New fungi book published

Yesterday, the printer delivered copies of the new book on the fungi of southern Australia published by the State Herbarium of South Australia. It is now available for purchase.

Catcheside, P.S. & Catcheside D.E.A. (2024). The fungi of Kangaroo Island – and beyond: An illustrated field guide to the larger fungi of Southern Australia. (State Herbarium of South Australia: Adelaide).

This long-awaited guide to the fungi of southern Australia has a focus on iconic Kangaroo Island. On the wetter west end of the island the authors, State Herbarium Hon. Research Associate Pam Catcheside and Prof. David Catcheside, encountered an amazing diversity of fungi, most of which are also found on the mainland. The book is the culmination of decades of research and fieldwork on the fungi of Kangaroo Island, South Australia and Australia.

The book provides detailed, full-page descriptions of 206 species, a guide to the diversity of fungi, how to collect the larger species, tips on photographing them, a bibliography, an account of the effects of fire on fungi and of the joys and occasional frustrations of fungal forays in South Australia, the driest state in this driest continent.

B5, 380 pages, flexibound with vinyl outer cover.

Retail price: $75.00

The book is available in person from the Botanic Gardens reception desk (Goodman Building, Hackney Road, Adelaide) and online through the Openbook Howden web-shop (postage is extra):
https://www.openbookhowden.com.au/product/the-fungi-of-kangaroo-island-and-beyond/

More information is available on this webpage, including sample pages and a list of retail outlets that are selling the book (which will be continuously updated).

Bush Blitz 2021 (2)

From 22 Nov. to 3 Dec. 2021, four staff members of the State Herbarium of South Australia participated in a Bush Blitz Expedition to the Far West of the State: the Yalata Indigenous Protected Area (IPA), Wahgunyah & Fowlers Bay Conservation Parks, as well as the Fowlers Bay townsite.

The sand dune near Fowlers Bay township. Photo: J. Kellermann.

As reported in a previous BLOG post, Peter Lang, Tim Hammer, Jürgen Kellermann and Tracey Spokes surveyed the area and collected specimens.

The results were a total of 334 unique taxa recorded across the survey area during the Yalata-Fowlers Bay Bush Blitz: This total comprises 232 vascular plants, 20 lichens, 1 fungus, 6 mosses and 75 marine algae. They are represented by 856 separate collections made during the survey. All specimens were accessioned into the State Herbarium; a map of the collections and detailed information is available on the Australasian Virtual Herbarium.

The official Bush Blitz report of the expedition was released last year:

Bush Blitz (2023). Far West Coast, South Australia 2021: Bush Blitz expedition report. (Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water: Canberra). (2.3mb PDF).

The State Herbarium’s botany report was submitted to Bush Blitz in 2022. It is now published on Enviro Data SA:

Spokes, T.M. & Lang, P.J. (2022). Yalata-Fowlers Bay Bush Blitz: Vascular plants, bryophytes, lichens, macrofungi and marine macroalgae. Yalata Indigenous Protected Area, including Fowlers Bay Conservation Park, Wahgunyah Conservation Park and Nuyts Archipelago Marine Park, South Australia. Report for Bush Blitz, Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra. (State Herbarium of South Australia: Adelaide). (9.8mb PDF).

Appendix 1 is also available as a spreadsheet (56kb XLSX document). Appendix 2 is only available on request, but the data can be viewed at the Australasian Virtual Herbarium.

A team from the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN) was also part of the expedition and surveyed the vegetation at several sites. Their report is available separately:

TERN (2022). Summary of TERN Plots for the Yalata and Fowlers Bay Conservation Park Bush Blitz, South Australia. (Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network: Adelaide). (2.3mb PDF).

Bush Blitz is an innovative partnership between the Australian Government, BHP Billiton Sustainable Communities and Earthwatch Australia. It is the world’s first continent-scale biodiversity survey, providing the knowledge needed to help us protect Australia’s unique animals and plants for generations to come.

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.