Cassytha pedicellosa J.Z.Weber (1981:214)
Stalked dodder-laurel
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
Conservation Status
Last (and only) record: 1892 (Weber, 1981:214,216; Keith & Burgman, 2004:44; Wapstra, 2018:125,127 (Table 1))
Relocated or rediscovered in: 1983 (collection) (Keith & Burgman, 2004:44); 1993 (recognition) (both Wapstra, 2018:127 (Table 1),129) [NB: this was the sole record prior to its (second) rediscovery]
Rediscovered in 2005 (Wapstra, 2018:127 (Table 1),129)
Today the species is known from 21 sites spread over eastern (near-)coastal and northern (near-)coastal mainland Tasmania as well as King Island (Wapstra, 2018:Fig. 1,Tbl. 1).
Distribution and Habitat
Tasmania (including King Island), Australia
"Cassytha pedicellosa has a widespread distribution in lowland, mainly coastal and near-coastal, parts of Tasmania. It occurs principally on the southeast, east, northeast and north coasts, extending inland in the northwest to Seventeen Mile Plain and to the northern part of King Island (Figure 1, Table 1)... [O]ccurs in dry (to wet) heathland/shrubland and heathy woodlands (Plates 4 & 5), the latter usually dominated by Eucalyptus amygdalina (black peppermint). The substrate is variable but is usually sandy soils derived from Triassic sandstone or other siliceous substrates."
(Wapstra, 2018:125,129)
Biology & Ecology
"The vegetation in which the species occurs is fire-prone and subject to relatively frequent wildfires and/or fuel reduction burning. The species appears to be tolerant of (or perhaps dependent on) this fire regime, often appearing to take advantage of gaps created in the postfire understorey."
(Wapstra, 2018:129)
Hypodigm
Media
References
Original scientific description:
Weber, J. Z. (1981). A taxonomic revision of Cassytha (Lauraceae) in Australia. J. Adelaide Bot. Gard. 3(3): 187-262.
Other references:
Buchanan, A. M. (2008). A Census of the Vascular Plants of Tasmania & Index to the Student’s Flora of Tasmania Fourth Edition. Web Edition, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart.
de Salas, M. F. and Baker, M. L. (2022). A Census of the Vascular Plants of Tasmania, including Macquarie Island: 1-161. Tasmanian Herbarium, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart.
Govaerts, R. (1999). World Checklist of Seed Plants 3(1, 2a & 2b): 1-1532. MIM, Deurne.
Hnatiuk, R. J. (1990). Census of Australian vascular plants. Australian Flora and Fauna Series 11: 1-650.
Humphreys, Aelys M., Govaerts, Rafaël, Ficinski, Sarah Z., Lughadha, Eimear Nic and Vorontsova, Maria S. (2019). Global dataset shows geography and life form predict modern plant extinction and rediscovery. Nature Ecology & Evolution 3: 1043-1047. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-019-0906-2 [Supplementary Dataset 1]
Keith, David A. and Burgman, Mark A. (2004). The Lazarus effect: can the dynamics of extinct species lists tell us anything about the status of biodiversity? Biological Conservation 117: 41-48. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0006-3207(03)00261-1
Leigh, John H., Boden, Robert and Briggs, John D. (1984). Extinct and Endangered Plants of Australia. South Melbourne, Victoria: The Macmillan Company of Australia Pty Ltd. viii + 369 pp.
Silcock, Jen L., Field, Ashley R., Walsh, Neville G. and Fensham, Roderick J. (2019). To name those lost: assessing extinction likelihood in the Australian vascular flora. Oryx 54(2): 167-177. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0030605318001357 [Supplementary Material]
Walter, Kerry S. and Gillett, Harriet J. (eds.). (1998). 1997 IUCN Red List of Threatened Plants. Compiled by the World Conservation Monitoring Centre. Gland, Switzerland & Cambridge, UK: IUCN – The World Conservation Union. lxiv + 862 pp.
Wapstra, Mark. (2018). Endemic and enigmatic: distribution, habitat and conservation status of Cassytha pedicellosa J. Z. Weber (Lauraceae) in Tasmania. The Tasmanian Naturalist 140: 124-134.
Wapstra, Mark, Schahinger, R., and Larcombe, L. (2009). Threatened Flora Extension Surveys, King Island 23–26 March 2009. A report to the Cradle Coast Natural Resource Management Committee. Threatened Species Section, Department of Primary Industries and Water, Hobart.
Weber, J. Z. (2007). 2. Cassytha, pp. 117-136 [122-123]. In: Wilson, Annette J. G. (ed.). Flora of Australia, Volume 2 Winteraceae to Platanaceae. Melbourne: ABRS/CSIRO Publishing. xviii + 486 pp.
https://vanishingflora.proboards.com/thread/2717/cassytha-pedicellosa
https://www.flickr.com/photos/nuytsia_pix/5027308391/
Acknowledgements
I sincerely thank ecologist Mark Wapstra (ECOtas) for sending me his paper on this species (Wapstra, 2018) to correct the details its rediscovery/collection history.