The State Herbarium of South Australia documents all known plant taxa (species, sub-species, varieties and forms) native and naturalised (weedy) in South Australia. These taxa are listed in the Census of South Australian Plants, Algae and Fungi. All newly discovered state and regional records are added to the Census throughout the year. The records are based on preserved plant specimens, verified by a botanists, and housed in the vaults of the State Herbarium.

Acacia cardiophylla from NSW, naturalised in South Australia. Image by Bidgee (CC-BY-SA 2.5 AU).

For all new records of non-native plants, an annual report is produced by the Weeds Botanist Chris Brodie and colleagues from the State Herbarium. The report includes the list of new weeds recorded for South Australia with locations, descriptions, and photographs. Also documented are updates to other taxa that have had a change in distribution, weed status or name. Other activities carried out by Weeds Botanist are also summarised, such as field trips or presentations to community groups.

The latest report is now available online:

Brodie, C.J., Lang, P.J. & Waycott, M. (2019). Regional Landscape Surveillance for New Weed Threats Project, 2018-2019: Annual report on new plant naturalisations in South Australia. (4.2mb PDF).

Also available for download are last year’s 2018 report (4.5mb PDF), as well as the report for 2017 (3.8mb PDF) and a compilation of all reports from 2010 to 2016 (3.7mb PDF).

Callitris oblonga subsp. oblonga growing in the Adelaide Hills. Image by C.J. Brodie showing old fruits.

These reports highlights to land managers, which non-native plant species have recently been found in South Australia and where. New records are listed as either “naturalised/established” (*) or “questionably naturalised/established” (?e).

Naturalised plant taxa are those that have originally been introduced by humans to an area, deliberately or accidentally. They have self-propagated without aid where they are not wanted, possibly spreading by natural means to new areas. An example listed in the recent report is Atriplex amnicola (river saltbush; 365kb PDF) from W.A. or Callitris oblonga subsp. oblonga (South Esk pine), originally from Tasmania. Both of are examples of Australian plants that have become weedy (see also a 1985 article by P.M. Kloot; 733kb PDF).

Questionably Naturalised plant taxa (i.e. possible new weeds) are introduced non-native plants that may be self-propagating without aid, but are not well established or lack data to classify them as naturalised. An example of this are Aloiampelos ciliaris (climbing aloe) and the hybrid Eucalyptus steedmanii × Eucalyptus sp. (Steedman’s mallet hybrid).

Any unknown or possible new state or regional weed records should be reported to Chris Brodie (0437 825 685, chris.brodie@sa.gov.au).

Lepidium phlebopetalum growing at Innamincka Station. Photo: SA Seedbank.

The new, 5th edition of Flora of South Australia is published online in PDF-form. Today, the State Herbarium of South Australia released a first version of the chapter on the plant family Brassicaceae, describing the genus Lepidium.

Scarlett, N.H. & Hewson, H.J. (2019). Brassicaceae (partly) (version 1). In: Kellermann, J. (ed.), Flora of South Australia (ed. 5). 25 pp. (State Herbarium of South Australia: Adelaide). (8.6mb PDF).

Lepidium (peppercresses) is a cosmopolitan genus of around 220 species, of which 36 are endemic in Australia and 8 are introduced. Following recent molecular analyses, it now also includes Cardaria and Coronopus, which were formerly treated as distrinct genera. Neville Scarlett describes all 27 species that occur in South Australia in detail. Most species are illustrated with line-drawings and photographs.

The general link to the 5th edition of Flora of South Australia is flora.sa.gov.au/ed5, providing current treatments, glossary, introduction and cover pages for printing. Previous versions of Flora treatments are still available from our Superseded treatments page. Flora chapters are also available on Enviro Data SA and on this website under the “Flora of South Australia PDFs” link in the “Important Resources” listing.

The orange lichen Teloschistes chrysophthalmus growing with other species on a dead branch. Scale bar 10 mm. Photo: J. Jarman.

Today, the State Herbarium of South Australia published Vol. 32 (2019) in the online version of Swainsona. This issue of the journal contains one large monograph on the lichens of Kangaroo Island:

Kantvilas, G. (2019). An annotated catalogue of the lichens of Kangaroo Island, South Australia. Swainsona 32: 1-97. (27.9mb PDF).

