George Bentham
George Bentham (22 September 1800 – 10 September 1884) was an English botanist, described by the weed botanist Duane Isely as "the premier systematic botanist of the nineteenth century". Born into a distinguished family, he initially studie ...
's taxonomic arrangement of ''Dryandra'' (now
''B.'' ser. ''Dryandra'') was published in 1870, in Volume 5 of Bentham's ''
Flora Australiensis
''Flora Australiensis: a description of the plants of the Australian Territory'', more commonly referred to as ''Flora Australiensis'', and also known by its standard abbreviation ''Fl. Austral.'', is a seven-volume flora of Australia published be ...
''.
It replaced
the 1856 arrangement of
Carl Meissner
Carl Daniel Friedrich Meissner (1 November 1800 – 2 May 1874) was a Swiss botanist.
Biography
Born in Bern, Switzerland on 1 November 1800, he was christened Meisner but later changed the spelling of his name to Meissner. For most of his 40 ...
, and stood for over a century before being replaced by
the 1996 arrangement of
Alex George.
Background
The dryandras are a group of
proteaceous shrubs endemic to southwest
Western Australia
Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...
. For nearly two hundred years they were considered a separate genus, having been published at that rank in 1810 by
Robert Brown. In 2007 it was transferred into the genus ''Banksia'' as ''B.'' ser. ''Dryandra''. There are now just under 100 species, plus numerous subspecies and varieties.
The first infrageneric arrangement of ''Dryandra'' was
Brown's 1810 arrangement, which listed 13 species, but did not attempt an infrageneric classification.
Twenty years later, Brown published
a revised arrangement which divided 23 recognised species in three subgenera, and placed one further species in a separate genus ''Hemiclidia''.
This was followed by
the 1856 arrangement of Carl Meissner
Carl Daniel Friedrich Meissner (1 November 1800 – 2 May 1874) was a Swiss botanist.
Biography
Born in Bern, Switzerland on 1 November 1800, he was christened Meisner but later changed the spelling of his name to Meissner. For most of his 40 ...
, which recognised 53 species and six varieties, dividing them into three sections and eight series, and maintaining the monospecific genus ''Hemiclidia''.
Bentham's arrangement
Bentham's arrangement was published in 1870, in Volume V of ''
Flora Australiensis
''Flora Australiensis: a description of the plants of the Australian Territory'', more commonly referred to as ''Flora Australiensis'', and also known by its standard abbreviation ''Fl. Austral.'', is a seven-volume flora of Australia published be ...
''. He reduced the number of species to 47, and the number of varieties to two, proposing an arrangement consisting of two sections and seven series. ''Hemiclidia'' was transferred back into ''Dryandra''.
George Bentham's 1870 taxonomic arrangement of ''Dryandra'' may be summarised as follows:
:Genus ''Dryandra'' (now
''Banksia'' ser. ''Dryandra'')
::Section
''Eudryandra''
:::Series ''
Armatæ''
::::''D. quercifolia'' (now ''
B. heliantha'')
::::''D. praemorsa'' (now ''
B. undata'')
::::''D. cuneata'' (now ''
B. obovata'')
::::''D. falcata'' (now ''
B. falcata'')
::::''D. armata'' (now ''
B. armata'')
::::''D. longifolia'' (now ''
B. prolata'')
::::''D. Fraseri'' (now ''
B. fraseri'')
:::Series ''
Floribundæ''
::::''D. floribunda'' (now
''B. sessilis'' var. ''sessilis'')
