Botanical contributions of the Northern Australia Regional Survey. II. Studies on miscellaneous northern Australian plants

Abstract

This is an account of portion of the botanical collections of the Northern Australia Regional Survey, 1946–47, chiefly from the Darwin–Katherine area. Families fully considered are Anacardiaceae, Aquifoliaceae, Araceae, Barringtoniaceae, Burseraceae, Casuarinaceae, Cochlospermaceae, Lauraceae, Leguminosae-Caesalpinioideae, Leguminosae-Mimosoideae (except Acacia), Meliaceae, Myristicaceae, Nymphaeaceae, Palmae, Pandanaceae, Passifloraceae, Pittosporaceae, Rhamnaceae, Rhizophoraceae, Rutaceae, Sapindaceae, Sonneratiaceae, and Sphenocleaceae. A few species of the following families are also discussed: Combretaceae, Cyperaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Gramineae, Leguminosae-Papilionatae, and Moraceae.

In addition to discussions on taxonomy, synonymy, and orthography of names, the following additions to the flora of the Northern Territory are recorded: new species: Dendrolobiunz stipatum, Desmodizim polyneurum, Horsfieldia australiana, Sclerandrittm grandiflorum, and Vavaea australiana; species not previously recorded from Australia: Mimosa acanthocarpa, Pistia stratiotes, and Sphenoclea xeylanica; species already known from other parts of Australia: Albixia canescens, Casuarina cunninghamiana, Colubrina asiatica, Cryptocarya cunninghamii, Cyperus platystylis, Cyperus ramosii, Hymenachne amplexicaulis, Neptunia gracilis, Passiflora foetida, and Petalostigma banksii. Two new names are proposed, Eulalia mackinlayi (F. Muell.) S. T. Blake and Terminalia ferdinandiana Exell.

The genera Horsfieldia, Pistia, Sphenoclea, and Vavaea have not previously been recorded from Australia and Albixia, Colubrina, Cryptocarya, Dendrolobium, Hymenachne, and Mimosa have not previously been recorded from the Northern Territory. Sphenoclea represents a new family (Sphenocleaceae) for Australia. Cochlospermum fraseri, Cryptocarya cunninghamii, and Sphenoclea xeylanica are also recorded for the first time from Queensland.

The following reductions to synonymy are made: Alectryon bleeseri O. Schwartz to Cupaniopsis alliacardioides (A. Rich.) Radlk.; Barringtonia denticulata (Miers) Knuth to B. gracilis (Miers) Knuth, which is treated as distinct from B. aczttangula (L.) Gaertn.; Buchanania oblongifolia W. V. Fitzg. and B. muelleri Engl. var. pilosa Engl. to B. obovata Engl.; Buchanania muelleri Engl. to B. arborescens (BI.) Bl.; Ilex peduncularis F. Muell. to I . arnhemensis (F. Muell.) Loes.; and Pandanus delestangii Martelli to P. aquaticus F. Muell.