Stylidium shepherdianum (Stylidiaceae), a new Boomerang Triggerplant from Western Australia’s Mallee bioregion

Abstract

I chanced upon the new triggerplant described below during a brief sojourn in Dragon Rocks Nature Reserve in 2017, on the final day of a broad-ranging field expedition in south-western Australia with my long-time colleague and confidant Dr Kelly Shepherd. As we enthusiastically made a collection of what I believed to be a novel discovery, I began to vaguely recall a collection from this area at the Western Australian Herbarium (PERTH) that I had previously been unable to assign to a known species. This suspicion was confirmed upon my return to the Herbarium, where I was able to match my discovery to material collected by Anne Rick (nee Coates) in 1991 during a flora and vegetation survey of the same reserve (Coates 1992, then as S. breviscapum R.Br.: A. Coates 3234 and 3378). This new rarity is allied to the ‘Boomerang Triggerplants’ (see Affinities below) and is named for Kelly, who has been steadfast in her support of my Stylidiaceae research program over the past 25 years.