Weeds report for 2023-24 published

The Western Australian shrub Calothamnus quadrifidus subsp. angustifolius, potentially naturalising in Belair National Park. Photo: C.J. Brodie.

Each year, the State Herbarium of South Australia publishes a report on the work of the Weeds Botanist, listing new weedy taxa added to the South Australian Census of Plants, Algae and Fungi during the previous 12 months.

Today, the report for the last financial year 2023-24 was published.

Brodie, C.J., Lang, P.J. & Hammer, T.A. (2024). Regional Landscape Surveillance for New Weed Threats Project 2023-2024. Milestone: Annual report on new plant naturalisations in South Australia. 27 pp. (State Herbarium of South Australia: Adelaide). (5.6mb PDF).

The reports for the previous financial years 2021-22 and 2022-23 were made available recently and are available on EnviroDataSA and through this blog.

eFloraSA & Census

Last week, 16 September 2024, the Electronic Flora of South Australia went off-line. Unfortunately the website can no longer be upgraded or managed to ensure it is secure. A replacement website is currently in development.

In the meantime, PDF versions of the Census of South Australian plants, algae and fungi are available online here (see also CENSUS link on the top of this page). These will be updated as necessary.

Keys to the families, genera and most species of South Australian vascular plants can be accessed through the KeyBase Flora of South Australia project. Keybase also hosts keys to the Flora of Australia.

The very popular Algae Revealed fact sheets are temporarily homed on this site (5 November).

The revision of the Flora of South Australia is ongoing and already published family treatment of the new, 5th edition of the Flora are available here.

Some information on native and naturalised species, including photographs and distribution maps can be accessed at the Seeds of South Australia website.

New Journal articles: Sep. 2024

The State Herbarium of South Australia published two articles in Vol. 38 of its journal Swainsona today, 16 Sep. 2024.

Distribution of the order Oxalidales. Compiled from the Angiosperm Phylogeny Website.

(1) Y. Pillon, D. Craynb, S.J.R. Streiff & J.M. de Vos, A suprageneric classification of Oxalidales (200kb PDF).

Using the results of recently published thoroughly-samples phylogenies, the authors from Australia, France and Switzerland, publish a revised classification of the order Oxalidales, which contains the plant families Brunelliaceae, Cephalotaceae, Connaraceae, Cunoniaceae, Elaeocarpaceae (incl. the former Tremandraceae) and Oxalidaceae. Some of these families are well-represented in Australia. One new suborder, five new subfamilies, and three new tribes are described.

The new species Inoderma applanatum. Photo: J. Jarman.

(2) G. Kantvilas, Tasmanian additions to the genus Inoderma (Arthoniaceae) (3.2mb PDF).

The author from the Tasmanian Herbarium reviews the lichen genus Inoderma, which was split recently from Arthonia, and accepts two species for Australia: one described as new, the other an existing species that is transferred to Inoderma. In total, the genus now has seven species worldwide. A species of fungus that grows on Inoderma lichens is also reported: Chaenothecopsis brevipes.

To access content of all volumes of Swainsona and the Journal of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens since Vol. 1 (1976), please visit the journal’s web-site at flora.sa.gov.au/swainsona.

The International Botanical Congress – Madrid July 2024

International Botanical Congress – Madrid 2024

The 20th International Botanical Congress (IBC 2024) has begun in Madrid (Spain) with the Nomenclature Section (15–19 July 2024) followed by the Congress (21–27 July 2024).  This global congress takes place every six years under the supervision of the International Association for Botanical and Mycological Societies (IABMS). Originally the 20th congress was going to take place in 2023 in Brazil after Shenzhen’s (China) 2017. The impact of the worldwide pandemic meant that the meeting could not be held in Brazil in 2023.

The congress includes plenary lectures, concurrent symposia, posters, exhibitors, short courses and workshops. The modern incarnation of the congress is an integrated forum for knowledge on the plant and mycological world.

Several poster presentations are being given by State Herbarium of South Australia PhD students Andrew McDougall and Luis Williamson at the IBC (for more information about the IBC program go to the conference website). They will update us on their experience attending this meeting at the congress and we wish them the best of luck for their presentations and in meeting the worlds botanical community.

More information about the students presenting and their work is available here: https://know.ourplants.org/current-research_ibc_madrid/

In a few weeks the International Mycological Congress is being held in The Netherlands. We update you closer to the date.

Michelle

New Journal articles: July 2024

The State Herbarium of South Australia published two article on the genus Hibbertia in Vol. 38 of its journal Swainsona today,11 July 2024.

Hibbertia cunninghamii, flower (left) and amplexicaul leaf (right). Photo: T.A. Hammer.

T.A. Hammer & K.R. Thiele, Revision of the Western Australian Hibbertia cunninghamii species group (Dilleniaceae) (3.9mb PDF).

The authors review Hibbertia cunninghamii and four related species, H. amplexicaulis, H. nymphaea, H. perfoliata and H. porongurupensis, all endemic to south-western WA and are characterised by amplexicaul leaf bases. The circumscriptions of the species is clarified and a revised identification key published. All species are illustrated with colour photographs.

Hibbertia acutifolia flower. Photo: T.A.Hammer.

T.A. Hammer, New combinations in the Hibbertia vestita (Dilleniaceae) species group from New South Wales (15.4mb PDF).

The author presents evidence that two subspecies of Hibbertia from New South Wales are better treated at species level. He changes the names of Hibbertia ericifolia subsp. acutifolia to the species H. acutifolia, and H. florida subsp. angustinervis to H. angustinervis. A table outlining the differences is provided and detailed photographs of leaves and flowers show the morphologies of the species and how they differ from typical Hibbertia ericifolia and H. florida.

To access content of all volumes of Swainsona and the Journal of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens since Vol. 1 (1976), please visit the journal’s web-site at flora.sa.gov.au/swainsona.