Introduction
This key is designed for anyone who has an interest in finding out about the plants of south western New South Wales. It includes about 1100 species, accompanied by over 3000 images.
The key uses a limited number of easily seen characters using a minimum of technical terms to help with identification of plants. It is not designed to key out to a single species, though sometimes it does. It is designed to narrow down the possibilities of what the plant might be to a limited number of species. The photos may then help you decide what your plant is.
In most cases, the use of a hand lens is not necessary for identification. Identification needing the use of even a low power microscope, or a detailed knowledge of technical terms is beyond the scope of the key.
The character "ligules" (for grasses) is the only character in the key that requires a hand lens. A hand lens will also be helpful for other characters e.g. "spikelet length" for grasses with small seeds.
Area covered by the key
The northern boundary of the area covered by the key is a line drawn from 33oS 141oE to 33oS 143.25oE, the west boundary is along the South Australian border, the south boundary the northern bank of the Murray River, and the east boundary a line south from 33oS 143.25oE to the north bank of the Murray River (an area south and west from a few kilometres north and east of Mungo National Park).
Government reserves in the area are: Tarawi Nature Reserve, Mallee Cliffs National Park, Mungo National Park, Mungo State Conservation Area, Nearie Lake Nature Reserve, Euston Regional Park, Kemendok National Park and Kemendok Nature Reserve. Non-government reserves are Scotia Sanctuary (Australian Wildlife Conservancy) and Nanya Station (University of Ballarat).
The key also covers (in NSW) nearly all of the species recorded from Kinchega National Park, and most of the species from the Murrumbidgee Valley reserves (National Park, Nature Reserve, Regional Park and State Conservation Area) and Willandra National Park, (in SA) most of the species from Danggali Conservation Park and Wilderness Reserve, Calperum Pastoral Lease and Scientific Reserve, Chowilla Game and Regional Reserve, and Birds Australia Gluepot Reserve, (in Vic) most of the species in north west Victoria, which includes the reserves: Murray Sunset National Park, Hattah-Kulkyne and Murray-Kulkyne National Parks, and Annuello Flora and Fauna Reserve.
Plant Terminology
The terminology for plant names is that of the Australian Plant Census at as June 2013. In cases where the Council of Heads of Australian Herbaria has not yet made a determination, plant names published in http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/ are used.
Background to the key
The key was based initially on the set of photos taken at the Australian Wildlife Conservancy property, Scotia Sanctuary, in western NSW, between 2006 and 2012. Additional photos have been sourced mainly from the Internet. For some species recorded in this area, no photographs are available, or photographs are only available by linking to another site on the Internet.
The Scotia Sanctuary Herbarium Project
Don and Betty Wood created a herbarium of pressed specimens with accompanying photographs as volunteers at Scotia Sanctuary, an Australian Wildlife Conservancy property in far western New South Wales, Australia. Other contributors were Anne Evers and Wendy Grimm (volunteers), and Michelle Brown, Tony Cathcart, and Joe Stephens (staff). 336 species were recorded, including 8 species of fungi.
74 plant species were found planted on Scotia Sanctuary, of which 8 also occurred there naturally. Four planted species were of unknown cultivars.
In almost all cases, duplicate specimens were deposited at the Australian National Herbarium, Canberra. Four specimens were identified by the South Australian Herbarium. Three species (Maireana sedifolia, Maireana trichoptera and Portulaca intraterranea) were not confirmed by either Herbarium. 3 species (Austrostipa sp., Marsilea sp., and Triglochin sp.) were identified only to genus level and not sent to a Herbarium.
101 additional species not seen during the project are recorded for Scotia Sanctuary.
About the author
Betty Wood, by training a pharmacologist, developed an interest in wildflowers and their identification many years ago when she first settled in Canberra. Her mother-in-law, an English botanist, helped her to learn to use botanical keys to identify Australian plants. She is co-author (with her husband Don) of Flowers of the South Coast & Ranges of New South Wales in three volumes, Flowers of the ACT & Region, and sole author of Simple Guide to Eucalypts and Similar Trees of the South coast and Ranges of NSW (Including the Illawarra and Southern Highlands).
