The Declared Rare and Priority Flora List is the system by which Western Australia

Western Australia

Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

's conservation

Conservation biology

Conservation biology is the scientific study of the nature and status of Earth's biodiversity with the aim of protecting species, their habitats, and ecosystems from excessive rates of extinction...

 flora

Flora

Flora is the plant life occurring in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring or indigenous—native plant life. The corresponding term for animals is fauna.-Etymology:...

 are given a priority. Developed by the Government of Western Australia

Government of Western Australia

The formation of the Government of Western Australia is prescribed in its Constitution, which dates from 1890, although it has been amended many times since then...

's Department of Environment and Conservation, it is used extensively within the department, including the Western Australian Herbarium

Western Australian Herbarium

The Western Australian Herbarium is the State Herbarium in Perth, Western Australia, Western Australia. It is part of the State government's Department of Environment and Conservation, and has responsibility for the description and documentation of the flora of Western Australia.The Herbarium is...

. The herbarium's journal, Nuytsia

Nuytsia (journal)

Nuytsia is a peer-reviewed journal published by the Western Australian Herbarium. It publishes papers on systematic botany, giving preference to papers related to the flora of Western Australia. Nearly twenty percent of Western Australia's plant taxa have been published in Nuytsia. First published...

, which has published over a quarter of the state's conservation taxa, requires a conservation status to be included in all publications of new Western Australian taxa that appear to be rare or endangered.

The system defines six levels of priority taxa:
X: Threatened (Declared Rare Flora) – Presumed Extinct Taxa: These are taxa that are thought to be extinct, either because they have not been collected for over 50 years despite thorough searching, or because all known wild populations have been destroyed. They have been declared as such in accordance with the Wildlife Conservation Act 1950

Wildlife Conservation Act 1950

The Wildlife Conservation Act 1950 is an act of the Western Australian Parliament that provides the statute relating to conservation and legal protection of flora and fauna....

, and are therefore afforded legislative protection under that act.
T: Threatened (Declared Rare Flora) – Extant Taxa: These are taxa that have been thoroughly surveyed, and determined to be rare, in danger of extinction, or otherwise in need of special protection. They have been declared rare in accordance with the Wildlife Conservation Act 1950, and are therefore afforded legislative protection under that act. The code for this category was previously 'R'.
P1: Priority One – Poorly Known Taxa: These are taxa that are known from only a few (generally less than five) populations, all of which are under immediate threat. They are candidates for declaration as rare flora, but are in need of further survey.
P2: Priority Two – Poorly Known Taxa: These are taxa that are known from only a few (generally less than five) populations, some of which are not thought to be under immediate threat. They are candidates for declaration as rare flora, but are in need of further survey.
P3: Priority Three – Poorly Known Taxa: That are taxa that are known from several populations, some of which are not thought to be under immediate threat. They are candidates for declaration as rare flora, but are in need of further survey.
P4: Priority Four – Rare Taxa: These are taxa that have been adequately surveyed, and are rare but not known to be under threat.

See also

• Conservation status
  Conservation status
  The conservation status of a group of organisms indicates whether the group is still extant and how likely the group is to become extinct in the near future...
  
  
• Wildlife Conservation Act 1950
  Wildlife Conservation Act 1950
  The Wildlife Conservation Act 1950 is an act of the Western Australian Parliament that provides the statute relating to conservation and legal protection of flora and fauna....
  
  , state legislation
• Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999
  Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999
  The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 is an Act of the Parliament of Australia that provides a framework for protection of the Australian environment, including its biodiversity and its natural and culturally significant places...
  
  , federal legislation
• ROTAP
  ROTAP
  Rare or Threatened Australian Plants, usually abbreviated to ROTAP, is a list of rare or threatened Australian plant taxa. Developed and maintained by the CSIRO, the most recent edition lists 5031 taxa. The list uses a binary coding system based on the IUCN Red List categories for "Presumed...
  
  (Rare or Threatened Australian Plants) coding system