Pretty desert pea eclipsed by Dr Basedow

I was attracted first by the way this plant clung to the rock face, then by its sensuously hairy leaves, and finally seduced by the scientist who first collected it, Dr Basedow.

It is labelled Indigofera basedowii, which I refuse to call Basedow's Indigo (which sounds as unlike a common name as I've ever heard), an inland Australian plant. It survives in Victoria with the help of our special micohabitats in, on and among the rocks of the Weird and Wonderful Garden at Cranbourne. We recently improved the irrigation, so that we can fine-tune those habitats even more.

When I looked this species up in the Western Australian Flora it points me to Indigofera georgei, presumably carrying the equally dissatisfying common name George's Indigo. It seems that Indigofera basedowii was what we call misapplied - when a plant is given the wrong name - to populations of Indigofera georgei in Western Australia.

The George is a W.J. George, who collected his plant in 1902. Basedow is Dr Herbert Basedow, South Australian scientist, explorer and anthropologist. The Atlas of Living Australia still has both species in Western Australia but far more of George's than Basedow's.

So, sigh, I have to do a little more homework to find out exactly what is going on here. If we follow NSW botanist Peter Wilson's view, back in 1987, it seems that Indigofera basedowii is from rocky gorges near creeks in the Northern Territory and South Australia.

Indigofera longibractea, which Peter described then as a subspecies of Indigofera basedowii, is from similar habitats in South Australia and New South Wales.

I'm assuming a few of the dots on this Atlas map are old records, of misapplied names. Which is all fine, and in the absence of detailed examination of the plants, I'll stick with Indigofera basedowii for the Cranbourne Gardens plant.

Oh, and I should of course have trusted our Flowering Friday post from Facebook, posted earlier this year. It described this plant, and this species, as being from desert regions in South Australia and Northern Territory. The post also includes the important information that in its native habitat the plant is under threat of extinction from camel grazing. And it has better pictures than of the flowers than I've been able to capture in early August, as you can see here.

From Peter Wilson's paper we learn a little more about when the species was first collected by Basedow, or at least most probably was. It seems Basedow was travelling from Mount Chandler to Moorilyanna Well, on his way to Musgrave Range. Sometime between 21 and 25 April, in 1903, he gathered up this pretty pea.

Later in life, in 1926, Dr Basedow led an expedition into the more remote (to Europeans) parts of South Australia, reaching Uluru in the Northern Territory. He also collected in Arnhem Land and the Kimberley.

I seem to have become diverted away from my plant, to Dr Basedow. It can happen. I'll finish with a little more about him from a National Museum of Australia article, and you can just enjoy the pictures of Indigofera basedowii.

Herbert Basedow was educated in South Australia, then in Germany. His first published paper was on fossil 'snails' (molluscs), one of which had been named after him by his mentor and colleague, Professor Ralph Tate. After a few years of such work he drifted away from taxonomy (essentially describing new species) and into exploring, collecting and studying all aspects of life in Australia - rocks, plants and animals. 

He photographed, mapped and sketched as he travelled. And he collected. There are over 800 plant specimens in various herbaria. Not a huge number by the standards of his day or ours, but many of them from remote locations such as the original collection of Indigofera basedowii.

He became very interested in Aboriginal life, advocating for 'preservation' of traditional culture and customs. His approaches and attitudes are of his time, and strongly influenced I gather by his German training, but he was convinced that the people inhabiting Australia before European settlement represented a long and ancient lineage. 

It was said at his death that he tried to do too much, and hence didn't really do any of his areas of interest justice from a scientific point of view. Still, he gave lots of talks, spoke regularly on radio and wrote for newspapers and magazines, as well as publishing in learned journals. That's not a bad thing.

Image: all of a single plant in the Weird and Wonderful Garden, photographed above, in the Australian Gardens at Cranbourne Gardens, part of Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria...