Flora australia

Australia's flora has more than 20 thousand vascular and 14 thousand avascular plants, of which about 75% are endemic to its territory. In 2009, Australian scientist Chapman ( AD Chapman ) published his “Numbers of Living Species in Australia and the World,” in which the total number of flowering plant species in Australia is estimated at about 20,000, of which endemics are, according to various estimates, from 85 to 92% ^[1] .

The richest in number of species is Queensland , in the flora of which there are 4,395 species, followed by Western Australia (4,384 species), New South Wales (3,773 species), Northern Territory (2,248 species), South Australia (2,208), Victoria - 2,171 species, and finally, Tasmania , out of 1,127 species of which 140 are endemic to this island.

The study of Australian flora began during the expeditions of James Cook : in 1770 the Endeavor ship stayed in the Botanical Bay for about two months, during which time Daniel Solander and Joseph Banks collected a rich herbarium of plants found by them nearby.

Up until the beginning of the XIX century, the nature of Australia was studied in fragments. So, in 1791, J.-J. Labilliardier , and in 1810, the north-west coast was explored by French botanist Jean Lescain . In 1815, Allan Cunningham explored New South Wales, and in 1819–1822, the northern and northwestern coasts of Australia.

But the first detailed explorer of Australian flora is Robert Brown , who arrived in Australia in 1801 with the expedition of Matthew Flinders . Together with the artist Ferdinand Bauer, he explored the southern and eastern parts of the mainland, as well as Tasmania and other islands, and returned to England only in 1805, collecting a collection of more than 4,000 species of plants.

In 1852, Ferdinand von Muller was appointed to the post of government botanist of the state of Victoria . In 1852-1854 he made three extensive journeys around the country and identified about 2,000 species, and in 1855-1856 participated in the expedition of A. Gregory in northern Australia. He was also the director of the Botanical Garden in Melbourne , and later took part in the compilation of the seven-volume Flora of Australia ( Flora Australiensis ) by J. Bentham , published from 1863 to 1876.

In 1906, Ludwig Diels gave a detailed description of the flora of Western Australia, and Karl Domin in 1915 and 1926-1927 published detailed essays on the flora and geography of continental plants.

James Odes ( Eng. James Wales Claredon Audas ), director of the National Herbarium in Melbourne, traveled almost the entire country in the 1930s and 1950s. published many works on the flora and vegetation of Australia.

Australia together with the adjacent islands form the Australian floral kingdom . It is characterized by the presence of 10 endemic families , about 400 endemic genera and many species .

Endeavors: Austrobeil Brunoniaceae ). Four more families are also specific to Australia, but are not its endemics: Eupomatievye ( Eupomatiaceae ) and Guymandander ( Himantandraceae ) are also found in New Guinea , and Xanthorium ( Xanthorrhoeaceae ) and Balanopsis ( Balanopsidaceae ) - in New Caledonia .

In the Australian flora, vicarism is curious : compared with South Africa , with which it is possible to trace common features of origin, here in the same families there are no genera typical of another region, but others appear that are not found there. Thus, Proteus ( Protea ) and Leucadendron ( Leucadendron ) families of the Proteaceae family ( Proteaceae ) are characteristic of the Cape region, and in Australia they correspond to Grevillea , Hakea , Banksia and Dryandra . Vicarism is even more pronounced at the family level: the Heather family ( Ericaceae ), typical for South Africa, is replaced here by the outwardly similar Eupacris family, and instead of the sedges ( Carex ) here you can meet representatives of the Restieceae family.

Another feature is that there are very few succulent plants with which South America and South Africa are so rich. There are also no Hvoschevye , Mirikov , Rezedovye , Tea , Begonium , Valerian families and the subfamily Apple Trees are not found at all.

