Hibbertia fumana, a species rediscovered after over 210 years. Photo: A. Orme.

In a recent post we reported on State Herbarium research into the genus Hibbertia. One of the species, H. fumana Sieber ex Toelken, was described by Hon. Associate Dr Hellmut Toelken in 2012 (Toelken & Miller, J. Adelaide Bot. Gard. 25 (2012) 71-96, 1.8mb PDF) and was only known from three herbarium collections made in the Sydney area in the early 19th Century. The species was presumed to be extinct. Late in 2016, a population of the plant was discovered during vegetation surveys, which lead to a reassessment of the species and its listing as critically endangered.

Now Hellmut and a team of botanist, lead by Marco Duretto from the New South Wales National Herbarium, have published a revised account of the species in the journal Telopea. The newly collected material and live plants enabled them to describe the species in more detail and to assess its ecology.

Duretto, M.F., Orme, A.E., Rodd, J., Stables, M. & Toelken, H. (2017). Hibbertia fumana (Dilleniaceae), a species presumed to be extinct rediscovered in the Sydney region, Australia. Telopea 20: 143–146 (1.6mb PDF).

The authors state: “This is the second significant discovery in Hibbertia made in the Sydney region recently and follows the discovery and description of H. spanantha (Toelken & Robinson, J. Adelaide Bot. Gard. 29 (2015) 11-14, 720kb PDF), a species endemic to the northern suburbs of Sydney. Further field studies, collections and research are required in the greater Sydney region to accurately ascertain the full diversity of the genus found in this region.”