:::::''D. floribunda'' var. ''major'' (now
''B. sessilis'' var. ''cordata'')
::::''D. carduacea'' (now
''B. squarrosa'' subsp. ''squarrosa'')
::::''D. carlinoides'' (now ''
B. carlinoides'')
::::''D. polycephala'' (now ''
B. polycephala'')
::::''D. Kippistiana'' (now ''
B. kippistiana'')
:::Series ''
Concinnæ''
::::''D. squarrosa'' (now ''
B. squarrosa'')
::::''D. serra'' (now ''
B. serra'')
::::''D. concinna'' (now ''
B. concinna'')
::::''D. foliolata'' (now ''
B. foliolata'')
:::Series ''
Formosæ''
::::''D. stupposa'' (now ''
B. stuposa'')
::::''D. nobilis'' (now ''
B. nobilis'')
::::''D. mucronulata'' (now ''
B. mucronulata'')
::::''D. formosa'' (now ''
B. formosa'')
::::''D. Baxteri'' (now ''
B. biterax'')
:::Series ''
Niveæ''
::::''D. nivea'' (now ''
B. nivea'')
::::''D. arctotidis'' (now ''
B. arctotidis'')
:::::''D. arctotidis'' var. ''tortifolia'' (now ''
B. tortifolia'')
::::''D. nana'' (now ''
B. nana'')
::::''D. Preissii'' (now ''
B. acuminata'')
:::Series ''
Obvallatæ''
::::''D. sclerophylla'' (now ''
B. sclerophylla'')
::::''D. pulchella'' (now ''
B. bella'')
::::''D. plumosa'' (now ''
B. plumosa'')
::::''D. seneciifolia'' (now ''
B. seneciifolia'')
::::''D. vestita'' (now ''
B. vestita'')
::::''D. cirsioides'' (now ''
B. cirsioides'')
::::''D. Hewardiana'' (now ''
B. hewardiana'')
::::''D. patens'' (now ''B. hewardiana'')
::::''D. conferta'' (now ''
B. densa'')
::::''D. horrida'' (now ''
B. horrida'')
::::''D. serratuloides'' (now ''
B. serratuloides'')
::::''D. comosa'' (now ''
B. comosa'')
:::Series ''
Gymnocephalæ''
::::''D. Shuttleworthiana'' (now ''
B. shuttleworthiana'')
::::''D. speciosa'' (now ''
B. splendida'')
::::''D. tridentata'' (now ''
B. tridentata'')
::Section ''
Aphragma''
::::''D. tenuifolia'' (now ''
B. tenuis'')
::::''D. proteoides'' (now ''
B. proteoides'')
:::::''D. proteoides'' var. ''ferruginea'' (now ''
B. rufa''
::::''D. runcinata'' (now
''B. r.'' subsp. ''rufa'')
::::''D. obtusa'' (now ''
B. obtusa'')
::::''D. bipinnatifida'' (now ''
B. bipinnatifida'')
::::''D. pteridifolia'' (now ''
B. pteridifolia'')
::::''D. calophylla'' (now ''
B. calophylla'')
Legacy
Bentham's arrangement remained the accepted arrangement of ''Dryandra'' 126 years. It was finally replaced in 1996 by
a new arrangement published by
Alex George. George's arrangement retained a number of Bentham's infrageneric taxa.
In 2007,
Austin Mast Austin R. Mast is a research botanist. Born in 1972, he obtained a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 2000. He is currently a professor within the Department of Biological Science at Florida State University (FSU), and has been dir ...
and
Kevin Thiele
Kevin R. Thiele is currently an adjunct associate professor at the University of Western Australia and the director of Taxonomy Australia. He was the curator of the Western Australian Herbarium from 2006 to 2015. His research interests include ...
transferred ''Dryandra'' into ''Banksia'', on the grounds that ''Banksia'' was
paraphyletic with respect to ''Dryandra''. Mast and Thiele were not yet ready to proffer an arrangement for the new circumscription of ''Banksia'', so as an interim measure they transferred ''Dryandra'' at series rank, so as to minimise disruption to the nomenclature. Thus the infrageneric arrangement of ''Dryandra'' has been set aside, at least temporarily, and hence none of Bentham's infrageneric taxa are in current use.
References
{{reflist
1870 introductions
Taxonomy of Banksia