Here, we present an open-source dataset that includes trait values for plant growth form, woodiness and life history for nearly all plants in Australia. This is the first near-complete tabular compilation of these traits for Australia, designed to facilitate research on Australia’s flora. Users can download this data set, rather than transcribing trait values from floras or other resources. Image by Sophie Yang.

To facilitate communication, research projects, biodiversity assessments and nurseries across Australia should use the scientific names accepted by the Australian Plant Census (APC), Australia’s national taxonomic standard for vascular plants. Here we present ‘APCalign’, an R package and browser-sourced application to efficiently align and update lists of scientific names for Australian vascular plants to the most likely currently accepted name. This package will be useful for all research outputs that require diverse scientific name lists to be updated. Image by Elizabeth Wenk.

The root pathogen Phytophthora cinnamomi is a major threat to Australia’s native plants. Little is known about its effect on plants in New South Wales. We found that some rare and threatened species can be severely affected by this pathogen but the threat is unknown for many rare species in areas such as the Blue Mountains where the habitat is highly suited to P. cinnamomi. Image by Keith McDougall.

The magnitude of the extinction risk to Australia’s flora from Phytophthora cinnamomi is poorly known. Using available data, we found that the genera Andersonia, Banksia, Darwinia, Daviesia, Epacris, Gastrolobium, Grevillea, Hibbertia, Isopogon, Lambertia, Latrobea, Leucopogon, Phebalium and Styphelia have multiple species at a very high risk of extinction because of this pathogen. As many as 269 plant species may be at a very high risk of extinction on the basis of phylogenetic patterns. Photographs by Keith McDougall.