Acacia pendula (Fabaceae: Mimosoideae) in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales: Cunningham’s collection from April 1825 and its implications

Authors

  • Stephen Bell School of Environmental and Life Sciences, University of Newcastle https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9315-724X
  • Colin Driscoll School of Agriculture and Food Sciences, University of Queensland

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7751/telopea16981

Keywords:

Acacia pendula, Allan Cunningham, threatened flora

Abstract

Previous debate on the status of Acacia pendula A.Cunn. (Fabaceae: Mimosoideae) in the natural flora of
the Hunter region of New South Wales remains unresolved. However, the discovery of a journal entry and a
specimen of Acacia pendula collected from ‘Hunter’s River’ by Allan Cunningham in April 1825 potentially
provide evidence for its long-term presence there. Close examination of a scan of this specimen reveals a poor
match to the lectotype for this species, and its infertile nature means that it cannot be positively identified
using taxonomic keys. Rediscovery of a small group of Acaciapendula’ plants near to where Cunningham
travelled in 1825 confirms the sterile and root-suckering habit of the species which is consistent with those
growing elsewhere in the region. Despite this find, Cunningham’s journal entry and collection provide no
confirmation that Acacia pendula naturally occurred extensively in the region (although it may have been
very rare) but could suggest either that he had located one of the first introduced stands of the species in the
region (through indigenous people or European settlers), or that these sterile root-suckering plants represent
a currently un-named taxon or un-recognised hybrid. Final resolution of Hunter Valley populations of Acacia
pendula s. lat. may only be attained through genetic studies.

References

Andrew RL, Miller JT, Peakall R, Crisp MD, Bayer RJ (2003) Genetic, cytogenetic and morphological patterns in a mixed mulga population: evidence for apomixis. Australian Systematic Botany 16: 69–80. https://doi.org/10.1071/SB01043

Barrett SCH (2015) Influences of clonality on plant sexual reproduction. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, U.S.A. 112: 8859–8866. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1501712112

Bell SAJ (2018) Fate of a rare flowering event in an endangered population of Acacia pendula (Weeping Myall) from the Hunter Valley, New South Wales. Cunninghamia 18: 79–88. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/281837#page/79/mode/1up

Bell SAJ, Driscoll C (2014) Acacia pendula (Weeping Myall) in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales: early explorers’ journals, database records and habitat assessments raise doubts over naturally occurring populations. Cunninghamia 14: 179–200. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/281834#page/179/mode/1up

Bell SAJ, Driscoll C (2016) Hunter Valley Weeping Myall Woodland – is it really definable and defendable with and without Weeping Myall (Acacia pendula)? Cunninghamia 16: 15–30.

Bell S, Peake T, Driscoll C (2007) Dealing with taxonomic uncertainty in Weeping Myall Acacia pendula from the Hunter catchment, New South Wales. Australasian Plant Conservation 16(1): 14–15.

Choi B-K, Duretto MF (2008) Correa alba Andrews var. rotundifolia DC. (Rutaceae): an old name for a newly recognised variety endemic to south-eastern Tasmania. Muelleria 26(2): 45–53. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/280195#page/47/mode/1up

Conn BJ, Tame TM (1996) A revision of the Acacia uncinata Group (Fabaceae – Mimosoideae). Australian Systematic Botany 9: 827–857. https://doi.org/10.1071/SB9960827

Copeland LM, Kodela PG (2012) Acacia atrox subsp. planiticola (Fabaceae: Mimosoideae), a new threatened subspecies from the North Western Plains of New South Wales, Australia. Telopea 14: 63–68. https://doi.org/10.7751/telopea2012011

Daston L (2004) Type specimens and scientific memory. Critical Inquiry 31: 153–182. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/427306

Eckert CG (2002) The loss of sex in clonal plants. Evolutionary Ecology 15: 501–520. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1016005519651

Egea ÁV, Campagna MS, Cona MI, Sartor C, Campos CM (2022) Experimental assessment of endozoochorous dispersal of Prosopis flexuosa seeds by domestic ungulates. Applied Vegetation Science 25: e12651. https://doi.org/10.1111/avsc.12651

Forrest CN, Roberts DG, Denham AJ, Ayre DJ (2015) Microsatellite primers for vulnerable and thriving Acacia (Fabaceae) species from Australia’s arid zone. Applications in Plant Sciences 3: 1400121. https://doi.org/10.3732/apps.1400121

Gott B (2008) Indigenous use of plants in south-eastern Australia. Telopea 12: 215–226. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/266848#page/73/mode/1up

Hunter C (2010) People Property Power: Plashett Jerry’s Plains. (Anglo American Metallurgical Coal Pty Ltd: Brisbane).

Kamminga J (1988) Wood artefacts: a checklist of plant species utilised by Australian Aborigines. –Includes extensive bibliography. Australian Aboriginal Studies (Canberra) 2: 26–56.

Kodela PG (2001) Acacia atrox (Fabaceae: Mimosoideae), a new rare species from the North Western Slopes, New South Wales. Telopea 9: 415–419. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/265476#page/197/mode/1up

Lorimer GS (2014) The ‘Roadside Wallaby-grass’ Rytidosperma popinense – endangered or weed? Kanunnah

: 54–70.