One of the most numerous is the polymorphic genus Eucalyptus ( Eucalyptus ), among more than 400 species of which there are both trees and low shrubs that form impassable thickets of deserts deep in the mainland. In Australia, about half (up to 500) species of the genus Acacia are also concentrated, which, unlike the South African species, is characterized by the absence of thorns and the presence of phyllodia instead of leaves . Also a large number of species are the genera Grevillea (about 200 species), Hakea (100) and Dryander (60 species).

Representatives of the Lily and Amaryllis families are abundant in Australia, many of which have found use in floriculture. Among the orchids of Australia there are very few epiphytes ; most of them are terrestrial, and are concentrated on the east coast. These are representatives of the genera Caladenia , Diuris , Thelymitra , Pterostylis , etc. Also along the coasts, only in the east and north of the country, palm trees grow, of which there are only 26 species, mainly from the Malesian genera Licuala , Caryota , Borassus and Areca .

The Rosykan family ( Droseraceae ) in Australia is abundant in comparison with Europe and Northern Asia, where there are only three species in the swamp moss swamps. Here there are 36 species of dews, and they are distributed almost everywhere, even in desert conditions; their flowers , unlike the northern species, are large, pink, blue or yellow, the leaves are also planted with trapping insectivorous glands.

In Australia, there are about 300 species of fern , found almost exclusively in the humid mountain forests of New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania; The most abundant species of the genera are Alsophila ( Alsophila ) and Dixonia ( Dicksonia ).

The ancient family Sagovnikovye ( Cycadaceae ) is represented by 15 species of the genus Macrozamia . But coniferous Australia is rich: there are 36 species of them from the genera Araucaria , Agathis , Fillokladus , Callithris , Actinostrobus and others; The genus Podocarpus has 5 species.

For the first time, the division of the Australian flora into districts was carried out by Ludwig Diels in 1906 and 1916. The regionalization produced by A. L. Takhtajyan is based on the Diels system, but differs in details.

Northeast Australian Region

The smallest in size includes the northern, eastern and south-eastern forest and partly savanna vegetation, as well as coastal islands (including the island of Tasmania ).

The flora is largely akin to the flora of Southeast Asia and New Guinea. There are many Malesian and Melanesian genera and species: Aleurites moluccana , Podocarpus amarus , Elaeagnus latifolia , etc. The mangrove vegetation is also extremely similar to the mangroves of Southeast Asia (the genera Rhizophora , Ceriops , Bruguiera ). On the tops of the mountains of Tasmania and southern Australia there are species from the Antarctic flora.

Endemic families: Austrobaillies ( Austrobaileyaceae ), Tetracarpees ( Tetracarpaeaceae ), Petermannia ( Petermanniaceae ) and Akanievye ( Akaniaceae ). More than 150 endemic genera (10 endemic genera in Tasmania, including Isophysis and Prionotes ).

Central Australian, or Eremey, Region

Covers inland dry savannahs, central deserts, as well as South Australia . The flora is relatively poor and uniform, with a predominance of Australian geographic elements. There are no endemic families, but there are about 40 endemic genera, mainly from the Mature , Cabbage and Astrovye families.

Southwest Australian Region

Contains a typical Australian flora, with a very small admixture of alien elements. There is the highest progressive endemism: 3 endemic families ( Cephalot , Eremosin and Emblingen ), about 125 endemic genera (including Dryandra , Nuytsia , Stirlingia , etc.), and, according to various estimates, from 45 to 75% of species are endemic for this area.

It is in southwestern Australia that the flora leaves the impression of being distinctive and ancient, developing at the same place over a series of geological eras.

• Orchard AE . Flora of Australia - Volume 1, 2nd edition. ABRS / CSIRO, 1999. ISBN 0-643-05965-2
• Pavlov N.V. Botanical geography of foreign countries. Ch. I and II. - M .: Higher School, 1965. - 312 p.
• Takhtadzhyan A. L. Floristic regions of the Earth. - L .: Science, 1978. - 248 p.

• Flora of Australia Online (eng.)