Sixty years in the making: Isopogon nutans (Proteaceae), a new species with pendulous flower heads

The new species of Isopogon R.Br. described below was first collected in October 1960 on two separate occasions, firstly by Alex George from east of Newdegate and then five days later by Charles Gardner from Mt Madden. Many years previously, Gardner had drafted a treatment of the family Proteaceae for his proposed second volume of Flora of Western Australia, and so was well placed to recognise the distinctiveness of this new species. He called it I. nutans C.A.Gardner ms (on C.A. Gardner 13988; PERTH), but subsequently applied the name I. cernuus C.A.Gardner ms to the same specimen. Neither of these manuscript names was added to Western Australia’s vascular plant census.