Western Australian Herbarium

Western Australian Herbarium Western Australian Herbarium is part of the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation & Attractions.

WA Herbarium staff, associates and volunteers, together with colleagues from the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, form a unique and dynamic team that gathers, manages, researches and communicates information on the taxonomy, systematics, biology and conservation of our unique and precious flora on behalf of all members of the Western Australian community. In doing so it pl

ays a vital role in a national and international network of herbaria and allied biodiversity conservation agencies.

What better way to warm up the start of winter than by highlighting a stunning tropical species! Here we show off Osbeck...
31/05/2026

What better way to warm up the start of winter than by highlighting a stunning tropical species! Here we show off Osbeckia australiana, a small, hairy, perennial shrub that grows to 2 m tall and features terminal inflorescences adorned by 1– 5 gorgeous mauve flowers. Osbeckia australiana is the only member of the genus in WA (there are 50 worldwide) and is included in the speciose Melastomataceae family, which is also poorly represented in WA with only three genera and three species. The large flowers have 10 prominent bright yellow anthers positioned to one side above the stigma, a feature seen in many of the species in this family. While little is known regarding pollination for this species, others in the family are largely (but not always) buzz pollinated by bees, where the wing movement helps release the pollen through a pore-like opening at the apex of the anther. This allows for pollination to occur and their hairy fruit to form. These fruits are dry globose capsules when mature and release numerous, very small seeds.

Occurs on damp or swampy soils near creeks from Vansittart Bay south to Mt Leake near the Adcock River, on offshore islands and extending to the western half of Arnhem Land in the N.T.

Photo: A. Markey

𝗧𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗸 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗪𝗔 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗯𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘂𝗺 𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗲𝗿𝘀! 🌱 The Western Australian Herbarium at the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation an...
26/05/2026

𝗧𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗸 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗪𝗔 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗯𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘂𝗺 𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗲𝗿𝘀! 🌱

The Western Australian Herbarium at the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions hosted a morning tea last week to thank the 74 volunteers and research associates that help this important facility operate, generously donating 6241 hours of their time over the past year.

Volunteers come from all walks of life and help with preparing specimens for storage in the Herbarium’s climate-controlled vaults (known as ‘mounting’) and digitising existing specimens to make them more widely accessible.

Thank you to all our volunteers 🤝

Vollies’ Minni Ritchi (Acacia doreta) is a multi-stemmed shrub or small tree, growing to 1.5–5 m high, with terete phyll...
30/04/2026

Vollies’ Minni Ritchi (Acacia doreta) is a multi-stemmed shrub or small tree, growing to 1.5–5 m high, with terete phyllodes, and ‘Minni Ritchi’ bark that is red to red-brown and commonly extends to the upper branchlets. The simple inflorescences display light golden flowers in globular or obloid heads or cylindrical spikes, 5–22 mm long. Vollies’ Minni Ritchi has been recorded flowering early April–mid-September; pods with mature seed recorded in August, October, and late May.

The species is scattered mainly in the eastern desert regions of Western Australia, eastwards to south-central Northern Territory and far north-west South Australia, growing in a variety of habitats but often in skeletal soil on the slopes of rocky hills or on plains in sandy loam, sometimes also over calcrete or in sand near salt lakes. Acacia doreta commonly forms monotypic stands, often in Mulga (Acacia aneura and relatives) shrubland.

As we celebrate National Volunteer Week in May, this species (from the Greek doretos – generous, freely given) was originally dedicated to the Herbarium volunteers (‘vollies’) when it was described in 2014, and is today highlighted in further dedication to the many volunteers at the Western Australian Herbarium, Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, past and present, who so generously and graciously give their time and skills to assist the institution in a range of important and essential tasks.

National Volunteer Week https://www.volunteeringaustralia.org/get-involved/nationalvolunteerweek/
Image: B. Maslin
Find out more about Acacia doreta https://florabase.dbca.wa.gov.au/browse/profile/44536

Get ready this April as the carnivorous red carpet rolls out, it is Drosera rosulata’s time to shine! These carnivorous ...
31/03/2026

Get ready this April as the carnivorous red carpet rolls out, it is Drosera rosulata’s time to shine! These carnivorous plants form underground tubers that enable them to survive the harsh summer conditions, before growing as ground hugging rosettes of reddish coloured leaves, the species epithet being very apt, meaning “forming a small rosette” Drosera rosulata is a small, early flowering species with obovate to narrowly obovate leaves covered in sticky insect-snaring trichomes, with a distinct depressed midvein. Their flowers, protected by the developing young leaves, bloom before the leaves mature and continue to bloom until the leaves have fully rolled out. The white flowers last a single day and are produced individually in succession on a single peduncle, distinguished from related species by their pink anthers and many branched style with lobed apices. Upon finishing, spent flowers lay down on the ground to fruit where seeds are washed away by rain or scattered by wind.

Drosera rosulata flowers between April and May, growing in peaty sands in seasonal wetlands and granite outcrops. It is widespread throughout the Avon Wheatbelt, Geraldton Sandplains, Jarrah Forest, Mallee, Swan Coastal Plain, and Warren bioregions.

Photo: R. Craig

Our erudite Ericaceae expert Mike Hislop has described (another!) 10 new species of Styphelia (Ericaceae) from south-wes...
31/03/2026

Our erudite Ericaceae expert Mike Hislop has described (another!) 10 new species of Styphelia (Ericaceae) from south-western Australia in Swainsona, the journal of the State Herbarium of South Australia. The paper includes a provisional key to the species currently assigned to Styphelia Group X as well as some botanical illustrations by two of our talented staff members, Skye Coffey and Ryan Craig.

