Robert Brown Robert Brown may refer to: Robert Brown (born 1965), British Director, Animator and author Entertainers and artists * Washboard Sam or Robert Brown (1910–1966), American musician and singer * Robert W. Brown (1917–2009), American printmaker ...

's taxonomic arrangement of ''Dryandra'' was the first arrangement of what is now ''Banksia'' ser. ''Dryandra''. His initial arrangement was published in 1810, and a further arrangement, including an infrageneric classification, followed in 1830. Aspects of Brown's arrangements can be recognised in the later arrangements of

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 ...

and Alex George.

Background

The dryandras are a group of proteaceous shrubs endemic to southwest

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. For nearly two hundred years they were considered a separate genus, having been published at that rank in 1810 by

. In 2007 they were transferred into the genus ''

Banksia ''Banksia'' is a genus of around 170 species of flowering plants in the family Proteaceae. These Australian wildflowers and popular garden plants are easily recognised by their characteristic flower spikes, and woody fruiting "cones" and head ...

'' as ''B.'' ser. ''Dryandra''. There are now nearly 100 species, plus numerous subspecies and varieties.

Brown's 1810 arrangement

The genus ''Dryandra'' was first published by Brown in "On the natural order of plants called Proteaceae", which was read to the

Linnean Society of London The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript a ...

in 1809, and published the following year in Volume X of

Transactions of the Linnean Society of London The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature collec ...

. Brown listed 13 species, but did not attempt an infrageneric classification of them. Later that year, he republished his descriptions of ''Dryandra'' in his ''

Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen ''Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen'' (Prodromus of the Flora of New Holland and Van Diemen's Land) is a book by the botanist Robert Brown Robert Brown may refer to: Robert Brown (born 1965), British Director, Animator and ...

''. Brown's 1810 arrangement was as follows: :Genus ''Dryandra'' (now ''B.'' ser. ''Dryandra'') ::''D. floribunda'' (now '' B. sessilis'') ::''D. cuneata'' (now '' B. obovata'') ::''D. armata'' (now '' B. armata'') ::''D. falcata'' (now '' B. falcata'') ::''D. formosa'' (now '' B. formosa'') ::''D. mucronulata'' (now '' B. mucronulata'') ::''D. plumosa'' (now '' B. plumosa'') ::''D. obtusa'' (now '' B. obtusa'') ::''D. nivea'' (now '' B. nivea'') ::''D. longifolia'' (now '' B. prolata'') ::''D. tenuifolia'' (now '' B. tenuis'') ::''D. pteridifolia'' (now '' B. pteridifolia'') ::''D. blechnifolia'' (now '' B. pellaeifolia'')

Brown's 1830 arrangement

Twenty years later, Brown issued a supplement to his ''Prodromus'', entitled '' Supplementum Primum Prodromi Florae Novae Hollandiae''. He added a further 11 species to ''Dryandra'', but transferred ''D. falcata'' into a new, monospecific genus as ''Hemiclidia Baxteri'', on the grounds that its follicles always contained only a single seed. The remaining 23 ''Dryandra'' species were divided into three sections based on the number of seed separators in each follicle. He allowed for these groups to be given subgenus rather than sectional rank, but they are now treated as having been published as sections.e.g. The first section was defined as containing those species with a single seed separator. This accounted for the majority of species, and was named ''

Dryandra verae ''Dryandra'' subg. ''Dryandra'' is an obsolete clade of plant. It was a series within the former genus ''Dryandra'' (now ''Banksia'' ser. ''Dryandra''). The name was first published at sectional rank as ''Dryandra verae'' in 1830, before being ...

'' ("True Dryandra"). ''D.'' sect. ''Diplophragma'', was a monotypic section containing ''D. bipinnatifida'' (now '' B. bipinnatifida''), the follicles of which Brown thought contained two separators. Finally, ''D.'' sect. ''Aphragmia'' was defined as containing four species that Brown thought lacked a seed separator altogether. Brown's 1830 arrangement may be summarised as follows: :Genus ''Dryandra'' ::''