This magnum opus of Hobart-based lichenologist Gintaras Kantvilas, Head of the Tasmanian Herbarium, presents the results of over 10 years of work on the lichens of Kangaroo Island. During this time, the author undertook extensive fieldwork and reviewed more than 1500 herbarium specimens. The lichen flora of Kangaroo Island consists of 366 taxa, of which 14 are restricted to the island. Ninety-five species are reported for South Australia for the first time, of which 19 are also new records for Australia.

This landmark study is the first to thoroughly examine and document the lichens of the Kangaroo Island. Each species is listed with a short, diagnostic description, many are illustrated with photographs. All specimens used to compile the catalogue of lichens are listed, making this publication an invaluable tool for future research. A brief history of lichenological work on the island is included, as well as a description of the habitats that lichens occur in.

Hardcopy of this special issue “Lichens of Kangaroo Island” will be printed soon and should be available next month. More information on Dr Kantvilas’ project can also be found in a paper he wrote for the Proceedings of the Botany Symposium “Botany 2016 — Past, present and future“ (Swainsona 30: 17-24; 3.3mb PDF).

Granite boulders with orange lichens along the coast of Dudley Peninsula. Photo: G. Kantvilas.

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.

Compiled by State Herbarium Botanist Jürgen Kellermann.

Cephalotus follicularis, unusual white form. Photo: M. Waycott.

Yesterday, the Botanic Gardens and State Herbarium hosted the launch of a new publication on one of Australia’s iconic carnivorous plants:

Cross, A., Kalfas, N., Nunn, R. & Conran, J. (2019). Cephalotus: The Albany pitcher plant. (Redfern Natural History Productions: Poole, UK).

The Albany pitcher plant, Cephalotus follicularis was first described by the French botanist J.J.H. de Labillardiere from specimens collected by Leschenault de la Tour on Baudin‘s expedition to Australia. It had also been collected by Robert Brown during Flinder‘s voyage. The species is the only one in the genus Cephalotus (i.e. it is monotypic), which in turn is the only genus in the family Cephalotaceae (in the order Oxalidales), making it a truly remarkable species, not closely related to any other carnivorous plant.

“Cephalotus: The Albany pitcher plant” is the first comprehensive monograph on this unique species, featuring chapters on its botanical history, systematic and evolution, detailed botanical descriptions, illustrations and photographs, discussions of the plant’s morphology, ecology and genetics, as well as sections on conservation and cultivation of Cephalotus. The book is available from the publisher’s website.

Cephalotus follicularis, line-drawing by Alastair Robinson.

Cephalotus is instantly recognisable for its distinctive and charismatic insect-trapping leaves. It is unique amongst carnivorous plants worldwide, being the only carnivorous plant in the rosid clade of flowering plants and the only monotypic family and genus of pitcher plants. Taking into account its extreme genetic and geographic isolation in the southwest of Western Australia, its pitcher leaves represent perhaps the most astounding example of convergent evolution amongst carnivorous plants, their toothed mouths and overarching lids being highly reminiscent of Nepenthes tropical pitcher plants and American pitcher plants alike. Cephalotus is extremely localised, surviving in only a fragment of its historic range as a result of habitat loss, disruption of natural ecological succession, and poaching.

From the publisher’s website.

Large group of Cephalotus follicularis pitchers. Photo: M. Waycott.

The authors are: Adam Cross (Curtin University), Nick Kalfas & John Conran (both from The University of Adelaide) and Richard Nunn (a member of the Board of the Botanic Gardens of South Australia). Editor of the book was Alastair Robinson (Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria). The preface was written by the Chief Botanist and Head of the State Herbarium, Michelle Waycott.

Tonight, Lauren Black, one of the artists who were commissioned to produce artwork for the book, will give an “Artist Talk” about her watercolour of Cephalotus (unfortunately sold out). The line-drawings of Cephalotus were prepared by Alastair Robinson, who won the second price of the prestigious Margaret Flockton Award with his illustration, this year.

Cephalotus follicularis, watercolour by Lauren Black.

Compiled by State Herbarium Botanist Jürgen Kellermann.