Austrobaileya 8(1): 97 (2009) 97 
SHORT COMMUNICATION 
The identity of Centaurea riparia DC. (Asteraceae) 
A.R.Bean 
Queensland Herbarium, Department of Environment & Resource Management, Brisbane Botanic 
Gardens, Mt Coot-tha Road, Toowong, Queensland4066, Australia. Email:tony.bean@derm.qld.gov. 
au 
As part of my Flora of Australia treatment 
for the genus Centaurea L., Tribe Cardueae 
(Asteraceae), it was necessary to account 
for all names listed in the Australian Plant 
Name Index (Chapman 1991), i.e. those which 
either have an Australian type or that have 
been used in Australia. One name, Centaurea 
riparia DC., based on an Allan Cunningham 
collection from the Hastings River, has never 
been otherwise accounted for in Australian 
literature. 
Upon examination of the microfiche of the 
type specimen, I immediately recognised it 
as the species currently called Centratherum 
australianum (K.Kirkman) A.R.Bean, of 
the Tribe Vernonieae (Bean 2004). Several 
parts of the protologue (de Candolle 1837) 
offer confirmation of this identification: de 
Candolle stated that the flower-heads are 
‘bracteate’; that the exterior involucral bracts 
are shortly acuminate while the interior ones 
are coloured and somewhat denticulate; that 
the achenes are obscurely 10-nerved; and that 
the pappus is “caducissimus” 
Leafy bracts are a distinctive feature of 
Centratherum Cass. The inner and outer 
involucral bracts of Centratherum are as 
described in the protologue. The achenes of 
Centratherum are indeed 10-ribbed, and the 
pappus falls off at the slightest touch. 
Centaurea riparia is an earlier name for 
the species currently called Centratherum 
australianum , and therefore a new 
combination in Centratherum is necessary. 
The type specimen was collected by Allan 
Cunninghamfromthe“herb-filledriverbanks” 
of the Hastings River near Port Macquarie. He 
would have collected it in May 1819, during 
PPKing’s 2 nd voyage of exploration (Curry & 
Maslin 1990). 
Centratherum riparium (DC.) A.R.Bean, 
comb, nov.; Centaurea riparia DC., Prodr. 
6: 602 (1837). Type: New South Wales. 
Hastings River, near Port Macquarie, undated 
[May 1819], A.Cunningham s.n. (holo: G-DC, 
microfiche seen). 
Centratherum punctatum subsp. australianum 
K.Kirkman, Rhodora 83: 21 (1981); C. 
australianum (K.Kirkman) A.R.Bean, 
Austrobaileya 6: 977 (2004), syn. nov. Type: 
New South Wales. West of Wingham on 
Bulga road, 12 April 1953, J.Vickery 23846 
(holo: NSW; iso: L, MO). 
References 
Bean, A.R. (2004). A new combination in Centratherum 
Cass. (Asteraceae). Austrobaileya 6: 977-978. 
Chapman, A.D. (1991). Australian Plant Name Index. 
Australian Flora and Fauna Series 12. Australian 
Biological Resources Study: Canberra. 
Curry, S. & Maslin, B. (1990). Cunningham’s collecting 
localities while botanist on Lieutenant Phillip 
Parker King’s survey of coastal Australia, 
December 1817 to April 1822. In RS.Short (ed.). 
History of systematic botany in Australasia, pp. 
137-148. Australian Systematic Botany Society 
Inc.: Burwood, Victoria. 
de Candolle, A.P. (1837). Centaurea. In Prodromus 
systematis naturalis regni vegetabilis , 6: 565- 
605. Treuttel & Wurtz: Paris. 
Accepted for publication 1 September 2009 
