Telopea truncata

Telopea truncata
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
Order: Proteales
Family: Proteaceae
Genus: Telopea
Species: T. truncata
Binomial name
Telopea truncata
(Labill.) R.Br.[1]
Distribution of Tasmanian waratah
Synonyms[2]
  • Embothrium truncatum Labill.
  • Hylogyne australis Salisb. ex Knight nom. illeg.
  • Hylogyne truncata (Labill.) Kuntze
  • Telopea tasmaniana Ross

Telopea truncata, commonly known as the Tasmanian waratah, is a plant in the family Proteaceae endemic to Tasmania in Australia. It grows as a multistemmed shrub or small tree, with red flower heads, known as inflorescences, appearing over the Tasmanian summer (November to February). Yellow-flowered plants are occasionally seen.

Taxonomy and evolution

While exploring Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) in 1792-3, French botanist Jacques Labillardière collected specimens of what he later formally described as Embothrium truncatum in 1805.[3] Embothrium had been a wastebasket taxon at the time, and Robert Brown suggested the genus Telopea for it in 1809, which was published in 1810.[1] Richard Salisbury had published the name Hylogyne australis in 1809, but Brown's name was nomenclaturally conserved. The species name is the Latin adjective truncatus "truncated' or "ending abruptly" referring to the end of the seed wing,[4] however this character is not specific to the Tasmanian waratah as all members of the subtribe Embothriinae have truncate seed wings.[3] James Ross gave it the name Telopea tasmaniana in his Hobart Town Almanack in 1835.[2]

Telopea truncata is one of five species from southeastern Australia which make up the genus Telopea,[2] and possibly the most distinctive.[3] It is the earliest offshoot of a lineage that gives rise to the Gippsland waratah (T. oreades) and Monga waratah (T. mongaensis) of southeastern mainland Australia.[5] The perianths of T. truncata are of a single shade of red, whereas those of its mainland relatives are coloured with two distinct shades of red—the surfaces facing the centre of the flower head are a much brighter red than those facing away.[6]

The genus is classified in the subtribe Embothriinae of the Proteaceae, along with the tree waratahs (Alloxylon) from eastern Australia and New Caledonia, and Oreocallis and the Chilean firetree (Embothrium coccineum) from South America.[7][8] Almost all these species have red terminal flowers, and hence the subtribe's origin and floral appearance must predate the splitting of Gondwana into Australia, Antarctica, and South America over 60 million years ago.[9] Triporopollenites ambiguus is an ancient member of the proteaceae known only from pollen deposits, originally described from Eocene deposits in Victoria. The fossil pollen closely resembles that of T. truncata,[10] Alloxylon pinnatum and Oreocallis grandiflora.[11] Fossil remains of Telopea truncata have been recovered from early to middle Pleistocene strata at Regatta Point in western Tasmania. These beds housed a subalpine plant community in what is now lowland terrain.[12] Leaves identical to (and classified as) Telopea truncata have been recovered from early Oligocene deposits around Lake Cethana near Sheffield.[13]

Description

The Tasmanian waratah is a large erect shrub up to 3 metres (10 ft) in height with several stems, although sometimes grows as a single-stemmed tree to 10 m (35 ft) high. Unlike the more familiar New South Wales waratah, the stems branch, with numerous smaller branches topped with flower heads.[3] Flowering occurs from November to February. The flower heads, known as inflorescences, are 3.5 to 6 cm (1.6–2.4 in) in diameter and composed of 10 to 35 individual flowers. They are most commonly bright red, though sporadic yellow-flowered plants occur. These were described as forma lutea but have no taxonomic status, as they appear sporadically and are mere colour variations. Yellow-flowered plants have both red- and yellow-flowered progeny.[2] Anthesis is basipetal, that is the flowers at the base (edges) of the flower head open first.[3]

Distribution and habitat

Flower heads among foliage, Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park

The species is found in central, southern and western Tasmania. It grows on moist acidic soils in wet sclerophyll forest or subalpine scrub at altitudes of 600 to 1200 metres (2000-4000 ft).[14]

Ecology

The prominent position and striking colour of Telopea truncata and many of its relatives within the subtribe Embothriinae both in Australia and South America strongly suggest it is adapted to pollination by birds, and has been for over 60 million years.[9]

Telopea truncata has a swollen woody base largely under the soil known as a lignotuber, which stores energy and nutrients as a resource for rapid growth after a bushfire.[15]

