Guest Speaker: Andrew Brown – Recently Discovered Orchids

Prior to retirement in 2017 I worked as a Conservation Biologist and Taxonomist at the Western Australian Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions where I coordinated research and recovery programs aimed at enhancing the conservation of threatened flora and prepared taxonomic treatments in the Orchidaceae, Colchicaceae and Scrophulariaceae. I am currently a Research Associate at the Western Australian Herbarium where I continue my taxonomic studies. I am the author/co-author of some 170 journal publications and 13 books and have collaborated in the formal descriptions of over 180 new Western Australian orchid species, 21 new Eremophila species and a range of new species in other genera. I am a life member of the Western Australian Native Orchid Study and Conservation Group, a member of the Australian Orchid Foundation and a member of the IUCN Orchid Specialist Group. My current current interests include ongoing taxonomic research and the preparation of articles, papers and books on the Western Australian flora.

Talk – Recently discovered, currently undescribed orchids in Western Australia

Two hundred years ago, Archibald Menzies, surgeon and naturalist aboard the HMS Discovery, was the first European to make collections of Western Australian orchids. Jump forward 120 years and by the time time the first book on Western Australian orchids was published in 1930 an additional 120 orchid species had been named. Jump forward another 64 years and when the first edition of Orchids of South West Australia was published in 1984, 133 species were known, just 10 more than in 1930. However, a resurgence in orchid naming then took place with the number of formally described species rising to 394 in 2021, a three fold increase in the number of recognised species. Despite the large number of Western Australian Orchids that have now been formally named, new species are still being discovered. As at October 2021 there are an estimated 60 undescribed Western Australian orchid species and in this talk I will cover a selection of them.