Author Archives: Jürgen

New environmental data portal

A new online portal providing one-stop access to environmental data and reports is now available to the public. Developed by the Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources (DEWNR), Enviro Data SA is part of the Premier’s Open Data policy agenda. The web-site brings together information from DEWNR, the Environment Protection Authority (EPA), Primary Industries and Regions (PIRSA), the Department of State Development (DSD, formerly DMITRE), the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM), the Goyder Institute and the Murray Darling Basin Authority (MDBA).

The State Herbarium of South Australia contributed PDF documents of all articles published in the Journal of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens since Vol. 1 (1976), treatments of the new, 5th edition of Flora of South Australia (2011–), as well as scans of many out-of-print books and other publications. Enviro Data SA provides another access point to the Herbarium’s publications, in addition to the DEWNR web-site. In the near future, the Journal of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens will also be available through JSTOR. The State Herbarium’s specimen data is available on eFloraSA, through Australia’s Virtual Herbarium (AVH) and the Atlas of Living Australia (ALA). eFloraSA also provides access to the Census of SA Plants, Algae & Fungi, as well as to several plant identification tools.

New data sets, reports and publications will continue to be added to Enviro Data SA over time, providing a single source for information on the State’s natural resources that can be used by government, primary producers, scientists and interested members of the public.

Visit data.environment.sa.gov.au for more information.

More art inspired by Jessie L. Hussey

Here is a first look at some more artwork created by Lisa Waters. It is inspired by her research on the life and work of 19th century amateur botanist and collector Jessie L. Hussey.

Lisa says

…this painting is about the last letter that Jessie wrote on 20th February 1899 to Prof. J. Agardh in Lund, Sweden; this letter had black mourning bands around it, as her father had just died. Jessie wrote that she was too sad to be able to work and yet, she also wrote that “it is a blessing to be able to work while life lasts” and that she hoped to soon send him some more algal specimens. Sadly then Jessie herself suddenly became seriously ill and died on 16th March 1899, only 36 years old.

It is so poignant that by the time this last grieving yet life affirming letter reached Prof. J. Agardh by ship, Jessie herself was dead. I have painted Jessie’s letter as a little paper boat with her own handwritten words and it is sailing out into the twilight with black mourning bands around the edge of the painting for her own death.

Please click here to see Lisa’s previous artwork and more information about her project. She is continuing her work, so keep following this blog for updates.

Pollen in the air

A fine pale yellow dust has recently been seen coating cars and floating on puddles: pollen. This has led to enquiries being made to State Herbarium staff and discussions on local media. Samples were collected by staff member Carolyn Ricci and analysed under high magnification with a compound microscope and an electron microscope.

SEM of opening Acacia pycnantha anther with pollen polyad leaving the anther (arrow).

Wattle day is September 1^st, and the national floral emblem, Acacia pycnantha has been flowering strongly for some time. The favourable season this year has also resulted in many Acacia species flowering together when they are more typically staggered. These prominent blossoms occur around the time that some people start to experience hay fever, but other less obvious plants are having a great season as well: pines are producing large amounts of pollen from their strobili and oaks are producing pollen from their catkins. These wind pollenated species must produce huge amounts of pollen to achieve successful fertilisation by chance, so the pollen’s ability to float in the wind over long distances is advantageous. Acacia pollen is transported by insects, so the pollen tends to be heavy and sticky. Wattle blossoms are made up of hundreds of tiny flowers that effectively become pollen brushes to its visitors. Acacia pollen is also distinct in that it forms polyads, balls of pollen commonly in multiples of four. In comparison pine pollen comes as single grains with two air sacks to help it float in the wind.

Light microscope image of pine (left: with two air sacs) and wattle pollen (right: polyad consisting of 16 pollen grains).

The images here show what was found, large amounts of pine pollen with its distinctive twin air sacks. A polyad of Acacia pycnantha is included for comparison, this was collected from a blossom from the Adelaide Hills and the polyad physically removed for examination. Acacia pollen was not found amongst the pine pollen but should be present in lower amounts.

SEM of pine pollen.

Grass pollen is well known for its strong allergic reactions. This wind pollinated group is likely to become more prevalent in the next few weeks! Enjoy spring.

A radio interview with State Herbarium staff member Martin O’Leary on pollen was conducted on ABC South East SA on Thu., 4 Sep. 2014. It is available online on the ABC web-site.

The 19th Australasian Weeds Conference, Hobart, revisited

It’s All About the Plants
Tuesday, 7 October 2014, 10:00–12:00
Ground Floor Meeting & Lunch Room, Tram Barn

by Chris Brodie
Weeds Botanist, State Herbarium of South Australia

Demonstration of a weed sniffer-dog, trained to detect certain weed species, to find a weed hidden in the conference room

Chris attended the 19^th Australasian Weeds Conference in Hobart from 1–4 September 2014. The conference brought together about 240 people, who work with (or in many cases against) weeds in Australia and New Zealand, and few others from further afield. It was hosted by CAWS (Council of Australasian Weed Societies).

A broad cross-section of participants were in attendance from universities, community groups and governments. Regional government staff ranged from those involved with weeds at a country and state level, to regional councils and NRM authorities. South Australia was represented by State Herbarium, The University of Adelaide, the University of South Australia, Biosecurity SA, Natural Resources South East and Adelaide and Mt Lofty Ranges, Rural Solutions SA, to name a few.

Topics and talks given included current weed research in both, the laboratory and in the field, weed policy, on-ground activities, managing weeds, as well as discussion groups debating how to best tackle weeds at a national, regional and local level. Keynote speakers included Prof. Daniel Simberloff from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and Prof. Stephen Hopper from The University of Western Australia. Prof. Simberloff spoke about biological invasions and how these are perceived by people at each end of the debate. Prof. Hopper informed the Conference about his observations regarding weeds that dominate areas in Australia, and compared this to how these species exist in much lower numbers in the their native countries in harmony with the environment.

Several other State Herbaria were also represented at the conference with Matt Baker from the Tasmanian Herbarium and Melinda Laidlaw from the Queensland Herbarium. Melinda coordinates the Queensland Weed Spotter’s Network and is achieving great results identifying new weed incursion throughout the State.

At the Conference, Chris gave a presentation entitled Weeds in South Australia: a Regional account and will be presenting this exciting talk and a report on the 19^th Australasian Weeds Conference at the next It’s All About the Plants seminar.

New artwork created in the Herbarium

This is a first look at artwork created by Lisa Waters inspired by her research on Jessie L. Hussey.

Lisa Waters is a Technical Officer at the State Herbarium, although her background is as a visual artist and scientific illustrator. She has created artwork for various botanical publications and exhibitions.

Jessie L. Hussey lived from 1862–1899 in Port Elliot. Her passion for botany helped her to make a significant and pioneering contribution to the knowledge of South Australia’s terrestrial and marine flora during the 1890s. She became a respected collaborator of many leading national and international botanists and phycologists.

Lisa says

…through the slow simple process of letters and parcels sent by ship, Jessie collaborated on a global scale with scientists abroad. This image is of a ship made of actual algal specimens that she sent to Prof. Jacob Agardh in Lund, Sweden.

Since 2008 Lisa has been researching the life and work of Jessie L. Hussey. In 2012 she travelled to Europe on a Churchill Fellowship, to visit herbaria in Sweden, Germany, Great Britain and Ireland, where specimens collected by Jessie L. Hussey are held. The project is ongoing and she aims to publish a book about Jessie, which will be illustrated by artwork inspired by the research and Jessie’s life. Lisa has also given presentations on her research.

Please keep following this blog to see more of Lisa’s artwork in the future.