''Schenkia australis'' is a species of annual herb in the

Gentianaceae Gentianaceae is a family of flowering plants of 103 genera and about 1600 species. Etymology The family takes its name from the genus '' Gentiana'', named after the Illyrian king Gentius. Distribution Distribution is cosmopolitan. Characteri ...

family. It is endemic to Australia.

Description

''Schenkia australis'' grows as an annual, or rarely biannual, herb, from 2 to 30 centimetres high. Flowers are pink, red or yellow.

Taxonomy

This species was first published by Robert Brown in his 1810 ''

Prodromus florae Novae Hollandiae ''Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen'' (Prodromus of the Flora of New Holland and Van Diemen's Land) is a flora of Australia written by botanist Robert Brown and published in 1810. Often referred to as ''Prodromus Flora Nova ...

'', under the name ''Erythraea australis''. In 1917 the name it was transferred into ''

Centaurium ''Centaurium'' (centaury) is a genus of 20 species in the gentian family (Gentianaceae), tribe Chironieae, subtribe Chironiinae. The genus was named after the centaur Chiron, famed in Greek mythology for his skill in medicinal herbs. It is dist ...

'' as ''C. australe'' by

George Claridge Druce George Claridge Druce, MA, LLD, JP, FRS, FLS (23 May 1850 – 29 February 1932) was an English botanist and a Mayor of Oxford. Personal life and education G. Claridge Druce was born at Potterspury on Watling Street in Northamptonshire ...

, on the grounds that ''Erythraea'' was an illegitimate later synonym of ''Centaurium''. In 1928

Karel Domin Karel Domin (4 May 1882, Kutná Hora, Kingdom of Bohemia – 10 June 1953, Prague) was a Czech botanist and politician. After gymnasium school studies in Příbram, he studied botany at the Charles University in Prague, and graduated in 190 ...

resurrected ''Erythraea'', transferring this species back into it, but at the same time demoting it to a variety of ''Erythraea spicata'' (now '' Schenkia spicata''). Eventually it was restored to ''Centaurium'' for a second time. In 1996, it was decided that ''Centaurium australis'' could not be differentiated from ''Centaurium spicatum'' (now ''Schenkia spicata''), and the two were merged under the latter name. This was overturned, however, in 2004, based on strong evidence that Australia specimens of ''C. spicatum'' are not the same taxon as European specimens; specifically, all Australian specimens studied were

tetraploid Polyploidy is a condition in which the cells of an organism have more than one pair of (homologous) chromosomes. Most species whose cells have nuclei (eukaryotes) are diploid, meaning they have two sets of chromosomes, where each set contains ...

, whereas all European specimens studied with

diploid Ploidy () is the number of complete sets of chromosomes in a cell, and hence the number of possible alleles for autosomal and pseudoautosomal genes. Sets of chromosomes refer to the number of maternal and paternal chromosome copies, respecti ...

. The same study also split ''Centaurium'' into four genera, with ''C. spicatum'' moving into ''

Schenkia ''Schenkia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the gentian family, Gentianaceae. It is sometimes included in the genus ''Centaurium''. Selected species *'' Schenkia australis'' ( R.Br.) G.Mans. ( Australia) *'' Schenkia sebaeoides'' Griseb. &nd ...

'' as '' S. spicata''. Thus the Australian specimens were given the name ''Schenkia australis''. Australian herbaria have been slow to take up these nomenclatural changes. As of 2008, the

Western Australian Herbarium The Western Australian Herbarium is the State Herbarium in Perth, Western Australia. It is part of the State government's Department of Parks and Wildlife, and has responsibility for the description and documentation of the flora of Western Aust ...

still attributes their specimens to ''Centaurium spicatum'', and the National Herbarium of New South Wales uses ''Schenkia spicata''. However the most recent update to the Census of Australian Vascular Plants uses ''Schenkia australis'', as does the

Australian Plant Census The Australian Plant Census (APC) provides an online interface to currently accepted, published, scientific names of the vascular flora of Australia, as one of the output interfaces of the national government Integrated Biodiversity Information Syst ...

Common name

Since Australian specimens were previously ascribed to ''Centaurium spicatum'', they were referred to by that species' common name, Spike Centaury. It remains to be seen whether this common name will continue to be applied in Australia now that the Australian specimens have been segregated into their own species.

Distribution and habitat

Endemic to Australia, it is widespread on the mainland, occurring in all mainland states. It prefers damp sandy soils.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7431170 australis Gentianales of Australia Eudicots of Western Australia Flora of the Northern Territory Flora of Queensland Flora of New South Wales Flora of Victoria (Australia) Flora of South Australia Plants described in 1810 Taxa named by George Claridge Druce