Mitchell TL (1838) Three expeditions into the interior of eastern Australia; with descriptions of the recently

explored region of Australia Felix, and of the present colony of New South Wales. Second Edition, Carefully

Revised. In Two Volumes. (T. and W. Boone: London) Online at http://gutenberg.net.au/explorers-journals.

html

O’Rourke M (2009) Passages to the North-West Plains: the colonial discovery and occupation of East-Central

New South Wales, 1817–26. Oxley, Howe, Lawson and Cunningham. Mudgee, Merriwa, and Muswellbrook.

Incorporating an extended discussion of the armed conflict between Aborigines, settlers and police in the

Hunter Valley, 1825–26. (Canberra, ACT)

Orchard A (2013) Allan Cunningham’s cryptic publications. Telopea 15: 191–204. https://doi.org/10.7751/

telopea2013022

Orchard A (2014) The dispersal of Allan Cunningham’s botanical collections. Telopea 17: 43–86. https://doi.

org/10.7751/telopea20147421

Orchard AE, Orchard TA (2013) Allan Cunningham’s Timor collections. Nuytsia 23: 63–88. https://florabase.

dpaw.wa.gov.au/nuytsia/article/654

Orchard AE, Orchard TA (2014a) King’s Collectors for Kew: James Bowie & Allan Cunningham, Brazil 1814–

(A.E. Orchard and T.A. Orchard: Weston Creek, ACT)

Orchard AE, Orchard TA (2014b) The Botanist and the Judge: Allan Cunningham in Tasmania 1818–1819.

(A.E. Orchard and T.A. Orchard: Weston Creek, ACT)

Orchard AE, Orchard TA (2015) Allan Cunningham: Letters of a Botanist/Explorer 1791-1839. (A.E. Orchard

and T.A. Orchard: Weston Creek, ACT)

Orchard AE, Orchard TA (2018a) The Australian botanical journals of Allan Cunningham: The Oxley and Early

King expeditions, October 1816–February 1819. (A.E. Orchard and T.A. Orchard: Weston Creek, ACT)

Orchard AE, Orchard TA (2018b) The Australian Botanical Journals of Allan Cunningham: The later King

expeditions, February 1819–September 1822. (A.E. Orchard and T.A. Orchard: Weston Creek, ACT)

Orchard AE, Wilson AJG (eds) (2001) Flora of Australia Volume 11A, Mimosaceae, Acacia part 1. (ABRS:

Canberra/CSIRO Publishing: Melbourne).

Pedley L (1978) A revision of Acacia Mill. in Queensland. Austrobaileya 1: 75–234. https://www.jstor.org/

stable/41738612

Perry TM (1963) Australia’s first frontier: The spread of settlement in New South Wales, 1788–1829. (Melbourne

University Press: Parkville)

Roberts DG, Forrest CN, Denham AJ, Ayre DJ (2017) Clonality disguises the vulnerability of a threatened arid

zone Acacia. Ecology and Evolution 7: 9451–9460. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.3246

Ross JH (1974) Notes on Acacia species from north-east tropical Africa. Bothalia 11: 299–303. https://doi.

org/10.4102/abc.v11i3.1475

Seigler DS, Ebinger JE (2015) Clarification of Acacia multipinnata, A. paniculata, A. scandens and A. tenuifolia.

Phytologia 97: 179–186. https://biostor.org/reference/208705

Silcock JL (2018) Aboriginal translocations: The intentional propagation and dispersal of plants in Aboriginal

Australia. Journal of Ethnobiology 38: 372–405. https://doi.org/10.2993/0278-0771-38.3.390

Silverside AJ (1991) The identity of Euphrasia officionalis L. and its nomenclatural implications. Watsonia 18:

–350.

Tozer M, Chalmers A (2015) Should Hunter Valley Weeping Myall Woodland in the Sydney Basin Bioregion be

listed as a Threatened Ecological Community? Cunninghamia 15: 201–204. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.

org/item/281852#page/201/mode/1up

Tozer M, Chalmers A (2016) Hunter Valley Weeping Myall Woodland in the Sydney Basin Bioregion should

remain listed as a Threatened Ecological Community until strong evidence emerges in support of delisting.

Cunninghamia 16: 31–34.

Turland NJ, Wiersema JH, Barrie FR, Greuter W, Hawksworth DL, Herendeen PS, Knapp S, Kusber W-H, Li

D-Z, Marhold K, May TW, McNeill J, Monro AM, Prado J, Price MJ, Smith GF (eds.) (2018) International

Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (Shenzhen Code) adopted by the Nineteenth International

Botanical Congress Shenzhen, China, July 2017. Regnum Vegetabile 159. (Glashütten: Koeltz Botanical

Books) https://doi.org/10.12705/Code.2018

Umwelt (2006) The vegetation of Jerrys Plains Cemetery: A survey for weed management purposes. Unpublished

Report to Department of Environment and Conservation, December 2006.

Whitehead J (2017) Tracking and mapping the explorers. Volume 5. Cunningham’s expedition across the Liverpool

Plains, 1825. (Sunnyland Press: Mildura)

Downloads

Published

2023-05-11

Issue

Section

Articles