A bit of background on Lomatia
Lomatia is a genus of plants in the Proteaceae family. Chances are the plants that comes to mind when you think Proteaceae is Protea, Banksia and Grevillea. You would be correct, although the Proteaceae world is much bigger than these three species. There are about 79 genera in all, and majority of them are found in the southern hemisphere. We have about 46 and the rest are found throughout South America and South Africa. I learnt the other day that Macadamia is indigenous to Australia, and also a member of the Proteacea. I had no idea and just assumed that Macadamia nuts were from some other tropical world!
Lomatia has 12 species in all. Three are endemic to South America, six endemic to mainland Australia and our little island of Tasmania has three species, all of which are also endemic (Milner et al, 2015). So it is a reasonably small genus. This pattern of distribution across the southern continents which is common throughout the Proteaceae genera, is a result of the breakup of Gondwana during the mesozoic.
Lomatia tinctoria and Lomatia polymorpha
I recently posted a photo of the seed pods of Lomatia tinctoria on the @floraoftasmania instagram. This prompted a discussion about the genus here in Tasmania and opened up a whole bunch of questions I wanted to find answers for. Two of the genus L. tincotoria (The guitar plant) and L. polymorpha (The mountain guitar plant) are reasonably common, whereas L. tasmanica (Kings lomatia) is a whole different ball game.
From comparing distribution maps of both species, L.tinctoria appears to be more widespread throughout the Eastern half of Tasmania and L. polymorpha to the west, with a bit of overlap throughout the centre. They intergrade with each other through these overlapping areas, notably around the Lake St. Claire area. Both prefer similar environments, dry sclerophyll forests, subalpine woodlands and occasionally rainforests. They can handle it a little bit dry, but will do better with a bit more moisture.
Visually they are fairly easy to distinguish from each other. L.tinctoria generally has a divided leaf with up to 7 pairs of leaflets, whereas L. polymorpha has simple leaves. However, as with many plants, there can be some diversity within the leaf structure, and along with their hybridising ability there can be different forms. I have a Tasman peninsula variety in my garden which has a quite different leaf form from the usually fine fern like divisions of the ‘normal’ one.
Inflorescence are very similar on both species, yet on L. polymorpha they are a lot more dense and compact than on L. tinctoria.
Lomatia tasmanica
Commonly called King’s Lomatia, it was named after the infamous naturalist and tin miner Denny King. He first found it growing back in 1934 in the deep southwest wilderness of Tasmania. After revisiting the site that he initially found it at, he could not locate the species again. Some searching later he found another population nearby, which has been the only stand found. This population covers about 1.2 kilometres of mixed forest, nestled in a gully between two creeks and contains about 500ish ‘plants’. The species was formally identified in 1967 by prominent Tasmanian botanist, Dr Winifred Curtis.
One plant | 43,000 years old
Lomatia tasmanica is perhaps one of the oldest living plants in the world. You see, the thing with this species is that it doesn’t reproduce by seed. It has not been observed to even set seed, both in the wild or in cultivation. Most plants are diploid, which means that it has two sets of chromosomes, like us. However the King’s Lomatia is triploid, which as the name infers, has three sets of chromosomes. You can still survive quite well with three sets, although majority of triploid organisms are unable produce viable offspring. In this case it seems that it can’t produce offspring at all. By seed anyway. The only way it can reproduce is to clone itself, via sending out new shoots off its roots, or developing roots on fallen branches.
Therefore the entire living population of this species are genetic clones, all born from the same plant. I find this interesting to try to decide if it is actually one plant that is 43,000 years old or not. Clearly one specimen of stem and leaves do not actually live for 43,000 years, although it has come from an identical plant which has been cloning itself for that long. It would be like a human living for 43,000 years, but growing a new limb of organ every decade or so and replacing the old one.. It makes my brain go around in circles.
It has been suggested that the King’s Lomatia came from a hybrid of L. tincotria and L. polymorpha many thousands of years ago. L. polymorpha does grow nearby, although the closest population of L. tinctoria is about 50 kilometres away. Fossils of a similar plant were found nearby at Melaleuca Inlet, suggesting that the species once had a wider distribution. It’s all very fascinating!
What does the future bring…
Currently there are a couple of groups working on the cultivation of Lomatia tasmanica. The Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens being one of them. Material was collected in 1994 with the aim to establish a collection of at least 50 plants, which I do believe they have reached. They have also been working on grafting L. tasmanica onto L. tinctoria rootstock.
Getting cuttings to establish has proved a difficult task, as material is scarce to take cuttings from, and getting them to develop roots is slow and time-consuming. Another problem they have faced is the plants hatred for root disturbance, which makes cultivation difficult. You can find a lot of detail on the hurdles and various methods used at the RTBG website ( https://gardens.rtbg.tas.gov.au/lomatia-tasmanica/)
Ideally we will end up with a good insurance population within the Botanical Gardens. They may not be able to be re established in the wild if something catastrophic were to happen, but at least they would still exist. Perhaps one day they will become available commercially, and we can all keep them alive in our gardens. From the sounds of it, they would be a plant more suited to fanatical collectors of hard to grow plants, but I can live with that.
The wild population is just clinging on. With increased fire frequency and Phytopthera cinnamomi (root rot disease) the biggest threats. Root rot has been found within 20m of the population and is already causing death to the surrounding Banksia and Buttongrass plains. Because of the nature of root rot and the ease at which it can spread, strict quarantine rules are in place for anyone visiting the area. Which is effectively the people tasked with trying to save it. The public is strongly encouraged to keep away and not attempt to find the population. I know, it sounds shitty, and I would love to be able to hike in and take a look. Although the problem with that could mean that I could also hike in some disease and wipe the population out completely… That would be way shittier.
If you are super keen to cast your eyes on a living specimen, you can always give the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens a call and ask super nicely if you can see one they have there. They also have a great little section on Tasmanian native plants and ones with Gondwana origins, so check that out too!
Further reading
Plants of Tasmania Nursery
http://www.potn.com.au/lomatiatinctoria.html
RTBG conservation efforts
https://gardens.rtbg.tas.gov.au/lomatia-tasmanica/
“Botanists’ bid to save King’s Holly, ‘world’s oldest living plant’, from extinction” – ABC article
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-09/botanists-try-to-save-the-worlds-oldest-living-plant/5659970
DPIPWE fact sheet
http://dpipwe.tas.gov.au/Documents/Lomatia-tasmanica.pdf
Research papers
Milner, M.L., Weston, P.H., Rossetto, M. and Crisp, M.D., 2015. Biogeography of the Gondwanan genus Lomatia (Proteaceae): vicariance at continental and intercontinental scales. Journal of biogeography, 42(12), pp.2440-2451.
Lynch, A.J.J. and Balmer, J., 2004. The ecology, phytosociology and stand structure of an ancient endemic plant Lomatia tasmanica (Proteaceae) approaching extinction. Australian journal of botany, 52(5), pp.619-627.
All photos here have been taking from the inter webs. Each photo is captioned where I got it, and the photographer, if known. None of them are mine.
