The Checklist of Australian Native Paul Carmen ACRA Registrar

Introduction The Australian Registration Authority (ACRA) was established by the International Commission for the Nomenclature of Cultivated (ICNCP) in 1962, to register and record the names and descriptions of Australian native plant cultivars. With limited resources, ACRA has played a major role in preserving the history of many cultivars and to date, has compiled a checklist of several thousand cultivar names (with published references) and has registered over 400 cultivars. These however represent a very small proportion of the cultivars for which there are published descriptions in the horticultural trade and the many other names that have appeared in print. APS groups across Australia and Australia Limited (HAL) have joined forces to support the Checklist of Australian Plant Cultivars Project. This project has provided the funds to employ a person (on a part time basis) for one year to compile a complete and up to date list of published Australian native plant cultivar names and descriptions where possible. The checklist will be available to all on the Australian National Botanic Gardens (ANBG) website in the searchable database Australian Plant Name Index (APNI). The idea of having a single website which can be used to research Australian native plant cultivar names and descriptions has until now, been a pipe dream. The Checklist of Australian Plant Cultivars Project aims to address this need.

Background History of ACRA When the Society for Growing Australian Plants (SGAP now called the Australian Native Plants Society, ANPS) was formed in the late 1950s, it seemed only natural that the Society should have a role in the registration of cultivars of Australian plants. Correspondence was initiated by the publication branch (Maurie Wilson) of the newly formed SGAP with the Royal Horticultural Society in England, between 1959 and 1962. In February 1962, the South East Region of SGAP accepted an offer from the ‘International Commission for the Nomenclature of Cultivated Plants (ICNCP) to undertake the registrations of cultivars of genera endemic to Australia, and to act as the national registration authority, in conjunction with the National Herbarium (in Melbourne) ’1 . A committee was then established (on a voluntary basis) with Maurie Wilson and Ernest Lord (editor of Your Garden) representing SGAP and Jim Willis and Arthur Court representing the Herbarium. Jim Willis was appointed as Chairman and the name ‘Australian Cultivar Registration Authority’ (ACRA) was created. The ACRA committee remained unchanged until 1969 when Bill Payne ( Australian Plants journal editor) was elected as the SGAP representative to replace Maurie Wilson. In 1970, the committee was expanded to include John Wrigley as the representative of what was then the Canberra Botanic Gardens (later renamed the Australian National Botanic Gardens, ANBG). In 1973 Wrigley was elected as ACRA Secretary and ACRA moved to the Canberra Botanic Gardens. At this time, the committee was significantly expanded to include representatives of all Australian botanic gardens, SGAP and the nursery industry.

1 Since 1973, the ANBG has continued to sponsor and support ACRA with staff acting in the roles of Registrar and Secretary (on a part time basis), providing office space; storage of herbarium specimens, database and administrative functions and in more recent years a website at http://www.anbg.gov.au/acra .

What is a cultivar A cultivar is a plant that has been selected for a particular attribute (or combination of attributes) that is clearly distinct, uniform, and stable in these characteristics and when propagated by appropriate means retains those characteristics. A cultivar may be: • a selection which has a different range of variation from a wild population; or • may be derived from hybridisation; • or may be the result of other means of selection. Description The description of the cultivar records: • the parentage (if known); • history of the cultivar; • the derivation of meaning of the cultivar name or epithet; • the names of the raiser or , nominant and introducer are stated when known; • indicates one or more recognizable attributes or characters; • mentions how the cultivar differs from similar cultivars; • records the colour codes for leaves and flowers (from the Royal Horticultural Society Colour Charts) ; and • includes a photo or photos The ACRA description also includes cultivation and propagation information. The guidelines for registering cultivars are recorded in the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants often shortened to the Cultivated Plant Code and have been adopted by ACRA for all cultivars of Australian plants.

The Role of ACRA Over the years ACRA has performed three major functions in regard to the cultivars of Australian plants: • a registration function; • recording of published names; and • an advisory role for Plant Rights applications.

Cultivar Registrations The registration process creates a comprehensive description of each cultivar. This description can then be used to identify the cultivar and compare it with others. Cultivars registered with ACRA have the status of ‘varieties of common knowledge’ and this status gives some protection. To date ACRA has registered over 400 cultivars with full descriptions and these can be found at www.anbg.gov.au/acra/acra-list-2009.html . The records of many of these cultivars represent a documentary history of the Australian Plants Society and its role in developing Australian plants eg many of the ‘Poorinda’ hybrids bred by Leo Hodge in the 1960s and 70s have been registered or recorded with ACRA. With so many cultivars in the horticultural industry and the public’s thirst for ‘new’ plants, it is often difficult to work out whether a new cultivar is really distinct or different. Although by no means comprehensive at this stage the descriptions on the ACRA website provide a reference point for the members of the horticultural industry and the public to begin enquiries about cultivars. 2