'' :::''D. floribunda'' (now '' B. sessilis'') :::''D. cuneata'' (now '' B. obovata'') :::''D. armata'' (now '' B. armata'') :::''D. Serra'' (now '' B. serra'') :::''D. concinna'' (now '' B. concinna'') :::''D. foliolata'' (now '' B. foliolata'') :::''D. squarrosa'' (now '' B. squarrosa'') :::''D. formosa'' (now '' B. formosa'') :::''D. mucronulata'' (now '' B. mucronulata'') :::''D. Baxteri'' (now '' B. biterax'') :::''D. plumosa'' (now '' B. plumosa'') :::''D. obtusa'' (now '' B. obtusa'') :::''D. arctotidis'' (now '' B. arctotidis'') :::''D. nivea'' (now '' B. nivea'') :::''D. Fraseri'' (now '' B. fraseri'') :::''D. longifolia'' (now '' B. prolata'') :::''D. seneciifolia'' (now '' B. seneciifolia'') :::''D. tenuifolia'' (now '' B. tenuis'') ::Section '' Diplophragma'' :::''D. bipinnatifida'' (now '' B. bipinnatifida'') ::Section '' Aphragma'' :::''D. nervosa'' (now '' B. alliacea'') :::''D. callophylla'' (now '' B. calophylla'') :::''D. pteridifolia'' (now '' B. pteridifolia'') :::''D. blechnifolia'' (now '' B. pellaeifolia'') :Genus ''

Hemiclidia ''Dryandra'' subg. ''Hemiclidia'' is an obsolete plant taxon that encompassed material that is now included in ''Banksia''. Published at genus rank as ''Hemiclidia'' by Robert Brown in 1830, it was set aside by George Bentham in 1870, but reinst ...

'' :::''H. Baxteri'' (now '' B. falcata'')

Legacy

Brown's arrangement remained current until 1856, when

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 ...

published his arrangement. In the interim a number of new species were published, notably in

John Lindley John Lindley Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (5 February 1799 – 1 November 1865) was an English botanist, gardener and orchidology, orchidologist. Early years Born in Old Catton, Catton, near Norwich, England, John Lindley was one of four c ...

's 1839 ''

A Sketch of the Vegetation of the Swan River Colony "A Sketch of the Vegetation of the Swan River Colony", also known by its standard botanical abbreviation ''Sketch Veg. Swan R.'', is an 1839 article by John Lindley on the flora of the Swan River Colony. Nearly 300 new species were published in it ...

'', and by Meissner in J. G. C. Lehmann's 1845 ''

Plantae Preissianae ''Plantae preissianae sive enumeratio plantarum quas in australasia occidentali et meridionali-occidentali annis 1838-1841 collegit Ludovicus Preiss'', more commonly known as ''Plantae preissianae'', is a book written by Johann Georg Christian Le ...

''. However, the only significant change to Brown's classification was

Stephan Endlicher Stephan Friedrich Ladislaus Endlicher, also known as Endlicher István László (24 June 1804 – 28 March 1849), was an Austrian Empire, Austrian botanist, numismatist and Sinologist. He was a director of the Botanical Garden of Vienna. Biog ...

's 1847 publication of '' Eudryandra'' as a replacement name for Brown's ''Dryandra verae''. Meissner's 1856 arrangement maintained Brown's distinction between ''Dryandra'' and ''Hemiclidia'', and his three ''Dryandra'' sections, but further divided ''Eudryandra'' into eight series.

abandoned ''Hemiclidia'' in his 1870 arrangement, placing ''D. falcata'' within ''D.'' ser. ''Armatae'' because He also discarded ''D.'' sect. ''Diplophragma'', placing ''B. bipinnatifida'' in section ''Aphragma'', on the grounds that Thus of Brown's names, only ''Aphragma'' was still accepted. In 1996, Alex George published a new arrangement. He revived the names ''Hemiclidia'' and ''Diplophragma'', but with somewhat different circumscriptions. Both were given subgeneric rank, and ''Eudryandra'' was replaced by the

autonym Autonym may refer to: * Autonym, the name used by a person to refer to themselves or their language; see Exonym and endonym * Autonym (botany), an automatically created infrageneric or infraspecific name See also * Nominotypical subspecies, in zo ...

ic subgenus ''D.'' subg. ''Dryandra''. ''Aphragma'' was retained, but demoted to series rank within subgenus ''Dryandra''. This arrangement was current until early 2007, when

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 ...

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 the entire genus ''Dryandra'' into ''

'' on the grounds that ''Banksia'' was

paraphyletic Paraphyly is a taxonomic term describing a grouping that consists of the grouping's last common ancestor and some but not all of its descendant lineages. The grouping is said to be paraphyletic ''with respect to'' the excluded subgroups. In co ...

with respect to ''Dryandra''. As Mast and Thiele were not yet ready to propose an infrageneric classification for their new circumscription of ''Banksia'', they transferred ''Dryandra'' into ''Banksia'' at series rank, so as to cause minimal disruption to the current arrangement of ''Banksia''. Thus the rich infrageneric classification of ''Dryandra'', including all of Brown's taxa, has been set aside, at least temporarily.

References

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