General remarks, geographical and systematical, on the botany of Terra Australis
Encyclopedia
General remarks, geographical and systematical, on the botany of Terra Australis is an 1814 paper written by Robert Brown
on the botany
of Australia
. It is significant as an early treatment of the biogeography
and floristics of the flora of Australia
; for its contributions to plant systematics
, including the erection of eleven currently accepted families; and for its presentation of a number of important observations on flower morphology.
' 1801–02 circumnavigation of Australia, and on returning in England
in 1805 he was charged with publishing a flora
of the continent. In 1810 he published the first volume of a Latin flora, Prodromus florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen
, but this suffered from very poor sales, and Brown abandoned plans to produce further volumes. The following year Flinders began preparing his account of the voyage, and Brown was invited to contribute a botanical appendix. Brown took the opportunity to include numerous observations that must once have been intended for a second volume of his Prodromus.
' A Voyage to Terra Australis
, and also simultaneously issued as an offprint with separate pagination.
The paper begins with a brief summary of the voyage, followed by an acknowledgement of the specimen collections to which Brown was given access prior to the voyage. Brown then presents a broad summary of the floristics
of the continent, noting that the proportion of dicotyledon
s is much smaller than would be expected in such a climate and latitude.
It then provides a systematic arrangement of the Australian plants, broadly following the system presented by Augustin Pyramus de Candolle in his 1813 Théorie élémentaire de la botanique. Thirteen new families are erected, of which eleven remain current today. These are: Celastraceae
, Casuarinaceae
, Combretaceae
, Cunoniaceae
, Haloragidaceae, Hypoxidaceae
, Loganiaceae
, Pittosporaceae
and Rhizophoraceae
. He also divided Leguminosae (or Fabaceae, the legume family) into three; although Leguminosae has been restored, Brown had recognised what is now viewed as the fundamental division of the family, and his three families are retained as the Leguminosae subfamilies Caesalpinioideae
, Mimosoideae
and Faboideae
.
Throughout the paper, Brown makes morphological observations that have since been described by David Mabberley
as "all brilliant and thought-provoking". These include the first explanation of the unusual construction of the "flower" (actually a pseudanthium
) of Euphorbia; an explanation of the construction of the flowers of Eucalyptus
; and observations on the venation of the petals of Asteraceae
. He also expands on previous remarks on the fruits of conifers, and explains in detail his previous decision to separate the Poaceae
into what are now Pooideae
and Panicoideae
.
The paper concludes with comments on the vegetation and floristics of Australia, including comparisons with other continents. There is an interesting historical footnote in Brown's use of the term Australian throughout the paper. Although the word "Australia" had been used on occasion, this is the first known use of the adjectival form.
on Brown, Joseph Dalton Hooker
remarked that the paper was
Robert Brown (botanist)
Robert Brown was a Scottish botanist and palaeobotanist who made important contributions to botany largely through his pioneering use of the microscope...
on the botany
Botany
Botany, plant science, or plant biology is a branch of biology that involves the scientific study of plant life. Traditionally, botany also included the study of fungi, algae and viruses...
of Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. It is significant as an early treatment of the biogeography
Biogeography
Biogeography is the study of the distribution of species , organisms, and ecosystems in space and through geological time. Organisms and biological communities vary in a highly regular fashion along geographic gradients of latitude, elevation, isolation and habitat area...
and floristics of the flora of Australia
Flora of Australia
The flora of Australia comprises a vast assemblage of plant species estimated to over 20,000 vascular and 14,000 non-vascular plants, 250,000 species of fungi and over 3,000 lichens...
; for its contributions to plant systematics
Systematics
Biological systematics is the study of the diversification of terrestrial life, both past and present, and the relationships among living things through time. Relationships are visualized as evolutionary trees...
, including the erection of eleven currently accepted families; and for its presentation of a number of important observations on flower morphology.
Background
Brown had been botanist during Matthew FlindersMatthew Flinders
Captain Matthew Flinders RN was one of the most successful navigators and cartographers of his age. In a career that spanned just over twenty years, he sailed with Captain William Bligh, circumnavigated Australia and encouraged the use of that name for the continent, which had previously been...