Resources
Books
GM Cunningham, WE Mulham, PL Milthorpe and JH Leigh (1981 and later printings) Plants of Western New South Wales, various publishers
Grgurinovic, C. A. (1997), Larger Fungi of South Australia, published by The Botanic Gardens of Adelaide and State Herbarium and The Flora and Fauna of South Australia Handbooks Committee
Web Sites
Atlas of Living Australia http://www.ala.org.au/ for photos and distribution maps, (and descriptions of a few plants)
Flora of NSW: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au
Flora of South Australia http://www.flora.sa.gov.au/
Flora of Western Australia http://florabase.dec.wa.gov.au/
Grasses. AusGrass2 http://ausgrass2.myspecies.info/ has monographs on all grasses. It is a work in progress.
Peas: The Pea Key http://www.anbg.gov.au/cpbr/cd-keys/peakey/key/The%20Pea%20Key/Media/Html/index.html (photos only)
Wattles World Wide Wattle Australian Species List NSW: http://www.worldwidewattle.com
Threatened Plants NSW: http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/threatenedspecies/
Weed Species Information NSW: http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/agriculture/pests-weeds/weeds/profiles
Weeds: http://www.weeds.gov.au/cgi-bin/weedspeciesindex.pl?id=701
Weeds: http://www.weeds.org.au/weedident.htm
Victorian Department of Environment and Primary Industries Salinity Indicator Plants: http://vro.dpi.vic.gov.au/dpi/vro/vrosite.nsf/pages/water_sip_scientific_a
General information about fungi: Fungi http://www.anbg.gov.au/fungi/index.html
Wattle2 now available at http://keys.lucidcentral.org/keys/v3/wattle2/ (version with Java enabled) and http://keys.lucidcentral.org/key-server/player.jsp;jsessionid=B4996EF5F6B5CE4D99239563BE90F2B6?keyId=100 (Server version without Java).
CDs/DVDs/thumb drives
Sharp, D. & Simon, B.K. (2002), AusGrass: Grasses of Australia. CD-ROM, Version 1.0 (Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra, and Environmental Protection Agency, Queensland). AusGrass2 is free online (see above).
Maslin, B.R. (coordinator) (2001). WATTLE: Acacias of Australia. CD-ROM, Version 1.0 (Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra, and Department of Conservation and Land Management, Perth).
Fungi CD produced by the Field Naturalists Club of Victoria Fungi Group, http://www.fncv.org.au/publications.htm
AV Slee, MIH Brooker, SM Duffy, JG West EUCLID Eucalypts of Australia Third Edition (2006) CPBR.
SC Navie and SW Adkins Environmental Weeds of Australia (2008) CRC Weed Management and University of Queensland.
Acknowledgements
Identifications: Dave Mallinson (most identifications), Andrew Slee (for Eucalyptus), Laurie Adams (for Spergularia) and other experts at the Australian National Herbarium, Canberra, for plant identifications. Robyn Barker at the South Australian Herbarium, Adelaide, for plant identifications. Heino Lepp at the Australian National Herbarium, Canberra, for fungi.
Nausica Garcia Pinar for designing the Home Page for the key.
Ian Wood for putting everything together using his knowledge of HTML.
Paul Wilson (Western Australian Herbarium) for advice on the differences between Leiocarpa websteri and Leiocarpa leptolepis.
Image Permissions
Home Page photos: Photos of Myoporum parvifolium ssp. parvifolium and Murray River with permission from Don Wood, photo of Scotia Sanctuary with permission from Wayne Lawler/AWC, photo of Mungo National Park with permission from NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service.
At Scotia Sanctuary (Australian Wildlife Conservancy)- under a Creative Commons license - Don Wood (volunteer) and AWC staff (Michelle Brown, Tony Cathcart, and Joe Stephens).
In cases where no photos taken at Scotia Sanctuary were available, photos were sourced from elsewhere. These include:
Public Domain photos, line drawings, and paintings: Daderot, Daniel Feliciano, Hooker’s Icones Plantarum, (1852) www.plantillustrations.org, Jan Kops and FW van Eeden Flora Batava. Afbeelding en Beschrijving der Nederlandsche Gewassen. XVIII. Deel. (1889), Carl Lindman Bilder ur Nordens Flora (1901-1905), Javier Martin, Leo Michels, Missouri Botanical Garden Tropicos - Flora Palaestina, Jim Pisarowicz, I Sacek senior, Jan Sevcik, Pavel Sinkyrik, Smith & Sowerby's English Botany, or Coloured Figures of British Plants, 1839. Scanned by www.ancestryimages.com ; "Sophy" of Banque de Données Botaniques et Ecologiques and Association d'Information Appliquée à la Botanique; Stickpen, Jacob Sturm (1796) Deutschlands Flora in Abbildungen at http://www.biolib.de , Prof. Dr. Otto Wilhelm Thomé Flora von Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz 1885, Gera, Germany.
USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database: scanned books: Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913, courtesy of Kentucky Native Plant Society (also Wikimedia). An illustrated flora of the northern United States, Canada and the British Possessions; Hitchcock, A.S. (rev. A. Chase). Manual of the grasses of the United States, USDA Miscellaneous Publication No. 200. Washington, DC. 1950; Wetland flora: Field office illustrated guide to plant species; Robert H. Mohlenbrock. USDA SCS. 1991. Southern wetland flora: Field office guide to plant species. South National Technical Center, Fort Worth.; USDA photos- Jose Hernandez, Steve Hurst, Tracey Slotta
Free Access: © copyright of the Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Free Access for Educational/Conservation purposes: Tim Harrison
Creative Commons licenses: Ethel Aardvark, Zoya Akulova, Albert, Lyn Allison, Alvesgaspar, Steven J Baskauf, Michael Becker, Bill and Mark Bell, Russell Best, Bibliotheca Alexandrina, bilby, Biopix (SD Lund, JC Schou, N Sloth), Meneerke Bloem, James Booth, Barry Breckling, Matt Brady, Damon Brunette, Don AW Carlson, Curtis Clark, Chris Clarke, Arthur Chapman, Bob Chapman, Gerald and Buff Corsi, Michael Craig, Diego Delso, Ian Dodd, dracophyllum, Gaye Drady, David Eickhoff, Jose Maria Escolano, Joanne (ExplorerDJ), Gardenology.org, Sue Guymer, Roger Hooton (expom2uk), eyeweed, farkomer, Andreas Gminder, Richard Hartland, John Hilty, Donald Hobern, Beatrice F. Howitt © California Academy of Sciences, Mark Hyde, iharley, Valter Jacinto, Michael Jefferies, Nathan Johnson, Josconklin, A&M. Kapitany at http://www.australiansucculents.com/ , Andre Karwath, Mary Keim, Rochelle Kelly, Bas Kers, Kurt Kulac, Mary Keim, Michael Kesl, Matt Lavin, Laura Levens, Chris Lindorff, Scott Loarie, Loyna, SD Lund, Mark Marathon, Marlith, Isidro Martinez, Steve Matson, Lord Mayonnaise, melburnian, Brent Miller, Missouri Botanical Garden, Gary A Monroe, Keir Morse, National Botanic Garden of Belgium Manual of the Alien Plants of Belgium, ninjatacoshell, Ros N, Giorgio de Nola, Pato Novoa, Richard Old of Alberta Native Plants Society, Tomas Ortega, Kristian Peters, Lorraine Phelan, Mike Plagens, John Poulakis, przykuta, Tim Ralph, Julio Reis, Barry Rice, Linda Richmond, Luigi Rignanese, Ian Robb, Tony Rodd, Harry Rose (Macleay Grassman), © Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Christian Schwarz, JC Schou, Schounmynv, Sciadopitys, Ryane Shaw, Noah Siegel, Robert Sivinski, George Slickers, N Sloth, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Botany (P Acevado, RJ Soreng, Stahl water colour), snakeinmypocket, Richard Spellenberg, SriMesh, Forest and Kim Starr, Malcolm Storey, Bill Strong, sunphlo, Ian Sutton, John Tann, DM Taylor, Dean Wm Taylor, Kevin Thiele, Steven Thorsted, Tindo2, User#122, Linda Venz, Frank Vincentz, Charles Webber, Weeds of Australia Queensland Biosecurity Edition Fact Sheets http://keyserver.lucidcentral.org/weeds/data/03030800-0b07-490a-8d04-0605030c0f01/media/Html/Index.htm#A Wikimedia unknown photographers, Wikipedia unknown photographers, Don Wood, Bart Wursten.
