THREATENED SPECIES SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE Established under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 The Minister deleted this species from the endangered category effective from 16 September 2015.

Listing Advice Epiblema grandiflorum var. cyaneum K.W.Dixon nom. inval.

baby blue orchid

Taxonomy The baby blue orchid, was discovered in 1984 and subsequently added to the Western Australian census as an unpublished name in 1996 (Thiele, 2011). The unpublished name related to a small subpopulation of sky-blue flowering of the widespread lilac-blue to deep mauve flowering Epiblema grandiflorum (Thiele, 2011). Subsequent to the name recognition, other populations of E. grandiflorum were discovered that encompassed a wide variety of colour variants including pink, violet and purple (Thiele, 2011). An unpublished genetic analysis compared 93 amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) markers between a single individual of the baby blue orchid and four typically-coloured individuals of E. grandiflorum growing in close proximity to it, found that the baby blue orchid was no more different from the four typical plants than they were from each other (Thiele, 2011). The baby blue orchid is now considered a colour variant of E. grandiflorum (Thiele, 2011) and has been removed from the Western Australian plant census (Biggs and Parker, 2013).

Reason for conservation assessment by the Threatened Species Scientific Committee The baby blue orchid is listed as endangered. This variety is eligible for listing as endangered under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) as, prior to the commencement of the EPBC Act, it was listed as endangered (as Epiblema grandiflorum var. cyanea K.Dixon ms.) under Schedule 1 of the Endangered Species Protection Act 1992 (Cwlth). This assessment is due to current information on the baby blue orchid, stating the variety is no longer considered to be a valid taxon.

Public consultation Notice of the proposed amendment and the reasons was made available for public comment for 46 business days between 24 November 2014 and 30 January 2015. No comments were received.

Assessment of available information in relation to the EPBC Act Criteria and Regulations and Consideration for delisting As identified in the taxonomic discussion provided above, the baby blue orchid is no longer considered to be a valid taxon and is not eligible for listing in any category.

Consideration for delisting As the baby blue orchid is not considered to be a valid variety, delisting is not expected to have any negative impacts.

Recommendations (i) The Committee recommends that the list referred to in section 178 of the EPBC Act be amended by deleting from the list in the endangered category:

Epiblema grandiflorum var. cyaneum K.W.Dixon nom. inval.

The Committee notes that this species is eligible for delisting due to taxonomic change.

Threatened Species Scientific Committee 3 November 2014

Epiblema grandiflorum var. cyaneum K.W.Dixon nom. inval. Listing Advice Page 1 of 2

References cited in the advice Biggs LJ and Parker (2013). Updates to 's census for 2012. Nuytsia 23: 511. Thiele KR (2011). Removal of the informal name Epiblema grandiflorum var. cyaneum ms from the Census of Western Australian Plants. Nuytsia 21(1): 33-34.

Epiblema grandiflorum var. cyaneum K.W.Dixon nom. inval. Listing Advice Page 2 of 2