' 1801–02 circumnavigation of Australia, and on returning in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
in 1805 he was charged with publishing a flora
Flora
Flora is the plant life occurring in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring or indigenous—native plant life. The corresponding term for animals is fauna.-Etymology:...
of the continent. In 1810 he published the first volume of a Latin flora, Prodromus florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen
Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen
Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen is an 1810 flora of Australia by botanist Robert Brown. Often referred to as Prodromus Flora Novae Hollandiae, or by its standard botanical abbreviation Prodr. Fl. Nov. Holland., it was the first attempt at a survey of the Australian flora...
, but this suffered from very poor sales, and Brown abandoned plans to produce further volumes. The following year Flinders began preparing his account of the voyage, and Brown was invited to contribute a botanical appendix. Brown took the opportunity to include numerous observations that must once have been intended for a second volume of his Prodromus.
Content
General remarks was published as Appendix III of Matthew FlindersMatthew Flinders
Captain Matthew Flinders RN was one of the most successful navigators and cartographers of his age. In a career that spanned just over twenty years, he sailed with Captain William Bligh, circumnavigated Australia and encouraged the use of that name for the continent, which had previously been...
' A Voyage to Terra Australis
A Voyage to Terra Australis
A Voyage to Terra Australis: Undertaken for the Purpose of Completing the Discovery of that Vast Country, and Prosecuted in the Years 1801, 1802, and 1803, in His Majesty's Ship the Investigator was a sea voyage journal written by English mariner and explorer Matthew Flinders...
, and also simultaneously issued as an offprint with separate pagination.
The paper begins with a brief summary of the voyage, followed by an acknowledgement of the specimen collections to which Brown was given access prior to the voyage. Brown then presents a broad summary of the floristics
Floristics
Floristics is a subdomain of botany and biogeography that studies distribution and relationships of plant species over geographic areas.The term is not to be confused with floristry....
of the continent, noting that the proportion of dicotyledon
Dicotyledon
The dicotyledons, also known as dicots, are a group of flowering plants whose seed typically has two embryonic leaves or cotyledons. There are around 199,350 species within this group...
s is much smaller than would be expected in such a climate and latitude.
It then provides a systematic arrangement of the Australian plants, broadly following the system presented by Augustin Pyramus de Candolle in his 1813 Théorie élémentaire de la botanique. Thirteen new families are erected, of which eleven remain current today. These are: Celastraceae
Celastraceae
The Celastraceae , is a family of about 90-100 genera and 1,300 species of vines, shrubs and small trees, belonging to the order Celastrales...
, Casuarinaceae
Casuarinaceae
Casuarinaceae is a family of dicotyledonous flowering plants placed in the order Fagales, consisting of 3 or 4 genera and approximately 70 species of trees and shrubs native to the Old World tropics , Australia, and the Pacific Islands...
, Combretaceae
Combretaceae
Combretaceae is a family of flowering plants in the order Myrtales. The family includes about 600 species of trees, shrubs, and lianas in 18 genera. The family includes the leadwood tree, Combretum imberbe. Three genera, Conocarpus, Laguncularia and Lumnitzera, grow in mangrove habitats ....
, Cunoniaceae
Cunoniaceae
The Cunoniaceae is a family of 26 genera and about 350 species of woody plants in the Antarctic flora, with many laurifolia species with glossy leaves endemic to laurel forest habitat. The family is native to Australia, New Caledonia, New Guinea, New Zealand, southern South America, the Mascarene...
, Haloragidaceae, Hypoxidaceae
Hypoxidaceae
Hypoxidaceae is the botanical name of a family of flowering plants, placed in the order Asparagales of the monocots.The family has only recently been recognized by taxonomists. The APG III system of 2009 does recognize this family...
, Loganiaceae
Loganiaceae
Loganiaceae are a family of flowering plants classified in order Gentianales. The family includes 13 genera, distributed around the world's tropics.Earlier treatments of the family have included up to 29 genera...
