Marsdenia viridiflora subsp. viridiflora in the Bankstown, Blacktown, Camden, Campbelltown, Fairfield, Holroyd, Liverpool and Penrith Local Government Areas - endangered population listing

The Scientific Committee, established by the Threatened Species Conservation Act, has made a Final Determination to list the population of Marsdenia viridiflora R. Br subsp. viridiflora in the Bankstown, Blacktown, Camden, Campbelltown, Fairfield, Holroyd, Liverpool and Penrith local government areas as an ENDANGERED POPULATION in Part 2 of Schedule 1 of the Act. Listing of endangered populations is provided for by Part 2 of the Act.

NSW Scientific Committee - final determination

The Scientific Committee has found that:

1. Marsdenia viridiflora R. Br subsp.  viridiflora is not currently listed as an endangered species in Part 1 of Schedule 1 and as a consequence populations of this species are eligible to be listed as endangered populations.

2. Marsdenia viridiflora R. Br subsp.  viridiflora (family Asclepiadaceae) is described by Forster (1995) as: flowers 3-3.5mm long and 5-6mm diameter; pedicels 5-8mm long, 1mm diameter, with sparse trichomes, pale green. Sepals lanceolate-ovate to ovate, 1.5-2mm long, 1mm wide, with sparse trichomes externally; colleters 1 at each sinus base. Corolla greenish-yellow; tube 2-2.5mm long and 2.5-3.5mm diameter, with conspicuous ridging alternating with the lobes and with dense patches of hairs up to 1mm long; lobes triangular, thin, strongly reflexed, c. 2mm long and 2mm wide, glabrous or with a few hairs towards the base. Staminal corona greenish-yellow, c. 1mm long and 2.5-3mm diameter, greenish-yellow ; each lobe 0.75-1mm long, 1-1.25mm wide. Staminal column 1.5mm long and 1.5mm diameter; anther appendages ovate, 0.75-1mm long, 0.75-1mm wide; alar fissure 0.5-0.75mm long. Style-head depressed-globose, c. 1mm long and 1mm diameter, pale green. Pollinaria c. 0.65mm wide and 0.35mm high; pollinia oblong, 0.31-0.37mm long, 0.15-0.17mm wide; corpusculum oblong, 0.25-0.26mm long, 0.08-0.11mm wide; caudicles 0.2-0.25mm long, 0.05-0.06mm wide. Ovaries 1-1.25mm long, 1mm wide.

3. Marsdenia viridiflora R. Br subsp.  viridiflora has a wide distribution in subcoastal and southern Queensland but has been recorded rarely in NSW and from a disjunct occurrence near Sydney (Forster 1995). In the southern part of its range the species is sporadic in distribution.

4. The Marsdenia viridiflora R. Br subsp.  viridiflora population in the Bankstown, Blacktown, Camden, Campbelltown, Fairfield, Holroyd, Liverpool and Penrith local government areas is disjunct and at or near the southern limit of its range.

5. The Marsdenia viridiflora R. Br subsp.  viridiflora population in the Bankstown, Blacktown, Camden, Campbelltown, Fairfield, Holroyd, Liverpool and Penrith local government areas, occurs as very scattered plants in areas of remnant vegetation. There are relatively recent records from Prospect Reservoir, Cabramatta Creek, Smithfield and the former Australian Defence Industries site at St Marys. No plants are known from any conservation reserves.

6. The habitat of the Marsdenia viridiflora R. Br subsp.  viridiflora population in the Bankstown, Blacktown, Camden, Campbelltown, Fairfield, Holroyd, Liverpool and Penrith local government areas has been reduced due to past clearing for agriculture and more recently by urban expansion. The population is threatened by future residential and infrastructure development and is also threatened due to its small size and stochastic events.

In view of the above the Scientific Committee is of the opinion that the population of Marsdenia viridiflora R. Br subsp.  viridiflora in the Bankstown, Blacktown, Camden, Campbelltown, Fairfield, Holroyd, Liverpool and Penrith local government areas is eligible to be listed as an endangered population because its numbers have been reduced to such a critical level, or its habitat has been so drastically reduced, that it is in immediate danger of extinction and it is not a population of a species already listed in Schedule 1 of the Act, and it is disjunct and at or near the limit of its geographic range.

Proposed Gazettal date: 20/12/02
Exhibition period: 20/12/02 – 07/02/03

Reference 

Forster. Paul I. (1995). Circumscription of Marsdenia (Asclepiadaceae: Marsdenieae), with a revision of the genus in Australia and Papuasia. Australian Systematic Botany 8, 703-933.