Declared Rare and Poorly Known Flora in the Geraldton District

PART TWO: DECLARED RARE FLORA IN THE GERALDTON DISTRICTIn 1996, 35 taxa of Declared Rare Flora were known to be extant within the boundaries of the Geraldton District. Twospecies listed as presumed extinct on the Declared Rare Flora Schedule are also included. While they have beencollected from the Geraldton District in the past, no extant populations are recorded.A brief description of the morphology, distribution, habitat, and conservation status is provided for each taxon. Whereappropriate, the impact of certain factors such as fire, mechanical disturbance, weed invasion and Phytophthora diebackis noted from observations made in the field during routine monitoring and from discussion with District and researchstaff. Recommendations are made for management and protection action to ensure the continued survival ofpopulations of each taxon.Descriptions of taxa were compiled by consulting references and from discussion with botanists. Distribution andhabitat were recorded from Departmental Rare Flora files and records in the Western Australian Herbarium. Emphasiswas placed on the particular habitat characteristics of locations in the Geraldton District. Conservation status wasdetermined from field observations, and population and location data on Departmental files. It is a brief summary of thenumber and condition of populations throughout the range of the taxon and threats to population survival. A table foreach taxon lists the location, land status, date of last survey, number of plants and condition for populations. The list ofknown populations generally refers to those in the Geraldton District only and populations that occur outside theDistrict are not listed but referred to in the description of the species’ distribution. Not only populations that have beensurveyed are included, but also those represented only by a Herbarium specimen if they are from a different locality.These are denoted by an asterisk and are included because they indicate the former wider range of the species, where itmay still occur in as yet undiscovered populations, although some are known to have been destroyed since the time ofcollection.Precise locality details are contained on Departmental files and a computerised database.Of the 35 extant taxa included in the program, 18 are endemic to the Geraldton District. During the course of theprogram, several species listed as presumed extinct on the Declared Rare Flora Schedule have been found to be extantwithin the District. These are Beyeria lepidopetala, Glyceria drummondii, Menkea draboides and Phlegmatospermumdrummondii. Survey work has also resulted in the discovery of 19 new populations of Declared Rare Flora.23