3 ' Nuytsia 1 (1):259-260(1999) 259 A new record for thefern flora ofsouth-western Australia: a single plant ofHistiopterisincisafromMtLindesay A single large (rhizome length 0.4 m, leaf length 0.5 m) individual of the cosmopolitan fern Histiopterisincisa(Thunb.)J.Sm.(Dennstaedtiaceae)waslocatedonthelowersouth-westernslopes (altitude110m)ofMtLindesayon3January 1999. Theplantwasfoundgrowinginapartiallyshaded, horizontal creviceofalargegranite boulder 1.5 m from the ground and 100 metres up a steep slope to the east of the Denmark River. The general area included substantial areas of outcropping in otherwisewoodland/foresthabitat. Thisisthefirstrecordofthisspeciesfromsouth-westernAustralia, and increasesthepteridophyte flora(ferns andfern allies) oftheJarrah ForestBioregionto 30. In Australia,H. incisa iscommon alongthesouth-easternandeasterncoasts from south-eastern South Australia and Tasmaniato south-eastern Queensland, with scattered populations north to the Atherton Tableland and in the MacDonald Ranges and Kakadu area of the Northern Territory (Brownsey 1998).ThereisalsoasinglerecordfromtheDurrackRangeinthe KimberleyofWestern Australia(Wheeleretal. 1992). Itisalsofoundwidelythroughoutthetropicsandsoutherntemperate regions whereitoccurs in generally moistopen sites (Brownsey 1998). The as yet undescribed locally endemic Eucalyptus ‘Virginia ms. (Hopper & Wardell-Johnson unpublished) is the most common overstorey species in the immediate site. Other plant species associatedwiththissiteincludeCorymbiacalophylla, Eucalyptusmarginata,Xanthosiarotundifolia, Hypocalymna angustifolium, Loxocarya flexuosa, Agonis hypericifolia, Xanthorrhoea preissii, Leucopogon capitellatus, Hovea elliptica, Agonis marginata, Lepidosperma effusum, Hakea undulata and Dodonaea ceratocarpa. , Despitetheseeminglyappropriatehabitatforawiderangeoffernsandfernallies inthesouth-west, fewspeciesoccurthere. Thusonly22speciesincludingthreeintroductions,areknownfromtheWarren Bioregion,themostimportantcentreforconservative,relictualhighrainfallvascularplanttaxainthe State (Hopperetal. 1992, Lyonsetal. in press). No species areconfined to thehigh rainfall south- westernforests. Rather,allfromtheWarrenBioregionarewidespreadgeneralists,manyofwhichare outliersinthesouth-westernforestswheretheyareknownfromfewrecords(e.g.Hypolepisrugosula (Labill.)J.Sm.,AspleniumobtusatumG. Forst., Christelladentata(Forssk.)Brownsey&Jermy). MtLindesayliesonthemarginsoftheWarrenandthegenerallydriermoreseasonalJarrahForest Bioregion. Thisareaisnotableasacentreforendemismintheregion(Wardell-Johnson&Williams & 1996, Wardell-Johnson Horwitz 1996). Onlyoneofthepteridophyte species found intheJarrah ForestBioregionisendemictoWesternAustralia(lsoetestripusA.Braun). Severalotherspeciesare notableendemicstoWesternAustralia,thoughallarespeciesfromthetransitionalratherthanthehigh rainfall zone, providing further support to south-western Australia having been through climatic bottlenecksinthepast(e.g.Brimhall<?/«/. 1988). Westerlyweatherpatternsalsopreventsouth-western Australiahavinganearby sourceforthe re-establishmentofspecies(Chinnockpers. comm.). The Histiopteris individual is 15 km from the nearest population centre (Denmark), and over a kilometrefromclearedland,andfromthepicnicareaatthebaseofMtLindesay. Thereisnoevidence thatthespecimenwasplanted,asitiswellestablishedwithinanarrowledgeandtherhizomeisdifficult to access. However, the possibility ofrelatively recent natural establishment (< 20 years) from a cultivatedsourcewithinthesouth-westcannotberuledout,giventheprolificsporeproductionofthis 260 Nuytsia Vol. 13, No. 1 (1999) speciesanditsgeneralcultivationingreenhouses. Itispossiblethatsubstantialareasofsuitablehabitat forthis species wouldexistwithin the south-western forests. It is also likely that several otherfern species might appearand subsequently be lostfrom time-to-time within the region. Onespecimenhasbeen lodgedwith theWestern Australian Herbarium(PERTH05243912) and onewiththeQueenslandHerbarium(BRIAQ671573). Acknowledgements I gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Guy Wardell-Johnson and Nigel Creasey in the field andhelpful comments on an earlierversion ofthemanuscriptfrom PeterBostock, BarbaraRye and Robert Chinnock. References Brimhall, G.H., Lewis, C.J., Ague, J.J., Dietrich, W.E., Hampel. J., Teague, T. & Rix, P. (1988). Metal enrichment in bauxites by deposition of chemically mature aeolian dust. Nature 330: 819-824. Brownsey, P.J. (1998). Dennstaedtiaceae. In: McCarthy, P.M. (ed.) “Flora of Australia 48, Ferns, Gymnosperms and Allied Groups.” pp. 214-228. (ABRS/CSIRO: Melbourne.) Hopper, S.D.. Keighery, G.J. & Wardell-Johnson, G.W. (1992). Flora ofthe Karri forest and other communities in the Warren SubdistrictofWestern Australia. In: "Research on the impact ofForest Management in South-West Western Australia” Occasional paper 2/92, pp. 1-32. (Department of Conservation and Land Management: Perth.) Lyons. M.N., Keighery. G.J., Gibson, N. & Wardell-Johnson, G. (in press). The vascular floraofthe Warren Bioregion, south-west Western Australia. Composition, Reservation status and endemism. CALMScience. Wardell-Johnson, G. & Horwitz, P. (1996). Conserving biodiversity and the recognition of heterogeneity in ancient landscapes. Forest Ecology and Management 85(1-3): 219-238. Wardell-Johnson, G. & Williams, M. (1996). A Uoristic survey ofthe Tingle Mosaic, south-western Australia. Journal ofthe Royal Society of Western Australia 79: 249-276. Wheeler, J.R., Rye, B.L., Kock, B.L. & Wilson, A.J.G. (1992). "Flora of the Kimberley Region.” (Department of Conservation and Land Management: Perth.) GrantWardell-Johnson Australian School ofEnvironmental Studies, Griffith University, Queensland41 11, Australia