Western Australia's Forgotten Flower Back From the Dead
© Environment News Service (ENS) 2000
October 25, 2000
PERTH, Australia, October 25, 2000 (ENS) - After 15 years presumed extinct in the wild, a Western Australia wildflower has been rediscovered. The hidden beard heath (Leucopogon obtectus) was found this week near the town of Geraldton, 424 kilometers (263 miles) north of Perth, in roadside vegetation during field surveys for a local Bushcare project.
Bushcare projects are carried out under the Natural Heritage Trust, described by the Australian government as a A$1.5 billion (US$790 million) "environmental rescue effort."
Australia has the world's worst record for mammal extinctions in the last 200 years. These extinctions illustrate the changes that have occurred to the Australian landscape and to the unique flora and fauna that characterize the continent.
Administered by the environment ministry and the agriculture ministry, the Natural Heritage Trust funds environmental activities aimed at halting and reversing the decline of threatened species.
For instance, last week it provided A$70,000 (US$36,790) to a black eared miner recovery plan, an initiative to save a rare colony of these birds native to South Australia. The money was part of a A$20.8 million (US$10.9 million) package for South Australia.
The hidden beard heath was considered rare long before its disappearance in 1985. Only 100 plants were known to exist in the wild before that time. It had been collected in the wild on three occasions - the first specimen was collected in 1903. The species is listed as endangered under Australia's Environment Protection and Biodiversity Act 1999.
The native vegetation in this part of Western Australia is known as Kwongan, an aboriginal term for low hard scrub. The Kwongan heathland is extremely diverse and contains many species, which are native to the region and found nowhere else. Tourists and botanists flock to this area, which is part of a popular route known as the Northern wildflower tour.
A few species are known to occur only in this area. Calytrix superba is found south of the town of Eneabba. Banksia elegans occurs near Lake Indoon, and Verticordia affinity nitens is found in several locations. Forty-one species are considered to be rare or threatened, but the most famous is hidden beard heath.
Department of Conservation and Land Management conservation officer Alanna Chant found the flower in remnant vegetation near a road during a field survey. Western Australian Environment Minister Cheryl Edwardes said the find showed that the journey of biological discovery is forever changing.
"Greater community awareness and understanding about ways to lessen the impact of human activities on the species might lead to the discovery of new populations," said Edwardes.
"Many of the impacts on these threatened species are the result of exotic diseases, weeds and animals such as goats, pigs and rabbits."
Federal Environment Minister Robert Hill credited project funding from the Natural Heritage Trust and the Western Australian Government for increasing the level of community interest and involvement in rare plant management.
Edwardes added that the awareness campaign would be boosted by this month's release of a book, "Western Australian Flora - A Descriptive Catalogue." The catalogue is the result of seven year project to record all native and alien plants in Western Australia's deserts, tropics, sandplains and native forests.
The reappearance of the hidden beard heath is one of an encouraging number of instances when the decline of an endangered species has been halted or reversed by special projects and research.
Species rescued from the brink of extinction include the numbat, northern hairy nosed wombat, noisy scrub bird, Lord Howe Island woodhen, the orange bellied parrot and the rose mallee.
Research into threats such as fire and the affect of introducing animals and diseases has led to improved management. For example, numbers of the endangered brush tailed bettong in a Western Australian reserve showed a tenfold increase in five years following fox control, compared to areas of the reserve where there was no control.
Logging practices in New South Wales forests have been altered to lower the threat to tree dwelling mammals after research indicated that the mammals rely heavily on trees along water courses and drainage lines.