Author Archives: Jürgen

Seagrass book published

State Herbarium of South Australia’s Chief Botanist Michelle Waycott and her co-authors Kathryn McMahon & Paul Lavery (Edith Cowan University) published their new handbook to southern temperate seagrasses last month.

A guide to southern temperate seagrasses
M. Waycott, K. McMahon & P. Lavery
CSIRO Publishing, $29.95

The book describes the exceptionally diverse seagrasses in the temperate parts of the southern hemisphere, i.e. off the coasts of southern Australia, New Zealand, southern South America and southern Africa. It introduces readers to the evolution, biology and ecology of these plants and presents detailed information on each species, with many photographs and drawings.

This is the second book in a series of guidebooks on the seagrasses of the world. The first volume was entitled A guide to tropical seagrasses of the Indo-West Pacific, published in 2004 by James Cook University.

The current volume can be purchased via the CSIRO web-site or in well-stocked bookshops. A limited preview of several pages is also available on the web-site.

Field work in the North West region

It’s All About the Plants
Thursday, 3 Apr. 2014 — 10:00–12:00
State Herbarium, Ground Floor Meeting & Lunch Room

Presentation by Dan Duval, Seed Conservation Centre, Adelaide Botanic Gardens

The SA Seed Conservation Centre travelled to the APY lands in the north-west of the State to search and collect a number of rare and endemic species in 2013. There are many unique & interesting species restricted to the Central Ranges, some of these species are rarely collected by virtue of the remoteness of this region.

Looking from Mt Woodroffe towards the SA/NT border

How many plants are unique to South Australia?

The answer is 418 … at present. A recent review by State Herbarium botanist Peter Lang reveals that South Australia currently has 418 endemic vascular plant taxa (species, subspecies & varieties): these are native plants that occur naturally nowhere else. Some have a relatively wide distribution that happens to be contained within the State borders, but most are restricted to smaller areas. The number of such endemic taxa changes as new species are described and our knowledge of plant distributions improves.

A similar question may be posed for each of the 13 botanical regions (as used by the State Herbarium of South Australia). The chart shows the percentage for taxa that are confined to a single botanical region only. Two regions, Kangaroo Island (KI) and Eyre Peninsula (EP), stand out as having the highest percentage of regionally endemic plants. The presence of mountain ranges and restricted habitats, as well as isolation by sea levels both past and present, appear to promote the development of locally endemic flora.

Pictured are examples of two South Australian endemic plants: Anthocercis angustifolia, endemic to the Mt Lofty and Flinders Ranges, and Prostanthera calycina (West Coast Mintbush), endemic to western Eyre Peninsula.

Prostanthera calycina

Anthoceris angustifolia

Life in the pond: Chara

Chara globularis stalks and side branches

An interesting green alga, about 100 mm tall, growing on the bottom of the Botanic Garden’s ponds has appeared — it is Chara globularis.

Carolyn Ricci and Bob Baldock from the State Herbarium’s Phycology Unit report that the alga is often found in calcium-rich waters. Its central stalks are ribbed with cells that accumulate lime crystals, and there are rings of stiff side branches ending in points.

Chara globularis, close-up

The female organs are bottle-shaped, wrapped in five twisted cells and stoppered with a cellular plug. Male organs in this species are spherical, lurk just beneath the females and are orange.

Who said that algae are simple life forms?

No seminar in March

We regret to announce that due to lack of venue, the It’s All About The Plants seminar on 4 March, 2014 has been cancelled. The following seminar will take place on 1 April, 2014.