, Pittosporaceae
Pittosporaceae
Pittosporaceae is a family of flowering plants. The family includes approximately 200 species of trees, shrubs, and lianas in 9-10 genera. The species of Pittosporaceae range from tropical to temperate climates of the Afrotropic, Indomalaya, Oceania, and Australasia ecozones.-Genera:* Auranticarpa...
and Rhizophoraceae
Rhizophoraceae
Rhizophoraceae is a family constituted by tropical or subtropical flowering plants. Among the better known members are mangrove trees of the genus Rhizophora...
. He also divided Leguminosae (or Fabaceae, the legume family) into three; although Leguminosae has been restored, Brown had recognised what is now viewed as the fundamental division of the family, and his three families are retained as the Leguminosae subfamilies Caesalpinioideae
Caesalpinioideae
Caesalpinioideae is a botanical name at the rank of subfamily, placed in the large family Fabaceae or Leguminosae. Its name is formed from the generic name Caesalpinia....
, Mimosoideae
Mimosoideae
Mimosoideae is a subfamily of the flowering plant family Fabaceae characterized by flowers with small petals and numerous prominent stamens...
and Faboideae
Faboideae
Faboideae is a subfamily of the flowering plant family Fabaceae or Leguminosae. One acceptable alternative name for the subfamily is Papilionoideae....
.
Throughout the paper, Brown makes morphological observations that have since been described by David Mabberley
David Mabberley
Professor Dr. David John Mabberley, , is a botanist, educator and writer. Among his varied interests is the taxonomy of tropical plants, especially trees of the families Labiatae, Meliaceae and Rutaceae. He is perhaps best known for his plant dictionary The plant-book. A portable dictionary of the...
as "all brilliant and thought-provoking". These include the first explanation of the unusual construction of the "flower" (actually a pseudanthium
Pseudanthium
A pseudanthium or flower head is a special type of inflorescence, in which several flowers are grouped together to form a flower-like structure. The real flowers are generally small and greatly reduced, but can sometimes be quite large...
) of Euphorbia; an explanation of the construction of the flowers of Eucalyptus
Eucalyptus
Eucalyptus is a diverse genus of flowering trees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Members of the genus dominate the tree flora of Australia...
; and observations on the venation of the petals of Asteraceae
Asteraceae
The Asteraceae or Compositae , is an exceedingly large and widespread family of vascular plants. The group has more than 22,750 currently accepted species, spread across 1620 genera and 12 subfamilies...
. He also expands on previous remarks on the fruits of conifers, and explains in detail his previous decision to separate the Poaceae
Poaceae
The Poaceae is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of flowering plants. Members of this family are commonly called grasses, although the term "grass" is also applied to plants that are not in the Poaceae lineage, including the rushes and sedges...
into what are now Pooideae
Pooideae
The Pooideae is a subfamily of the true grass family Poaceae. It includes some major cereals such as wheat, barley, oat, rye and many lawn and pasture grasses.- List :...
and Panicoideae
Panicoideae
Panicoideae is a subfamily of the true grass family. It probably constitutes two well-distinct lineages, the Andropogonodae and the Panicodae, which are further subdivided into tribes and subtribes...
.
The paper concludes with comments on the vegetation and floristics of Australia, including comparisons with other continents. There is an interesting historical footnote in Brown's use of the term Australian throughout the paper. Although the word "Australia" had been used on occasion, this is the first known use of the adjectival form.
Reception
There is little information available on how the paper was received, but in an 1890 eulogyEulogy
A eulogy is a speech or writing in praise of a person or thing, especially one recently deceased or retired. Eulogies may be given as part of funeral services. However, some denominations either discourage or do not permit eulogies at services to maintain respect for traditions...
on Brown, Joseph Dalton Hooker
Joseph Dalton Hooker
Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker OM, GCSI, CB, MD, FRS was one of the greatest British botanists and explorers of the 19th century. Hooker was a founder of geographical botany, and Charles Darwin's closest friend...
remarked that the paper was