This month, Australian Post released a new set of three stamps about seed banking in Australia. The stamps feature seeds of rare and threatened Australian plants:

• Rytidosperma clelandii, a rare perennial grass from South Australia; it is named after naturalist Sir J.B. Cleland, who was instrumental in establishing some of the State’s first conservation parks
• Epacris petrophila, a near-threatened alpine shrub from the Australian Alps and high-altitude areas in Victoria and Tasmania
• Petrophile latericola, an endangered shrub from Western Australia.

The seed image of the South Australian species were provided by the South Australian Seed Conservation Centre at the Botanic Gardens and State Herbarium. The Seed Centre collects seeds from regions across the state to safeguard them in long term storage at sub-zero temperatures. By 2020, the centre aims to have at least 90 per cent of SA’s threatened plant species in the seedbank. The Australian Seed Bank Partnership facilitates and coordinates the activities of the country’s seedbanks.

Details on the individual stamps and an article on seed conservation can be found on the Australia Post website.

The 2019 Queen’s Birthday Honours list included two names with a close relationship to the State Herbarium of South Australia: Bev Overton and Peter Copley. Bev received the award of Member of the Order of Australia, and Peter received the award of Public Service Medal.

Bev and Dean Overton in their natural habitat (Photo: KI NRM).

Back in February 2016, the State Herbarium did a blog article on Kangaroo Island couple Bev and Dean Overton. The story congratulated them for being recognised as Kangaroo Island high achievers for their outstanding efforts in conserving and raising awareness of KI’s natural environment at the Local Achievers Natural Resource Management Board Awards ceremony held on Australia Day that year.

Richard Tretheway (NRM Board President), Bev and Dean Overton, Damian Miley (DEWNR) (Photo: KI NRM).

Last year the Herbarium was approached by Kangaroo Island environmental consultant and botanist Michelle Haby to help support a nomination for Bev Overton to receive recognition in the 2019 Queen’s Birthday Honours. The final nomination was put together and submitted by Michelle and Bev’s husband Dean. Sadly Dean died unexpectedly before the news of Bev’s successful nomination was known.

You can read more of Bev’s impressive nomination here (156kb PDF). An article in THE ISLANDER newspaper also appeared recently.

Peter’s medal recognises his contribution and commitment of more than 40 years to help conserve threatened species and ecological communities in South Australia, as well as his role in biodiversity research and policy development. Peter reviewed the daisy genus Ixodia for his Honours at the University of Adelaide and has contributed 3601 collections to the State Herbarium over the years. His interest in botany was no doubt inspired by his father Bruce Copley, a Yorke Peninsula farmer who pursued an interest in his local native flora by collecting and submitting many specimens to the Herbarium.

Peter Copley (left image, Courtesy of THE WEEKLY). Peter Canty, Peter Copley and Peter Lang botanising in the APY Lands in 1994 (right image).

Manager Peter Canty and Senior Botanist Peter Lang have worked closely together with Peter over many of those years, especially when they were part of the Biological Survey of South Australia program. Peter Copley lead the over decade-long biological survey of the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands. The knowledge captured by that survey was greatly enhanced by working with Aboriginal Traditional Owners and Peter’s ability to establish close working relationships with the elders and their communities was pivotal in this particular survey’s success, and being recognised with a SA Great Award in 2003 in the Environment Category for an ‘Outstanding Contribution to South Australia’.

Read more of Peter’s impressive nomination.

The Herbarium was very pleased to be involved in their nominations and wishes to congratulate them on their well-deserved recognition.

Written by State Herbarium Manager Peter Canty.

Recently, Chief Botanist, Prof. Michelle Waycott, was interviewed by The Adelaide Review about the history of the State Herbarium of South Australia and its holdings. The resulting article is now available.

Couper, S. (2019). Inside the bunker safeguarding South Australia’s rare plants and botanical history. The Adelaide Review (posted 9 Apr.).

As mentioned in the article, during South Australia’s History Festival, the State Herbarium will also offer guided tours through the old Tram Barn building. Please note that the dates in the above articles are not correct. The tours will take place on Sat., 25 May & Sun., 26 May 2019.

Please go to the History Festival’s website for more information.

The State Herbarium also published the following brochures, which are accessible online:

• Canty, P. (2012). The old tram barn: A short history of the Tram Barn A, now housing the State Herbarium of South Australia. (1.1mb PDF)
• Bell, G. (2012). One million and counting: History and special collections of the State Herbarium of South Australia. (0.5mb PDF).

Two scientists from the State Herbarium of South Australia have recently collaborated with colleagues to produce research papers that were published in well-known Nature Research journals during the last week.

(1) T. Varga, et al., Megaphylogeny resolves global patterns of mushroom evolution. Nature Ecology & Evolution (16 Mar. 2019), DOI: 10.1038/s41559-019-0834-1.

Hon. Research Associate Pam Catcheside is among 62 authors, collaborating in this global effort to produce a phylogeny of 5,284 species of Agaricomycetes. These mushroom-forming fungi have the greatest morphological diversity and complexity of any group of fungi. They have radiated into most niches and fulfill diverse roles in the ecosystem, including wood decomposers, pathogens or mycorrhizal mutualists. This ground-breaking, first comprehensive phylogeny of mushroom-forming fungi reveals large-scale patterns of their evolutionary history.

Phylogenetic relationships and diversification across 5,284 mushroom-forming fungi. A maximum-likelyhood analysis of nrLSU, rpb2, ef1-a sequences.

(2) J.M. Kalwij, et al., Vagrant birds as a dispersal vector in transoceanic range expansion of vascular plants. Scientific Reports (15 Mar. 2019), DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-41081-9.

Some years ago, State Herbarium botanist Jürgen Kellermann was contacted by Jesse Kalwij (now working in Germany) to identify an unknown shrub that was discovered about 25 years ago on sub-Antarctic Marion Island, one of the two Prince Edward Islands (South Africa). This evolved into a study examining the pathways that lead to the establishment of the plant, which turned out to be Ochetophila trinervis, a shrub in the family Rhamnaceae (see also this article). The species is native to southern South America, the closest population being over 7,500 km away. Dr Kalwij involved colleagues from South Africa, