Overlooked plant species names associated with 
the botanical collections of Eugene Fitzalan 
John Leslie Dowe 
Summary 
Dowe, J.L. (2015). Overlooked plant species names associated with the botanical collections of 
Eugene Fitzalan. Austrobaileya 9(3): 439-444. Three overlooked species names, related to the 
botanical collections of Eugene Fitzalan are assessed for their nomenclatural validity. The names 
were published by Walter Hill: Erythrina fitzalanii W.Hill is found to be valid and placed as a 
synonym of Erythrina variegata L.; Dendrobium luridum and Dendrobium fitzalani are invalid and 
are therefore names that are to be rejected. 
Key Words: Eugene Fitzalan, Fabaceae, Orchidaceae, Erythrina fitzalanii , Erythrina variegata , 
Dendrobium fitzalani , Dendrobium luridum , Queensland, Burdekin Expedition, overlooked species 
names 
J.L. Dowe, Australian Tropical Herbarium, James Cook University, Smithfield, Queensland 4878, 
Australia. E-mail: john.dowe@jcu.edu.au 
Introduction 
Whilst preparing a paper on the botanical 
collections of Eugene Fitzalan (b.1830; 
d.1911) who was active in Queensland during 
the latter decades of the 1800s (Dowe 2015), 
three apparently overlooked species names 
were encountered. The names were all 
introduced in publications written by Walter 
Hill. Two of the names, Erythrina fitzalanii 
and Dendrobium luridum , were cited in 
relation to the species collected by Eugene 
Fitzalan during the Burdekin Expedition (Hill 
1860a). The third, Dendrobium fitzalani was 
included in the Catalogue of the Plants in the 
Queensland Botanic Gardens (Hill 1875). 
This paper discusses the names and assesses 
their nomenclatural validity. 
Botanical results of the Burdekin 
Expedition 
The Burdekin Expedition of 1860 was the 
first botanical expedition to be sanctioned by 
the then newly formed Queensland Colonial 
Government. The Expedition departed 
Brisbane on 22 August 1860 in the Schooner 
Spitfire , under the command of Joshua 
W. Smith RN in the company of George 
Elphinstone Dalrymple, Commissioner of 
Accepted for publication 23 July 2015 
Crown Lands for Queensland. The Expedition 
sailed as far north as Halifax Bay, and returned 
to Brisbane on 18 October 1860. Fitzalan was 
under contract to the Victorian Government 
as a paid collector engaged by Ferdinand 
Mueller, the Victorian Government Botanist. 
The intention of the Burdekin Expedition was 
to locate the mouth of the Burdekin River, 
and to determine if the river was navigable 
and suitable as a port (Dalrymple 1860; Smith 
1860). About 140 specimens were collected by 
Fitzalan during the Expedition (Dowe 2015). 
The specimens were originally examined by 
Walter Hill (the Queensland Government 
Botanist) when the Expedition returned to 
Brisbane. Hill (1860b) provided an annotated 
species list, but only to the designation of 
family. The specimens were subsequently sent 
to Mueller in Melbourne, and he produced a 
detailed botanical treatment that described 
and annotated 88 taxa of which 10 were 
described as novelties (Mueller 1860). Later, 
based on collections by Fitzalan made during 
the Expedition, a further 16 new taxa were 
described in Benthanfs Flora Australiensis , 
11 in Mueller’s Fragmenta Phytographiae 
Australiae, and one each in Adansonia and 
the Journal de Botanique Neerlandaise 
(Dowe 2015). In total, about 40 new taxa 
were described from Fitzalan’s specimens 
collected during the Expedition. Following 
the Expedition, Fitzalan was to continue 
