Flag for Taxon: Australian tree fern (Cyathea cooperi)
| Flagger | Content Author | Content | Reason | Flag Created | Resolved by | Resolution |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| choess | Australian tree fern (Cyathea cooperi) |
appears to be a taxonomic synonym of Sphaeropteris cooperi |
Oct. 18, 2018 22:23:19 +0000 | choess |
changed committed--compatible with POWO and PPG I |
Comments
Generally accepted as Cyathea cooperi here in Australia (currently, anyway). Only Florabase, the WA online flora uses Sphaeropteris cooperi
https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/browse/profile/12744
Flora of Australia
https://bie.ala.org.au/species/https://id.biodiversity.org.au/taxon/apni/51300013
Flora of NSW
https://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Cyathea~cooperi
Flora of Victoria (usually the most up to date, seems to have bug at the moment, so not sure the link works)
https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/flora/search?q=Cyathea%20cooperi
Cheers :)
This is a widespread weed globally, a nasty invasive, and is phylogenetically resolved in Sphaeropteris, so it seems problematic to treat it in Cyathea in the context of a global taxonomy.
Here is the most recent classification of Australian Ferns and Lycophytes (Field 2020)
file:///Users/sphaerostephanos/Google%20Drive/Literature/Cyatheaceae/Field_Australian_PPG.pdf
It is a hugely problematic invasive species in Hawaii:
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10530-012-0291-0
Flora of California also treats it as Sphaeropteris:
https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=89353
agree with @susanfawcett, this taxon should be treated according to POWO, as proposed by @franzanth.
Draft for taxon swap:
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxon_changes/123560
@susanfawcett @franzanth @kitty12 does that look alright?
I'd run this by @choess
My inclination would also be to remove the genus Cnemidaria (syn. Cyathea). The jury is out on Gymnosphaera (syn. Alsophila according to PPG I), but will soon be revisited by PPG II. Sphaeropteris cooperi really shouldn't be recognized in Cyathea unless all Cyatheaceae are treated in a single genus.
I'm happy to see it swapped into Sphaeropteris. I've been leaving some things like Blechnaceae alone in deference to the NZ/AU lumpers but in light of its wide global spread I'm OK with this change.
It would be best for someone to run through the full genus and apply all the swaps needed to sort out Cyathea s.s. - of course involving the genera mentioned here.
Queensland herbarium, Australia, also uses Sphaeropteris cooperi
Census of the Queensland Flora and Fungi 2022 https://www.data.qld.gov.au/dataset/census-of-the-queensland-flora-and-fungi-2022 (see link to Full data set which is searchable using an online form)
any updates here?
The taxon swap page has been there stagnant for almost a year now. I'm all for it. Our main vascular plant database (https://acores.flora-on.pt/#/1sphaeropteris) also uses Sphaeropteris, and because INat uses Cyathea my observations can't get imported to there.
@j_orfao as an aside from the swap, how come that database doesn't have synonym matching set up?
@thebeachcomber It does have it, but only for certain species. I suppose the coordinator of the database either has problems including the synonyms or he just simply forgot to add them. I might have to message him about that.
Now that this swap has been committed, there’ll be some cleanup work needed to address unintended disagreements now where obs had one ID of Cyathea and then one or two to species
This is a synonym of Sphaeropteris cooperi (Hook. ex F.Muell.) R.M.Tryon
http://plantsoftheworldonline.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:17312590-1