Pictured here is the newly named Styphelia interioris Hislop, beautifully photographed by Kevin Thiele, who made the type gathering from west of Bullabulling.

Please be aware that these new species will only appear on Florabase once an essential upgrade to the Herbarium’s collection’s database is complete, which is taking longer than expected. We appreciate your patience.

https://data.environment.sa.gov.au/Content/Publications/JABG39P015_Hislop.pdf

Research papers on Styphelia, Amanita and several genera in Orchidaceae and Myrtaceae subtribe Hysterobaeckeinae were pu...
06/03/2026

Research papers on Styphelia, Amanita and several genera in Orchidaceae and Myrtaceae subtribe Hysterobaeckeinae were published in Nuytsia today. They include the formal description of 19 new taxa, among them a new species endemic to the Northern Territory.

Please be aware that the newly named taxa will only appear on Florabase once an essential upgrade to the Herbarium’s collection’s database is complete, which is taking longer than expected. We appreciate your patience.

This year’s cover features the whimsically named Crab Claws (Stylidium macranthum Carlquist), a Triggerplant with a distribution centred on the Esperance Plains in south-western Australia. Photograph from Cape Le Grand National Park by Juliet Wege.

https://florabase.dbca.wa.gov.au/nuytsia/

Sea cactus (Caulerpa cactoides) is one of numerous species of the seaweed genus Caulerpa, which is found on all coasts b...
28/02/2026

Sea cactus (Caulerpa cactoides) is one of numerous species of the seaweed genus Caulerpa, which is found on all coasts but at its most diverse in southern Australia. All species have one distinctive feature in common, they all have a horizontal stem, called a ‘stolon’, that grows across the sea floor (the genus name is Greek for ‘creeping stem’). The upright fronds of Caulerpa come in a myriad of forms, in C. cactoides they are thick and resemble a cactus, but in other species they can be spiny or grape-like. The pale pink coating seen on this specimen from Cape Peron is a crustose coralline alga, which does not appear to negatively impact the Caulerpa.

Sea cactus is widely distributed across southern Australia, extending north along the west coast as far as Barrow Island. It can grow in a wide range of environments, from very shallow waters to depths of 30 metres or more, on both sheltered and rough water coasts.

Image: J. Huisman

There is nothing better than seeking shade in the Jarrah forest on a hot day, and this is where you are likely to find t...
31/01/2026

There is nothing better than seeking shade in the Jarrah forest on a hot day, and this is where you are likely to find the White-flowered Billardiera (Billardiera floribunda). This species is a robust, woody, twining shrub to climber, a member of the Pittosporaceae family, that is often found scrambling in the undergrowth of Eucalyptus marginata and Corymbia calophylla forests. It’s mostly only noticeable when its large creamy white flowers emerge from mid to late summer. The abundant flowers (floribunda referring to this habit) are a standout at a time when not much else is blooming. Interestingly, like many other Billardiera species, the flowers will change colour with age, usually blushing pink in the centre. After pollination, the flowers produce a fleshy berry with numerous seeds.

This species is well worth observing in the forest if you can brave the summer heat! If you want to find them, go explore from December to February, from Mundaring to Albany throughout the Jarrah forest and Warren Regions.

Image: R. Craig

We recently hosted a visit by Dr Caroline Puente-Lelievre, a Research Fellow at the School of Biological Sciences, Unive...
21/01/2026

We recently hosted a visit by Dr Caroline Puente-Lelievre, a Research Fellow at the School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland, and long-standing collaborator of our Ericaceae specialist Michael Hislop.

Caroline is seeking to fill gaps in the Epacridoideae phylogeny generated through the Genomics for Australian Plants (GAP) initiative and Plant and Fungal Trees of Life Project (PAFTOL). Drawing on Mike’s taxonomic expertise, she sampled leaf material from 247 WA Herbarium collections for DNA analysis with a view to solving the remaining taxonomic issues in the subfamily.

Her research is being supported by the Australasian Systematic Botany Society (ASBS) through a Marlies Eichler Postdoctoral Fellowship as well as the National Research Collections Australia Visiting Curator and Researcher Program.

We can’t wait to see the results!

Here is a twist on the classic Snottygobble: Persoonia helix, one of many species in the genus and a member of the Perso...
31/12/2025

Here is a twist on the classic Snottygobble: Persoonia helix, one of many species in the genus and a member of the Persoonioideae tribe of the Proteaceae family. Persoonia helix is an erect, spreading shrub, to 0.4–2.8 m high, usually with several to many stems branching from the base or regenerating after disturbance from an underground lignotuber. A distinctive feature of the species is the slightly rigid, leathery leaves that are twisted through up to six complete turns and gives rise to the species epithet, from the Greek helix, a spiral. Yellow flowers are borne usually between the leaf axis close to the stem apex and have four tepals that recurve back towards the base, exposing the stamens and stigma. The yellow colouration would hint at insect pollination, which leads to a one, or sometimes two, seeded fruit.

Persoonia helix grows in yellow or white sand or sandy loam, often over laterite, in mallee-heath or mallee woodland where it is common. It can be found in an area roughly bounded by Kalgoorlie, Hyden, Ravensthorpe and Salmon Gums.

Image: A. Markey

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Como, WA

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Monday 8:30am - 4:30pm
Tuesday 8:30am - 4:30pm
Wednesday 8:30am - 4:30pm
Thursday 8:30am - 4:30pm
Friday 8:30am - 4:30pm

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+61892198000

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