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Nuytsia
The journal of the Western Australian Herbarium

Volume 30

Issue Date: 16 April 2019

Permalink: https://doi.org/10.58828/niss00100

A revision of the tiurndins (Tribonanthes, Haemodoraceae)

HICKMAN, E.J., Nuytsia 30: 87–154 (2019)

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The tiurndins (Tribonanthes Endl.) comprise a small taxonomically challenging genus of geophytes endemic to the Southwest Australian Floristic Region. Six named and one undescribed species of Tribonanthes are recognised in recent literature. Tribonanthes poses the most difficult taxonomic problems remaining for the Haemodoraceae in Western Australia. It is a genus where herbarium studies alone are insufficient to delineate taxa. A knowledge of variation in wild living material has proved essential to resolve taxonomic difficulties in the tiurndins. This revision recognises and comprehensively illustrates living plants of the 12 recognised species, four of which are new (T. elongata E.J.Hickman & Hopper, T. keigheryi E.J.Hickman & Hopper, T. monantha E.J.Hickman & Hopper and T. porphyrea E.J.Hickman & Hopper). Tribonanthes variabilis Lindl. and T. uniflora Lindl. are reinstated. Morphological and molecular data also support the recognition of three new subgenera: subg. Tribonanthes, subg. Salina E.J.Hickman & Hopper and subg. Boya E.J.Hickman & Hopper. Botanical illustration, especially of internal floral morphology, has revealed several previously unrecorded characters that help diagnose the species of Tribonanthes.