Oral Presentation Australian Native Plants Society Biennial Conference 2026

Where did you all come from? The biogeography of the flora of Central Australia (142283)

Peter Jobson 1
  1. National Herbarium of New South Wales; Botanic Gardens of Sydney, Mount Annan, NEW SOUTH WALES, Australia

In the Northern Territory, the MacDonnell Ranges bioregion is the second most botanically diverse area after Kakadu. The various landscapes such as high mountain ranges, gorges, sand dunes, salt pans, and rivers allow this to be possible. Examining the flora present at the family, genus, and species levels, trends emerge about where these groups originally occurred. There are a series of iconic Australian flora groups that absent from the region.  Three trends are apparent: a temperate origin, a tropical origin, and a relictual origin. Examples are given for those genera that make up each of the three groups.