South Australia’s 5000th plant

The State Herbarium of South Australia has lots to celebrate. Not only does 2015 mark its 60^th anniversary, but the team has recently recognised and named the State’s 5000^th plant.

Amateur naturalists Trudie Jaques and Tony Lewis noticed the pleated daisy in Dhilba Guuranda-Innes National Park, collecting photos and specimens under a scientific permit.

From this information the State Herbarium formally identified the plant as occurring in the wild in South Australia and gave it the scientific name, Podolepis rugata subspecies trullata.

Learn more about this special discovery

• The new pleated daisy is a subspecies of the genus Podolepis.
• A rare native, the pleated daisy has striking yellow flowers.
• The new pleated daisy has a limited range, seen only in Dhilba Guuranda-Innes National Park, Althorpe Islands Conservation Park and Busby Islet off the northern shore of Kangaroo Island.
• Trullata, from the plant’s scientific name Podolepis rugata subspecies trullata, means trowel shaped and describes the small leafy bracts around the base of the flower.
• The taxonomist who described the subspecies is Jeff Jeanes from the National Herbarium of Victoria, who also revised the different members of the Australia-wide genus of Podolepis.

Established in late 1954, the State Herbarium provides foundational knowledge about what plant species occur in the wild in South Australia, including weeds and natives.

Did you know?

• Every year around 50 new records are added to the state’s list of plant species.
• The State Herbarium of South Australia’s collection includes more than one million specimens valued at more than $71 million.
• In reality many of these specimens are priceless as their plant species and communities no longer exist.
• One of the primary roles of the Herbarium is to discover, study, describe and identify plant species so they can be formally recognised and consistently identified.
• The Herbarium is also responsible for maintaining the collection of all of South Australia’s known species of plants, fungi, mosses, lichens, algae and seaweeds.