Gumnuts - Babingtonia (Baeckea) virgata - confused taxonomy

Babingtonia (Baeckea) virgata - confused taxonomy

16 September 2007 7:03 AM

(Note: For an update on this topic see "Babingtonia - The Story Continues"; 13-10-2007)

I recently came across an article on name changes in a Society newsletter which indicated that Baeckea virgata had been changed to Babingtonia virgata. This isn't the first time I've seen this change reported but IT IS NOT CORRECT!

Well, actually it is correct - but not in so far as Australian native plants are concerned. Stay with me with this....

The situation is confusing, and it's quite possible that I have completely misinterpreted the data - so please correct me if the following is wrong.

1. Baeckea virgata was originally named from specimens collected in New Caledonia in 1774 and subsequently the species was also regarded as occurring in Australia.

2. In several papers published in the 1990s, Tony Bean of the Queensland herbarium revised the genus Baeckea and one result was the change of Baeckea virgata to Babingtonia virgata

So far, so good. But....

3. A second consequence of Bean's work was that he regarded Babingtonia virgata as being restricted to New Caledonia - ie. under Bean's revision, Babingtonia (Baeckea) virgata is not an Australian native plant. This meant that all Australian plants previously allocated to Baeckea virgata required new names under Babingtonia.

4. Bean's work seems to have been accepted by most authorities so does this mean that all of those plants that we have been growing for decades as Baeckea virgata are not Australian natives?

5. No - it means that they aren't and (if you accept Bean's work) never were Baeckea virgata. And they certainly are not now Babingtonia virgata.

6. So, if the plants we are growing are native plants but aren't Babintonia virgata, what are they?

Well, this is where it gets tricky.

Merren Slone's article "When is a Baeckea not a Baeckea" in the December 2001 issue of Australian Plants online explains the situation but in short, Bean allocated new names to plants in the "Babingtonia virgata complex" and for Australian members of the complex these are:

Babingtonia angusta
Babingtonia bidwillii
Babingtonia brachypoda
Babingtonia collina
Babingtonia crassa
Babingtonia papillosa
Babingtonia pluriflora
Babingtonia similis

So, presumably the plants we have been growing as Baeckea virgata should be allocated to one or more of these 8 new names but NOT (repeat NOT) to Babingtonia virgata. The problem is that there are numerous forms of the former Baeckea virgata in cultivation and it's not at all clear which of the above 8 names are appropriate to the various forms. One that seems to have been sorted out is the plant known as Baeckea 'Howies Feathertips'. As described in an article on the Australian National Botanic Gardens web site, this seems to be a form of Babingtonia similis.

Babingtonia similis

If anyone has any further information on the correct names of other Australian forms of "Baeckea virgata", please get in touch.

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