Category Archives: News

White, hot, or wandering: three new mushrooms described

Lactifluus albopicri from the Northern Territory. Photo: Teresa Lebel.

Dr Teresa Lebel, Senior Botanist & Curator Cryptogams at the State Herbarium of South Australia, mentored a citizen scientist, Fran Guard (PhD 2020-), and a summer intern, Lachlan Tegart (Hons 2018), in publishing descriptions of three new species of mushrooms.

On Monday, these new species were published in the “Fungal planet” series of the mycological journal Persoonia.

Lebel, T. & Tegart, L. (2020). Fungal planet 1086: Lactifluus albopicri T.Lebel & L.Tegart. Persoonia 44: 404-405 & online supplement. (880kb PDF).

Lebel, T., Tegart, L. & Verbeken, A. (2020). Fungal planet 1087: Lactifluus austropiperatus T.Lebel & L.Tegart. Persoonia 44: 406-407 & online supplement. (830kb PDF).

Guard, F.E., Barrett, M.D., Farid, A., Smith, M.E. & Lebel, T. (2020). Fungal planet 1091: Marasmius vagus Guard, M.D.Barrett & Farid. Persoonia 44: 514-415 & online supplement. (960kb PDF).

Lactifluus austropiperatus and Lactifluus albopicri belong in a group of mushrooms called the ‘milkcaps’, all of which produce a milky latex when the fruiting body is broken. Both of these species are white or pale cream in colour and have a hot-peppery taste, which lingers on the tongue for some time afterwards!

Marasmius vagus is, as the name suggests, ‘a wanderer’. While the species is quite widely distributed in natural habitats in northern and central Queensland, Fran discovered that it appears to have recently been transported to Florida, USA, where it has become established in gardens and nature strips in urban areas.

Written by State Herbarium mycologist Teresa Lebel.

World Environment Day 2020

Celebrating Biodiversity on World Environment Day 2020

World Environment Day is an international opportunity to raise issues requiring environmental action. This year, the theme is biodiversity!

Through our own experience here in South Australia with the recent massive bushfires across South Australia concerns about the recovery of biodiversity from the fires is in the front of mind for many members of the community.

The Botanic Gardens and State Herbarium of South Australia has some COVID-19–appropriate options for engagement this year!

‘Take the quiz‘ on biodiversity available on the Global World Environment Day website to learn more!

Best wishes from the Science and Conservation Team at the Botanic Gardens and State Herbarium.

Contributed by Michelle Waycott

Happy National Eucalypt Day 2020!

Eucalyptus pimpiniana​, growing in front of the State Herbarium. Photo: A. Thornhill.

March the 23rd marks National Eucalypt Day (see fact sheet from 2018, 360kb  PDF) in Australia. Prior to COVID-19 the Botanic Gardens and State Herbarium had been preparing for two different eucalypt themed tours at Adelaide Botanic Gardens with State Herbarium and Botanic Gardens staff on the 22 and 23 March 2020. Unfortunately we have been forced to cancel them.

We will reschedule these tours sometime in the future but until then we will share some thoughts about this interesting group of plants that marks the occasion.

The eucalypts are actually three genera of predominantly Australian plants: Angophora, Corymbia and Eucalyptus (see also Australian Plants Society fact sheet, 4.5mb PDF). There are over 800 named species of eucalypts. While the majority of eucalypts are purely native to Australia there are a handful of species that have escaped the continent to the north and are native to Timor, New Guinea, Indonesia and the Philippines. The revised Flora of South Australia treatment for eucalypts was published in 2014 (33.8mb PDF).

May Gibbs Stamp, 2016

The living species that occur outside of Australia have fossil ancestors. In fact, the oldest known eucalypt fossil comes from Patagonia and is 52 million years old. Eucalypt fossil leaves have also been found in New Zealand, estimated to be about 20 million years old. We know though that eucalypts are not now native to either South America or New Zealand so at some point they became extinct in those countries and left Australia with an iconic plant group. An article on The Conversation last year discussed how the eucalypts came to dominate Australia.