Cultivation

The Tasmanian waratah can be propagated by seed, though seedlings may succumb to damping off.[14] It grows best in a cool climate with ample water and good drainage, and has done well in cultivation in England. The Royal Horticultural Society gave it an Award of Merit in 1934 and First Class Certificate in 1938.[4] Its flowers provide ample nectar and hence a food source for bird visitors to the garden.[16]

Cultivars

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Telopea truncata (Labill.) R.Br.". Australian Plant Name Index (APNI), IBIS database. Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, Australian Government, Canberra. Retrieved 31 March 2012.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Crisp, Michael D.; Weston, Peter H. (1995). "Telopea". In McCarthy, Patrick (ed.). Flora of Australia: Volume 16: Eleagnaceae, Proteaceae 1. CSIRO Publishing / Australian Biological Resources Study. pp. 386–390. ISBN 0-643-05693-9.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Crisp, Michael D.; Weston, Peter H. (1987). "How Many Waratahs?". In Armstrong, J.A. Waratahs, Their Biology, Cultivation and Conservation: Based on a Symposium Conducted by the Australian Flora Foundation and Held at the Australian Academy of Science Building, Canberra, ACT, October, 1984. Australian Government Publishing Service. pp. 3–15 [7–11]. ISBN 9780644068185.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Wrigley, John; Fagg, Murray (1991). Banksias, Waratahs and Grevilleas. Sydney: Angus & Robertson. pp. 538–42. ISBN 0-207-17277-3.
  5. ↑ Weston, Peter H.; Crisp, Michael D. (1994). "Cladistic biogeography of waratahs (Proteaceae, Embothrieae) and their allies across the pacific". Australian Systematic Botany 7 (3): 225–49. doi:10.1071/SB9940225.
  6. ↑ Rossetto, Maurizio; Allen, Chris B,; Thurlby, Katie A.G.; Weston, Peter H.; Milner, Melita L. (2012). "Genetic structure and bio-climatic modeling support allopatric over parapatric speciation along a latitudinal gradient". BMC Evolutionary Biology 12. 149.
  7. ↑ Johnson, L. A. S.; Briggs, Barbara G. (1975). "On the Proteaceae: the evolution and classification of a southern family". Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 70 (2): 83–182. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8339.1975.tb01644.x.
  8. ↑ Weston, Peter H.; Barker, Nigel P. (2006). "A new suprageneric classification of the Proteaceae, with an annotated checklist of genera". Telopea 11 (3): 314–44.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Nixon 1997, p. 19.
  10. ↑ Dettmann, Mary E.; Jarzen, David M. (1991). "Pollen evidence for Late Cretaceous differentiation of Proteaceae in southern polar forests". Canadian Journal of Botany 69 (4): 901–06. doi:10.1139/b91-116.
  11. ↑ Martin, A. R. H. (1995). "Palaeogene proteaceous pollen and phylogeny". Alcheringa: an Australasian Journal of Palaeontology 19: 27–40. doi:10.1080/03115519508619096.
  12. ↑ Jordan, G. J.; MacPhail, M. K.; Barnes, R.; Hill, R. S. (1995). "An Early to Middle Pleistocene Flora of Subalpine Affinities in Lowland Western Tasmania". Australian Journal of Botany 43 (2): 231–42. doi:10.1071/BT9950231.
  13. ↑ Carpenter, Raymond J.; Jordan, Greg J. (1997). "Early Tertiary Macrofossils of Proteaceae from Tasmania". Australian Systematic Botany 10 (4): 533–63. doi:10.1071/SB96016.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 "Telopea truncata". Australian Native Plants Society (Australia). Retrieved 9 March 2015.
  15. ↑ Nixon 1997, pp. 25–26.
  16. ↑ Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment. (1 September 2008). "Creating bird habitat". Gardens for Wildlife. Hobart, Tasmania: Tasmanian Government. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  17. ↑ "Waratah (Telopea hybrid): Variety: 'Champagne'". IP Australia: Plant Breeders Rights website. IP Australia, Commonwealth of Australia. 2006. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Elliot, Rodger W.; Jones, David L.; Blake, Trevor (2010). Encyclopaedia of Australian Plants Suitable for Cultivation: Volume 9 – Sp-Z. Port Melbourne: Lothian Press. pp. 200–03. ISBN 978-0-7344-0974-4.
  19. ↑ "Waratah (Telopea hybrid): Variety: 'Golden Globe'". IP Australia: Plant Breeders Rights website. IP Australia, Commonwealth of Australia. 2006. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
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