Image permissions
Photos used under the guidelines from the Australian Plant Image Index, Australian National Botanic Gardens http://www.anbg.gov.au/photographers: Blue Moon Press, Brooker & Kleinig, G Butler, E Canning, JR Connors, M Crisp, S Donaldson, S Douglas, H Eichler, Murray Fagg, G Flowers, C Green, Denise Grieg, H Hadobas, R Hill, R Hotchkiss, F Humphries, MS Ittner, G Jordan, Heino Lepp, A Lyne, Dave Mallinson, G Manley, M Matthews, Joe McAuliffe, Colleen Miller, Nuytsia@Tas, Peter Ollerenshaw, Peter Ormay, M Phillips, Rosemary Purdie, RJ & FJ Richardson (www.weedinfo.com.au), B Rutemoeller, G Sattler, AN Schmidt-Lebuhn, HF Schwartz, RCH Shepherd, D Skirrow, F & K Starr, H Streimann, R Taylor, Ian Telford, Kevin Thiele, L Vallee, CG Wilson, John Wrigley, unnamed photographers.
Photo of Acacia nyssophylla flowers by permission from PlantNET, Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust.
Photo of Acacia nyssophylla shrub Reproduced from eFloraSA (www.flora.sa.gov.au), first published in D.J.E. Whibley & D.E. Symon (1992), Acacias of South Australia, 2nd edn, The Flora & Fauna of South Australia Handbooks Committee, Adelaide. Courtesy Board of the Botanic Gardens & State Herbarium.
Images of Fimbristylis aestivalis, Sclerolaena uniflora reproduced by permission from the Natural History Museum, London, England.
Photos of Frankenia foliosa, Lawrencia squamata, Spergularia brevifolia: © State of Victoria, Department of Environment and Primary Industries, Victorian Resources Online www.dpi.vic.gov.au/vro. Reproduced with permission. Photographer AJ Brown.
Photo of Lampranthus multiradiatus: McCormack, Gerald (2007) Cook Islands Biodiversity Database, Version 2007.2. Cook Islands Natural Heritage Trust, Rarotonga. Online at http://cookislands.bishopmuseum.org
Photo of Parsonsia eucalyptophylla by permission from the Queensland Herbarium image collection.
Image permissions from individuals: William Archer, Matthew Baker of Tasmanian Herbarium, Stanley Barker, Gary Brown, John Conran, Paul Caine of Glen Eira Environment Group, Meredith Cosgrove, Russell Cumming, Robert Davis, John Dittes, Gaye Drady, Murray Fagg, Else Foster, Ian Fraser, Roger Fryer and Jill Newland http://www.northqueenslandplants.com/, GA Gardner in http://deltaintkey.com Marilyn Gray, Wendy Grimm, Roger Grund http://sabutterflies.org.au/, Ken Harris, Andrew Hodgson, JM Jones, Greg. Jordan, Kwan http://www.natureloveyou.sg/, Peter de Lange,. Colin Leel www.ausemade.com.au, Glen Leiper, Heino Lepp, Dave Mallinson, Colleen Miller, Colin Ogle, David Poynter of Friends of Whyalla Conservation Park, Barbara Randell of Friends of Marino Conservation Park, Tony Rodd, Jeremy Rolfe of NZPCN, Phillip Ruttenburr of Plant Worlds http://www.plantworlds.com/, Greg and Kerri Steenbeeke (Orkology), Bill Strong, Hans de Vries, Brian Walters, Bart Wursten of http://www.zambiaflora.com/ , Don Wood.
Web site permissions
Permission to use URLs for individual species from:
PlantNET The Plant Information Network System of The Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust, Sydney, Australia http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/
NSW Threatened Species: http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/threatenedspecies/
eFloraSA http://www.flora.sa.gov.au/
In accordance with the Linking Guidelines of the Western Australian Herbarium (1998–). FloraBase – the Western Australian Flora. Department of Environment and Conservation. http://florabase.dec.wa.gov.au/
AusGrass2: http://ausgrass2.myspecies.info/content/fact-sheets
World Wide Wattle Australian Species List NSW: http://www.worldwidewattle.com/infogallery/specieslists/nsw.php
With about 1100 manually entered species, there are sure to be mistakes in this key. Please advise me of such, or give me suggestions about how the key could be improved. Photos that users send me to fill in the gaps would be greatly appreciated. My email address is woodbook@optusnet.com.au