Acacia phasmoides – Credit: Laura Simmons
This Victoria-wide project aims to prevent the extinction of 24 endangered or critically endangered Victorian plants. We will focus on two botanical hotspots, the Gippsland and Grampians regions and also include threatened flora from the Barwon South West and Port Phillip Regions. This project will address key threatened species recovery actions from 11 threatened species Action Statements and 11 National Recovery Plans and work to optimise conservation actions across the life cycle of the plants.
The project will lead to long-term conservation benefits for the 24 plant species, both onsite and offsite (in situ and ex situ). Our ex situ actions include collecting seeds, spores, rhizobia and mycorrhiza which will be kept in seed and spore banks and nursery facilities at the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. These ex situ plant collections will act as long-term insurance populations, a source of material for future reintroductions, and will help us carry out further research. The project began on 1 June 2023 and will run until the second half of 2026.
The ANPC is pleased to be collaborating on this project with the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, La Trobe University and the other partners listed below.
Phebalium glandulosum subsp. macrocalyx – Credit: Andre Messina
Activities
This project will follow an integrated conservation framework which includes the following activities:
1. Threat assessments, field surveys and community surveys. This includes detailed mapping of populations to establish the number of surviving plants, allow comparison with past population estimates, and maximise the known plants available for seed collections.
2. Seed and spore collection. For all 24 species, seeds or spores will be collected during the appropriate season, viability tested, and stored in a seed/sporebank.
3. Conservation genetics. For 10 species genetic analysis is required for wild plants, stored seed or plants currently held in cultivation to inform additional seed collections and ensure genetic diversity is captured for ex situ collections and future translocations.
4. Germination trials. We will optimise seed germination techniques for 11 difficult to grow species through germination trials.
5. Pollination studies. Pollinators will be identified at wild (10 species) and potential translocation sites (9 species) to assist with selecting future reintroduction sites based on pollinator presence.
6. Developing permanent ex situ living collections. For 20 species we will grow a genetically diverse ex situ population. For 12 species (Fabaceae and Orchidaceae), symbiotic propagation will be undertaken to generate seedlings (using mycorrhizal fungi isolated from the orchid or rhizobia isolated from the pea plant).
7. Establishing new populations through propagation. For nine species we will introduce >200 genetically diverse individuals to a new site with their essential symbionts and pollinators present.
8. Workshops. One-day workshops on Victorian threatened flora conservation will be held in the Port Phillip, Gippsland and the Grampians (Gariwerd) regions. These are scheduled to be held in 2025.
Caladenia rosella – Supplied: Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria
Project species and threat rating
Scientific Name | Region | Flora and FaunaGuarantee Act Status | EPBC Act Status |
| Acacia phasmoides | North east | CR | VU |
| Adiantum diaphanum | Gippsland | CR | |
| Caladenia ancylosa | Gippsland | CR | |
| Caladenia rosella | Port Phillip | CR | CR |
| Caladenia valida | Gippsland | CR | |
| Craspedia canens | Gippsland, Port Phillip, Barwon South West | CR | |
| Daviesia laevis | Grampians | CR | EN |
| Diuris ochroma | Gippsland | EN | VU |
| Grevillea microstegia | Grampians | CR | |
| Grevillea pachylostyla | Gippsland | CR | |
| Grevillea parvula | Gippsland | EN | |
| Isoetes pusilla | Wangarratta, Albury, North Central | EN | |
| Phebalium glandulosum subsp. macrocalyx | North west Swanhill, around Wimmera/ Dimboola Hindmarsh etc | CR | |
| Pimelea pagophila | Grampians | EN | EN |
| Prostanthera galbraithiae | Gippsland | EN | VU |
| Prostanthera walteri | Gippsland | EN | |
| Pterostylis basaltica | Barwon South West | CR | EN |
| Sphaerolobium acanthos | Grampians | CR | CR |
| Spyridium furculentum | Grampians | CR | EN |
| Swainsona plagiotropis | North Central Mitiamo | EN | VU |
| Swainsona reticulata | North West but interstate SA NSW | EN | |
| Swainsona sericea | North central, east and Wimmera Vic plus over the border. | EN | |
| Thelymitra mackibbinii | Wimmera and North Central | CR | VU |
| Xerochrysum palustre | Barwon South West, Gippsland | CR | VU |
CR – critically endangered, EN – endangered, VU – vulnerable
Contacts
Dr Andre Messina (seed collection)
Dr Noushka Reiter (Orchidaceae, rhizobia, mycorrhiza germination research)
Dr Rebeca Miller (germination research)
Dr Meg Hirst (germination research)
Dr Hong Zhang (seedbank technical assistant)
Dr Daniel Ohlsen (sporebank collection and research)
Dr Alastair Robinson (Manager Biodiversity Services)
Dr Ryan Phillips (pollination)
Partners
• Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria
• La Trobe University
• Australian Network for Plant Conservation
• DEECA
• Trust for Nature
• ENVITE
• Bairnsdale and far East Gippsland Field Naturalists
• Friend of the Grampians Gariwerd
• Halls Gap Botanic Gardens
• Australasian Native Orchid Society Victorian Branch
• Nillumbik Shire
Funding acknowledgement
Funded by the Victorian Government Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA) Nature Fund, and project partners.
