Prehistoric Plants Found In WA

by Christine Feary

May 7, 2007

One of the world’s oldest flowering species, believed to have existed during the age of dinosaurs 135 million years ago, has been spotted in WA swamps.

Despite being only up to five centimetres tall, the tiny plants - Hydatella and their close cousins Trithuria, have garnered much attention from scientists all over the world.

Discovered by an international research team of botanists from the US, Canada, Switzerland and Australia, the findings have been published in the latest issue of Nature, the international science journal.

“The new findings have thrown the international spotlight on Western Australia as there are more species of such prehistoric plants than anywhere in the world,” a botanist with the Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC), Dr Terry Macfarlane said in a media statement last week.

Hydatella and Trithuria are found in seasonal swamps, wetlands and granite rock pools from Geraldton to east of Esperance. The species are characterised by simple red flowers without a petal structure.

“They are annuals, growing each year from seeds after the swamps and pools fill with water from the rains. They spend the growing season in wet mud or under shallow water,” Dr Macfarlane said.

Prior to the discovery, scientists have been uncertain of their closest relatives and they were thought to be a species of grasses due to the lack of petals.

A DNA sequencing technique helped the scientists to discover that the plants are most closely related to the water lilies.

“This is very surprising because by contrast, water lilies have some of the biggest and most striking of all flowers,” Dr Macfarlance said.

“This means the plants even pre-date the division of flowering plants into monocots (narrow-leafed plants) and dicots (broad-leafed plants).”

Out of the five species of Hydatella and Trithuria, two are listed as rare and one is on DEC’s priority flora list, before they were believed to be prehistoric plants.

However a spokesman for the DEC says they will now be given greater value due to their scientific importance.

Dr Macfarlane was not available to be interviewed by eMU News, a DEC spokesman said today.