Recording of Names In 1962, the newly formed ACRA committee sent letters to nurseries and members of the nursery industry and horticultural societies throughout Australia asking for lists of names of known cultivars. Gradually over time lists of cultivars were compiled and eventually a card system was developed to record all the information gathered. The information from the cards has been uploaded into a database and as of April 2010, there are now over 4300 names of published cultivars listed. These cultivar names can now be found on the ANBG website in the Australian Plant Name Index (APNI)* www.anbg.gov.au/acra/apni-cultivars.html which is a searchable database available to researchers and the general public alike. * The Australian Plant Name Index (APNI) is a tool for the botanical community which deals with plant names and their usage in scientific literature, whether as a current name or synonym. APNI is a searchable database, and information available from APNI includes scientific and cultivar names; author details; original publication details (protologue); and links to other information such as plant distributions, descriptions and images (where available) etc. APNI does not recommend any particular taxonomy or nomenclature.

Plant Breeders Rights As an authority on the cultivars of Australian plants, ACRA has a significant role to play in the assessment of Plant Breeders Rights (PBR) applications. It provides advice on the: • identification; • novelty; and • distinctiveness of each cultivar ACRA also comments on the comparators used to distinguish the new cultivar and suggests additional potential comparators. It also processes and stores voucher herbarium specimens of these PBR cultivars in the Australian National Herbarium. A full list of all PBR applications can be found at: http://pbr.ipaustralia.plantbreeders.gov.au IP Australia registers cultivars for PBR in much the same way as ACRA. However, PBR cultivars have legal protection and may only be propagated by the PBR permit holder or an agent of that permit holder.

The Checklist of Australian Plant Cultivars Project Currently, ACRA has over 4300 referenced cultivar names recorded in APNI and over 400 registered cultivars described in a separate website. IP Australia has 451 descriptions of cultivars listed on its website. There are also many books and periodicals which have adequate descriptions which can be used (with permission). The primary purpose of the Checklist of Australian Plant Cultivars project is to make all these published descriptions of Australian plant cultivars available to the general public, horticultural and nursery industry from one website location within the searchable database (APNI). The secondary purpose will also be to list as comprehensive as possible a list of all published names of Australian plant cultivars. All this involves a thorough search of all known publications featuring articles about Australian plants. The information gathered will include: • all cultivar names; • publication references; • a link to a PDF file of the protologue (first published description); and • a photo of the cultivar if possible.

3 Activity so far Emma Clifton has been employed (on a part time basis) for one year from November 2009, to compile a complete and up to date list of published Australian native plant cultivar names and descriptions. Following extensive training on the intricacies of the APNI database system, Emma has carried a comprehensive check and update of all the cultivar names on the APNI database. In addition, Emma has added 199 new names, 161 secondary references and 107 protologues. In all there are currently 4342 cultivar names recorded in APNI of which 3499 are fully referenced. She has also databased the PBR journals from 18(4) to the current edition 22(4) and scanned protologues for every described cultivar. Paul Carmen (ACRA Registrar and Project Manager) has presented a paper (published in the conference proceedings) on the Checklist project at the Australian Native Plants Society’s biannual national conference in Geelong, Victoria in September 2009.

Next Steps Emma will continue to thoroughly search of all known publications and periodicals featuring articles about Australian plants, record cultivar names and references, scan protologues and upload into the APNI database. Paul is currently preparing a presentation and paper for the Australian region of the International Plant Propagators Society (IPPS) national conference in Perth, Western Australia (13-16 May) which will be published in the IPPS Proceedings international publication in early 2011. In August, Paul will begin developing a poster to promote awareness of the project. The final report will also be distributed throughout Australia and New Zealand including ANPS groups, IPPS, Australian horticultural magazines, botanic gardens, the NGIA and technical colleges.

Outcomes to date ANBG records show that there has already been a significant increase in the use of the APNI database in the past year, from around 17,000 hits in March 2009 to almost 20,000 in March 2010.

Expected Outcomes As a result of this project, all Australians will have a ‘one-stop-shop’ on the web for information about the cultivars of Australian plants. The website ‘publication’ of these descriptions and names will promote uniformity, accuracy and stability in the horticultural industry and significantly increase the knowledge and understanding of Australia’s cultivated varieties.

The substantial financial support provided by ANPS groups throughout Australia and Horticulture Australia (HAL) has been instrumental in getting this project off the ground.

References 1. Walter, John; 2007, SGAP, The Story of Arthur Swaby and the Society for Growing Australian Plants, p197. Australian Plants Society (SGAP Victoria), Hawthorn, Vic.

2. Brickell, C.D. et al. 2004, International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants, 7th edn., International Society for Horticultural Science, Leuven, Belgium (Acta Horticulturae 647)

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