Page thirteen 
■September, 1 932 T HE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST 
Our Emblem - "Sturt's Desert Pea" 
ITS NAME AND CULTIVATION 
This plant first came to the 
notice of botanists when speci- 
mens collected by William Dam- 
pier (one-time pirate, but later a 
Captain of the King’s Navy) 
reached England. These specimens 
were collected in 1699 on the 
North-west coast of West Australia 
and were amongst the few items 
rescued from Dampier’s ship when 
she foundered on Ascension Isle. 
In his "Voyage to New Holland,” 
a four volume work issued during 
the years 1703-6 Dampier describes 
many of his travels. His specimens 
of “Sturt’s Desert Pea” however 
were described by Dr. John Wood- 
ward under the name of Colutea 
Novae Hollandiae, This name, 
because it appeared before the 
starting date of botanical nomen- 
clature T753> does not enter into 
the correct botanical name of this 
plant. 
At the recent A.N.Z.A.A.S. Con- 
gress held at Sydney, Dampier’s 
sheet of specimens of this plant 
(together with some 10 or so 
others) was exhibited by the Sher- 
ardian Professor of Botany, Ox- 
lord; Prof. T. G. B. Osborn, who 
is well known to botanists in Aus- 
tralia, having held academic posts 
at both Sydney and Adelaide Uni- 
versities. These specimens were 
amongst the most interesting exhi- 
bits seen and all botanists attend- 
ing the Congress were delighted to 
be able to see Dampier’s actual 
specimens. 
George Don in his “General Sys- 
tem of Gardening and Botany” 
vol. II (1832) on page 468 de- 
scribes the plant under discussion 
as Donia , referring three species to 
it; D. punicea ( Clianthus puni- 
ceusy the “N.Z. parrot’s beak”) and 
D. speciosa and D. formosa. How- 
ever Alan Cunningham in Lind- 
ley’s Transactions of the Horti- 
cultural Society, London (1835) 
describes a Clianthus Oxleyi, 
based on Donia speciosa , and also 
C. Dampieri based on D. formosa 
citing Woodward’s Colutea Novae 
Hollandiae and Dampier’s speci- 
mens. 
The above facts together with a 
full explanation of their implica- 
tions was published by two botan- 
ists of the National Herbarium, 
Sydney (1) in 1950. They pointed 
out that when Robert Brown dis- 
cussed the two form of Donia in 
the Botanical Appendix to “Sturt’s 
Central Australia” he considered 
that they were the same (called 
them C. Dampieri) and this was 
the accepted name until recent 
times. However as Ford and Vick- 
ery show this name is no longer 
valid, neither is C. speciosus be- 
cause it is a later homonym, which 
is not allowed under the Inter- 
national Rules for botanical nom- 
enclature. This then refers us back 
to Don’s other “Species” D. for- 
mosa the specific epithet of which 
now becomes the accepted name— 
thus Clianthus formosus (G. Don) 
Ford and Vickery. 
