Fred and Jean Hort have worked on a voluntary basis for CALM (now DEC) over many years, during which time they have contributed a considerable amount of natural history information, especially botanical. Some of their achievements have been the rediscovery of three floral species only collected previously by the first government botanist, James Drummond, almost 160 years ago. Some of their work has been summarised in a Landscope article (2011 vol. 27. no. 2 pp. 40-46).
Fred and Jean, sometimes including other family members, have chosen the area known familiarly as the northern jarrah forest, particularly the DEC Perth Hills district, for a variety of reasons; importantly it is close to home. Their activities are effectively ‘eyes on the Reserves’ and they have focused on recording and reporting to DEC and the WA Herbarium many new populations of rare and priority plants as well as plants that demonstrate a significant range extension. They have also assisted DEC officers with surveys and resurveys of areas with threatened flora.
The areas covered are lands designated under several Departments as well as private properties. These include National Parks, State forests, and land covered by Shires, the railways and water authorities. Collecting plants, including rare and endangered flora, requires licences from National Park authorities and the pertinent ones cover threatened flora and working in disease risk areas.
We were conducted on a tour of their usual activities through many reserves, some seldom visited by the general public. The presentation illustrated many specific plants in bloom. One of the benefits of viewing flora in bloom is also to admire some of the local scenic backdrops of bushland in spring and summer time. Of the areas featured, the Little Darkan swamp, blocks of the Wandoo National Park, Ellis Brook, parts of the Canning River catchment, Mt. Observation and several specific granite areas were included.
It was whilst inspecting an area in the Wandoo National Park, following a prescribed burn (from the previous November) that, along with widespread flowering of several orchid species, that they discovered the Dale China Orchid (Cyanicula.sp. Dale), a rarely seen species, 30 km further north than previously recorded. Knowledge built up from the experiences of many years of observation in the same areas, has helped the Horts to know when to expect flowering of certain species and to time their field visits accordingly. Apart from orchids, some of the photographs featured detail of some of the small plants associated with granite country, including trigger plants, lichens and mosses.
Their work has contributed to the discovery of more than fifteen new flora species within the following genera: Grevillea; Banksia; Darwinia, Leschenaultia, Thomasia, Baekea, Synaphea, Wurmbea, Paracaleana, Petrophile, Leocopogon and the Eremaean. Of special mention are a few examples that have been named for the Hort family, including Calandrinia hortiorum and Darwinia hortiorum.
Fred and Jean have been recognised as WAHerb Volunteer Research Associates, especially in regard to rare and priority flora, and the Florabase database records show that they have lodged over 3000 plant samples from the South West Land Division of WA. They also assist WAHerb botanists with plant collections and plant information and have submitted approximately 40 plants as type specimens.
Although regular and controlled burning, in patches, to control and clear built-up debris in woodlands is recognised as benefiting local flora, the Horts have the knowledge concerning potential damage to rare and endangered species and sometimes liaise between Departments about the timing of prescribed burn offs.
Another hazard is the unauthorised use of motor bikes in many National Parks; this presents a danger to important native flora.
Although they are not trained botanists, the experience that the Horts have acquired by knowing ‘what is different’ in observational terms and becoming familiar with repeated visits to many areas, has led to their many successes in finding and rediscovering plant species, considered to be extinct from certain areas. They are a team passionate and determined about their work and are reaping the satisfaction of knowing this work is appreciated and noted officially.
Susan Stocklmayer