leaves, but with
1–2 pairs of teeth; pedicels 2.5–4 mm long, ascending, retrorsely eglandular scaberulous
all around. Calyx 3.8–4.5 mm long, with scattered spreading or slightly antrorse very
short eglandular hairs c. 0.05 mm long, the teeth bluntly acute, covered inside by
moderately dense, antrorse, scaberulous, eglandular hairs; median clefts 1.5–1.8 mm
long, lateral clefts 0.8–1.1 mm long. Corolla 8.0–10.8 mm long along the upper side, of
unknown colour; tube c. 5.0 mm long, narrow cylindrical for c. 4.5 mm to the base of
the anterior filaments, distally broadened, externally glabrous at the base, distally in
exposed parts covered by dense long eglandular hairs; hood 2.0–2.5 mm long,
externally covered by dense long eglandular hairs mixed with scattered moderately
long to long glandular hairs; upper lobes emarginate, with front surface glabrous, with
cleft between c. 1.3 mm deep; lower lip c. 5.0–9.0 long, downturned from about the base
of the lobes, covered externally by dense long eglandular hairs mixed with scattered
moderately long to long glandular hairs; lower lobes shallowly emarginate, with cleft
between 3.2–4.0 mm deep. Stamens with anthers c. 1.3 × 1.1 mm, with connectives
surrounded by dense long eglandular hairs; rearmost pair of awns c. 0.2–0.25 mm long,
the other 6 awns c. 0.1 mm long. Ovary not seen. Young fruits ovate-elliptic in lateral
view; apex broadly obtuse in lateral view, with 1 or 2 setae.
Distribution: E. ruptura is known from a single collection from Tamworth in the
Northern Tablelands (New England) region of New South Wales (Barker 1982, fig. 49).
Ecology: nothing is known of its ecology, although it may share the cliff face or cliff
edge habitat of its closest relatives E bowdeniae and E. bella.
Conservation status: 1X (Briggs & Leigh 1996). As mentioned, endeavours to discover
this species in the Tamworth area have proved fruitless.
Notes: 1. As indicated in Barker (1982), this species is closest allied to two species of
Sect. Australes, E. bella S.T. Blake of the ranges in the Tweed River watershed to the
north and E. bowdeniae W.R. Barker of the Blue Mountains to the south, by its lax
inflorescences, often with a single flower at a node. Ovule number has not been
228 Telopea 7(3): 1997 determined owing to the paucity of material available; this is lower in E. bella and
E. bowdeniae than for other members of Sect. Australes (Barker 1982). From E. bella it
differs by the absence of glandular hairs on the branches and upper leaves, by its
reflexed narrower leaves with a narrowly cuneate base and shorter marginal teeth, by
its shorter calyx, and by its shorter anthers with shorter rearmost awns. From
E. bowdeniae it is separated by eglandular hairs distributed completely and evenly
around the branchlets, and by its leaves immediately below the inflorescence with two
teeth along each margin.
2. Measurements in the description of length and number of leaves on main
inflorescence-bearing branches represent measurements from the two flowering
branches in the type and are clearly less than the actual value for these specimens. The
branches have apparently been plucked from above their base; in Euphrasia leaves
towards the base of such branches are much shorter and the internodes reduced in
length compared with the distal parts.
3. Deflexed leaves, which I have observed arising from branches pendent from sheer
cliff faces in E. bowdeniae, are also evident in E. ruptura. Contrary to Barker (1982),
however, plants of E. bella observed in 1989 on the forest floor in the MacPherson
Range had ascending to decumbent branches with ascending leaves, more typical of
Australian perennials in the genus.
4. Measurements of the flower were taken from flowers in the dried state because of
the limited material available, whereas I have used in the past spirit or soaked
material; this will result in slightly shorter measurements in comparison with previous
descriptions. Also as a result the internal indumentum of the corolla, hood and lower
lip width and filament lengths have not been described.
5. No buds are apparent in a number of leaves distal of the inflorescences in each
branch seen. It is uncertain whether the rachis of the inflorescence continues after
flowering into a vegetative phase, as in Sect. Phragmostomae of southeastern Tasmania
(Barker 1982, 1987) or whether the inflorescences terminate the branch, the normal
situation in Euphrasia and in this instance the related E. bella and E. bowdeniae.
6. The species epithet is a noun in apposition. It has two meanings. On the one hand it
commemorates in a play on words H.M.R. Rupp, an important collector of plants in
general in New South Wales and Victoria, later specialising in Orchidaceae (Clarke
1990); the type specimen comes from the period when he first began to collect plants
seriously, in Tamworth in 1903–4. On the other hand the epithet is a Latin substantive,
meaning literally the result of the breaking up, referring both to the three closely
related species recognised in revisional study since the 1980s, and to the lineal stepped
variation and disjunct geography of this group of three species.
Acknowledgments
I thank Ms Joy Everett for encouragement to publish the species and the National
Herbarium of Victoria (MEL) for access to the sole collection and facilities for its
measurement. Ms Karen Wilson of the University of Melbourne herbarium (MELU),
the repository of the Rupp herbarium (Clarke 1990), kindly searched the collections
there in vain for duplicate or other material of the species. Professor Phil Garnock-
Jones (Victoria University of Wellington) and Dr Barbara Briggs, Joy Everett, Karen
Wilson and Dr Peter Wilson (National Herbarium of New South Wales) provided
useful criticism of the manuscript.
Barker W.R. (1982) Taxonomic studies in Euphrasia L. (Scrophulariaceae). A revised infrageneric
classification, and a revision of the genus in Australia. J. Adelaide Bot. Gard. 5: 1–304.
Barker W.R. (1987) Taxonomic studies in Euphrasia L. (Scrophulariaceae). V. New and rediscovered
taxa, typifications, and other notes on the genus in Australia. J. Adelaide Bot. Gard. 10: 201–221.
Barker W.R. (1996) Taxonomic studies in Euphrasia L. (Scrophulariaceae), VII. A new species and
a widely disjunct population from south-east Tasmania. J. Adelaide Bot. Gard. 17: 217–221.
Briggs J.D. & Leigh, J.H. (1988) Rare and Threatened Australian Plants, revised edition. Australian
National Parks & Wildlife Service, Special Publication No. 14. Canberra.
Briggs J.D. & Leigh, J.H. (1996) Rare or Threatened Australian Plants, 1995 revised edition. (CSIRO
Publishing: Collingwood).
Clarke I.C. (1990) The history of the herbarium, School of Botany, University of Melbourne.
Pp. 13–21 in P.S. Short (ed.), History of Systematic Botany in Australasia (Australian Systematic
Botany Society, c/- National Herbarium of Victoria: South Yarra).
Collier, P.A. (1990) Rare taxa in the genus Euphrasia L. from lowland south-eastern Tasmania.
Tasmanian Naturalist 103: 1–5.
Manuscript received 2 April 1997
Manuscript accepted 15 August 1997
