Logania no longer? Dead name of the bisexual Orianthera

Day 6 30 October 2020, plants of the Lowlands Reserve

the bisexual Orianthera serpyllifolia (former name, dead name, Logania serpyllifolia) photographed in Lowlands Reserve 30 October 2020

Today’s plant is the recently renamed Orianthera serpyllifolia. Orianthera is a whole newly named bisexual genus endemic to southern Australia.

You can see from the photo , that the newly named Orianthera, has its anthers between the petals.

The renaming, I think dates from 2014, when taxonomists got the results from DNA testing, https://openjournals.library.sydney.edu.au/index.php/TEL/article/view/7853 .

I think there was a missed opportunity here, the species was named for the position of the anthers (ori Latin/Greek for mouth). I would rather that newly named species honoured our traditional Aboriginal owners. Taxonomists could seek guidance from our First Nations peoples to use Aboriginal language words, rather than Latin/Greek for new names.

Stop Press Edit 10 November 2020!!! Yay! New Species named after respected #Noongar Ecologist, Dr Stephen Van Leeuwen, in #NAIDOC week! Leeuwen’s Lily #Arthropodium vanleeuwenii https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/science/nuytsia/963.pdf

Orianthera near the Bibbulmun Photo from Lowlands Reserve 30/10/2020

Previously, Orianthera were included in the genus Logania. So Orianthera serpyllifolia was formerly known as Logania serpyllifolia. But Logania mostly have unisexual flowers, and Logania male flowers anthers are within the ring of petals.

The naming of flowers can cause controversy. When dryandras were included in the banksia genus, horticulturists whose aim was to collect all the species of banksia in the world in their gardens, suddenly had their life’s work extended.

This diagram shows that as well as the DNA differences, the anthers of Orianthera are arranged between the petals see sketch (b) whereas the anthers of Logania are within the corolla of petals see sketch (a).

So if your life’s work was to collect all the species of Logania in the world in your garden, with the exclusion of Orianthera, you now have a shorter task!

Photo form Lowlands Reserve 30/10/2020

So pretty, growing beside the Bibbulmun in occasional spots in Lowlands Reserve

I think most flowers in the Lowlands Reserve are bisexual. Like the Orianthera, they have male and female parts in the same bloom. Unisexual flowers are less common in Lowlands Reserve, where you get separate male flowers and female flowers — for example the allocasuarina in Lowlands reserve are unisexual, having separate red thready female flowers and brown crumbly male flowers, on separate plants.

I discovered the term “dead name” when researching trans issues. For many trans people your “dead name”, is your birth name, as many trans people change their names. Trans people identify with a gender different to their gender assigned at birth. They may identify as a woman, or as a man, or as non-binary.

Plant sexuality from Wikipedia, confused about plant sexuality? , so am I ! Plant sexuality is far more complicated than any human trans issues. but it seems that bisexual is synonymous with hermaphrodite in the plant world. More from Wikipedia Dioecious: having either only male or only female flowers. No individual plant of the population produces both pollen and ovules. (From the Greek for “two households” . “Monoecious: In the commoner narrow sense of the term, it refers to plants with unisexual flowers which occur on the same individual. In the broad sense of the term, it also includes plants with bisexual flowers. Individuals bearing separate flowers of both sexes at the same time are called simultaneously or synchronously monoecious and individuals that bear flowers of one sex at one time are called consecutively monoecious” Unisexual: having either functionally male or functionally female flowers

My fundraising for Bush Heritage #groundworkchallenge is going well . To join my team or donate go to https://www.groundworkchallenge.org.au/fundraisers/sheilamurray/2020?fbclid=IwAR2HbNn0YsCCc3tiSK-_lbF5xLsssaD8wjGHaUwVYrRqYxM-kdJkijoj2N0

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Lowlands Reserve is managed by the local community and City of Albany. Bush Heritage manage lots of other wonderful reserves.

Lowlands Reserve is on Minang Boodja — country. I celebrate the resilience, culture and capacity of the traditional owners, the Minang Noongar people of the Wagyl Kaip region.