Two new, orange-flowered Tephrosia (Fabaceae: Millettieae) species from the Kimberley region, in Western Australia’s monsoon tropics
BUTCHER, R.
Ongoing taxonomic revision of Tephrosia Pers. in Australia is continuing to identify new taxa from study of existing herbarium collections as well as new material gathered from remote and under-collected areas. The Kimberley region of Western Australia is recognised for its biodiversity and endemism, but the recognition of new species is hampered by its inaccessibility, especially to areas of relief with complex microhabitats and refugia. It is from these areas that many recently described species, from across the Western Australian flora, have been collected. This paper describes and illustrates two new, poorly known, orange-flowered species of Tephrosia from the Kimberley region: T. cowiei R.Butcher, a close ally of the Northern Territory’s T. bifacialis Cowie, and T. funicularis R.Butcher, a distinctive new species from sandstone habitats.