New Western Australian Isopogon changes

In January 2024, a new paper came out with some important changes in what are referred to as the Isopogon spathulatus and Isopogon polycephalus complexes. The paper is accessible here: https://doi.org/10.1002/tax.13129. Also noting two of the authors, @bmichanderson and @botanistbob, are on iNat, so congrats to them both!

To summarise the changes:

1 . Isopogon pallidus is newly described. This species was previously referred to as the phrase name Isopogon sp. Darling Range (F. Hort 1662).

2 . Isopogon elatus is newly described. This species was previously referred to as the phrase name Isopogon sp. Ravensthorpe (D.B. Foreman 1207).

3 . Two subspecies of Isopogon spathulatus were newly described, and thus of course Isopogon spathulathus subsp. spathulatus also now came into existence given there were no other subspecies before this paper. These are as follows:

i) Isopogon spathulatus subsp. elongatus is newly described. This was previously referred to as the phrase name Isopogon sp. Fitzgerald River (D.B. Foreman 813)

ii) Isopogon spathulatus subsp. obovatus. This was previously known as Isopogon buxifolius var. obovatus

The nominotypical subspecies, Isopogon spathulatus subsp. spathulatus, contains under it the synonyms Isopogon buxifolius var. spathulatus, Isopogon buxifolius var. linearis and the phrase name species Isopogon sp. Canning Reservoir (M.D. Tindale 121 & B.R. Maslin).

So notably here, we have three phrase name species that have now been formally described, and the circumscription of Isopogon buxifolius sensu strictu has been narrowed, and it's now recognised as quite a short range species.

The paper contains a fantastic key to species and subspecies of Western Australian Isopogon with entire, essentially flat leaves (both surfaces clearly visible). The key is as follows:

and here are some nice distribution maps from the paper:

I have already implemented all of these taxonomic changes in iNat, and all of the new species are now available. I'm going to go through observations relevant to the newly described stuff and add IDs where I can

fyi @margl @hillsflora @bushmonger @kelnat @boobook99 @nicklambert @gregtasney @possumpete @kezzza4
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Posted on Φεβρουάριος 25, 2024 1001 ΠΜ by thebeachcomber