`Extinct’ shrub found: [1 Edition]
Stapleton, John. The Australian; Canberra, A.C.T. [Canberra, A.C.T] 20 Dec 2001: 5.
Abstract
Then came Bob Makinson, a botanist with Sydney’s Royal Botanic Gardens, who was searching for a rare grevillea around the historic Blue Mountains village of Hartley when he came across about 50 unfamiliar shrub-like plants.. “Further identification of the shrub, which was producing beautiful golden-yellow flowers at the time, revealed it to be the long-lost asterolasia buxifolia,” he said.
Full Text
A SHRUB not seen for more than 160 years has been rediscovered in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney.
The yellow-flowered asterolasia buxifolia, so rare it has no common name, was last recorded by explorer and botanist Allan Cunningham in the 1830s.
Subsequent attempts to find the plant proved unsuccessful and it was thought to have become extinct.
Then came Bob Makinson, a botanist with Sydney’s Royal Botanic Gardens, who was searching for a rare grevillea around the historic Blue Mountains village of Hartley when he came across about 50 unfamiliar shrub-like plants.. “Further identification of the shrub, which was producing beautiful golden-yellow flowers at the time, revealed it to be the long-lost asterolasia buxifolia,” he said.
“It was only by chance that I found the plant, but it wasn’t chance that saved it all these years. The area is well fenced and still supports a beautiful remnant patch of native bush that is almost as rich as it was in those early days of settlement.”
“It is hard to predict whether the nursery trade will take it up or not.”
Cuttings are being propagated at Mount Annan Botanic Garden on the outskirts of Sydney.