The eucalypts gained great popularity through the creative works of May Gibbs in 1920s. These artworks have also been celebrated in Australian Stamps.

May Gibbs Stamp, 1985

It is poorly known that when May Gibbs first came to Australia as a child she first lived in South Australia, including in Norwood for a short time. Her family then moved to Western Australia where she spent most of her formative years. May Gibbs’ most famous characters, the gumnut babies Snugglepot and Cuddlepie, use various parts of eucalypts for their clothes. The most well-known pictures of the gumnut babies sees them sitting in big gumnuts which in fact are Corymbia fruit and not of Eucalyptus, most likely Corymbia ficifolia a native tree of Western Australia, and also a common street tree all around Australia. The hats that the gumnut babies wear are the calyptra (cap) of a eucalypt — petals that have evolved to form a protective bud cap. When a eucalypt flower opens the bud cups are pushed off and hundreds of anthers pop out. To raise public awareness for the Spanish Flu outbreak in 1919 May Gibbs painted a scene of a Kookaburra and a gumnut baby both wearing gum leaf facemasks — apt for our times.

On that note we want to say — Happy Eucalypt Day!

We hope that you stay safe and tucked away in your gumnuts until it is safe to come out.

Compiled by Andrew Thornhill, State Herbarium of South Australia & The University of Adelaide.

State Herbarium temporary closure

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic and the declaration of a public health emergency in South Australia, the State Herbarium of South Australia and the Library of the Botanic Gardens and State Herbarium will close its doors to visitors from next week, Monday, 23 March 2020. We will get back to normal operating procedures once we have been advised that it is appropriate to reopen.​ 

Volunteers and Hon. Associates will also not be working in the building during this time. Some staff may work from home or only come in once or twice per week. If you want to contact the State Herbarium or individual staff members, please do not phone, but send an email.

Click here for a message of the Director of the Botanic Gardens and State Herbarium, Dr Lucy Sutherland.

The general email address of the State Herbarium of South Australia is stateherbsa@sa.gov.au.

This illustration, created at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), reveals ultrastructural morphology exhibited by coronaviruses. Note the spikes that adorn the outer surface of the virus, which impart the look of a corona surrounding the virion, when viewed electron microscopically. A novel coronavirus, named Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), was identified as the cause of an outbreak of respiratory illness first detected in Wuhan, China in 2019. The illness caused by this virus has been named coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Image: A. Eckert & D. Higgins

Swainsona hardcopies available

Hardcopies of two volumes of the State Herbarium of South Australia‘s journal Swainsona are now available for purchase.

Vol. 31 contains regular papers of the years 2017/18. The table of contents is available here. Retail price $50.

Vol. 32 is the special volume on Lichens of Kangaroo Island. All species that occur in the region are listed in “An annotated catalogue of the lichens of Kangaroo Island, South Australia”. An overview of this project (3.3mb PDF) that was published in Vol. 30 of the journal is also reprinted in this hardcopy edition. Retail price $42.

Hardcopy of the special volume was officially launched in Hobart by the author, lichenologist Gintaras Kantvilas, in November 2019. Dr Kantvilas is one of Australia’s foremost lichen experts and the Head of the Tasmanian Herbarium.

“This magnum opus 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.”

Published a few months before the devastating bushfires, this volume provides a unique insight into the lichen flora of the island and includes many records from areas that have been burned. It is is also available online (27.9mb PDF).

Gintaras Kantvilas and Brigitte de Villiers at the launch of “Lichens of Kangaroo Island” in front of a photo from the island. Photo: G.Kantvilas.

The volumes can be purchased from the front desk of the Botanic Gardens of South Australia, Goodman Building, Hackney Road, Adelaide (phone: 08 8222 9311). Postage will be added, depending on destination.

To access content of all volumes of Swainsona and the Journal of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens since Vol. 1 (1976) online, please visit the journal’s web-site at flora.sa.gov.au/swainsona.