The yam daisy or murnong is one of many examples of changing plant names.
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Studies a few years ago showed that plants from different parts of Victoria - although they were basically similar-looking - were different enough in their tuber shape and structure, their seed-heads, their height and their habitat preferences to be classified as three separate species.
Most recent name changes come from similar studies demonstrating that a plant that was long regarded as one species is actually different enough in other parts of its range to be divided into two or more species.
When this happens, the plant matching the earliest scientific description retains the established name, and the new plant is given a different scientific name. A new common name is usually given as well.
Sometimes the "new" plants appear quite different to us when we are shown them side-by-side with others, but at other times the differences seem trivial and inappropriate to non-scientists. Occasionally, the opposite in name-changing happens when two former species are shown to be different forms of just one species. Again, the earlier botanical name has priority.
A less-common reason for name-changing these days occurs when modern scientists delve back to early scientific journals - often written 200 years ago - and discover that the plant was actually given a different earlier name than the one that may have been used for 150 years or more. The rules state that the earliest name must have priority. This was a reasonable rule in the era of frequent Australian discoveries, as scientists raced to be first to publish their discoveries. Re-naming, for this reason, is uncommon now.
It's not only plants that have their names changed - and it's not only scientific names that change. Using the name spur-winged plover in Australia is no longer acceptable in world-wide bird circles because there is a spur-winged plover in Africa. Our birds are now called masked lapwings, leaving the name spur-winged plover to the African birds only.
The aim is to have only one species using the same common name across the world, to reduce confusion. Occasionally, a name change is reversed, when later scientists show that the initial change was not valid. International rules govern scientific names, but common names have no such rules, only recommendations.
KANGAROOS APPEAR
The sighting of a pair of grey kangaroos at Mullawallah Wetlands at Lucas provides a new location for this marsupial. It remains to be seen whether they will adopt this relatively sheltered spot as their own.