Author Archives: Michelle

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

National Tree Day – 31 July 2022

Today is National Tree Day and in Australia across many parts of the country the dominant trees are the eucalypts. There are over 800 species of eucalypts and I often find myself trying to identify them as I drive along country roads or ride my bike to and from work. More often than not the best I can say is… ‘yes that it is a Eucalyptus‘. My cycle route around Adelaide takes me through a number of areas where eucalypts have been planted or left to remain. As a guess, I think I would ride past at least 20 species of eucalypts a day. We are lucky to live in a city that has extensive parklands surrounding it and a botanic gardens at its heart. In addition, in the area less than 15 minutes from central Adelaide City you can be in some kind of woodland, be it planted or remnant. There are not many other cities in the world that can claim the same.

The remarkable diversity of eucalypts can make them challenging to identify. In fact only a small group of extremely talented people (I’m not one) can tell you the species name by sight. Some eucalypts are quite distinct and can be identified by looking at the shape of the tree, or the gloss of the leaves. In fact to identify a ‘Euc’ it often takes a combination of bark, buds, leaf shape, number of gum-nuts and a few other characters to be confident you have the correct species.

If you have a chance on this National Tree Day, or the coming week,  you should see if you can visit a eucalypt. Unless you are in the Nullarbor region there will be a eucalyptus close by wherever you are. It may be a mallee if you are in the outback, it might be planted if you are near a park, or if you are really lucky it might be a 400 year old River Red Gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis).

Enjoy looking at the eucalypt, observe the bark and the nuts and the leaves. See if you can figure out what species it might be. If you are interested to learn more about eucalypts then we will be hosting tours of the Adelaide Botanic gardens as part of the ‘Nature Festival’  programme that the Botanic Gardens and State Herbarium has planned for 2022. We hope that we will see you in the gardens for it.

Written by State Herbarium botanist Andrew Thornhill

International Women’s Day

Celebrating International Women’s Day in 2022

Lets celebrate the Wonderful Women in Science and Conservation at the Botanic Gardens and State Herbarium and they work they do! A huge thank you to all the amazing women I work with and who inspire and challenge me every day! International Womens Day 2022

I encourage everyone to take a moment to think about the women you work with who you respect, admire and want to recognise in small or grand ways! Then do so!

Michelle Waycott
Chief Botanist

 

Fascination of Plants 2020

International Fascination of Plants Day, 18th May, has been celebrated since 2012 and has provided a focus for plant enthusiasts to share their interest and passion for the amazing world of plants. Last year events across 51 countries were held. While we are still primarily working from home the Staff and Honorary Research Associates of the Science and Conservation programme at the Botanic Gardens and State Herbarium (South Australia) decided to celebrate by sharing some of the plants they find fascinating!
Enjoy!
Michelle Waycott
Chief Botanist

Griffithsia monilis, a small, annual alga with delicate chains of ruby coloured cells, looking like sweets good enough to eat, spectacular under the microscope—Bob Baldock
Cephalotus follicularis (Albany Pitcher Plant), is a single species in its own family and endemic to near where I grew up in south Western Australia. These carnivorous plants are fascinating because they are not closely related to any of the other carnivorous plants such as Drosera (sundews)—Michelle Waycott
Ginkgo biloba, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, on its 250th anniversary in 2012, with admiring cohort of ‘geriatric teenagers’—Pam Catcheside
Capparis spinosa ssp nummularia, I’m fascinated by the way the flowers change from bright white (to attract pollinators at night) to pink once its too late—Helen Vonow
Rhizanthella gardneri, an underground orchid. These fascinating plants flower where no-one can see them and only some animals can find them—that’s not an orchid! —Robyn Barker

CC BY 2.0 Fred Hort
Ptilotus sp. (mulla mulla), amazing combination of texture, colour and shape in this smoky pincushion—Teresa Lebel
Two bearded orchids from Mark Oliphant Reserve. One is Calochilus robertsonii, a bearded orchid. The other is Pterostylis plumosa, a bearded greenhood. Both are trying to trick insects into pollinating them. I like the thrill of the hunt of trying to find them 🙂 —Andrew Thornhill

Reflections—an ordinary little stump can be turned in to an intriguing complex pattern—Teresa Lebel
Acrotriche fasciculiflora (Mt Lofty Ground-berry) is fascinating for its cauliflory, with flowers packed around the base of its main stems, an adaptation for pollination or fruit dispersal by small vertebrates perhaps?—Peter Lang
Washingtonia robusta (Cotton Palms), native to Mexico, can be seen emerging from the skyline in older suburbs and rural towns in drier districts. An occasional though generally benign weed, it appeared in gardens and parks in the later 19th and early 20th centuries—Laurie Haegi
Tillandsia ‘Houston’ (T. stricta x T. recurvifolia) are fascinating because of their novel growth habit (air plants) and because they lend themselves so readily to decorative use around the home—Manfred Jusaitis
Hakea aenigma, found only on the western lateritic sands of Kangaroo Island, is sterile and unable to fruit. It resprouts after fires from suckers over distances of more than 30 km. A single plant that is an evolutionary dead-end but surviving for perhaps thousands of years—Bill Barker
Nuytsia floribunda, The West Australian Christmas Tree, is a parasitic plant that is actually a mistletoe! It has a unique way of parasitising the roots of nearby plants, a set of hard and sharp ‘shears’ cuts through the root so Nuytsia can attach feeding points to enable it get water and minerals from its hosts—Ainsley Calladine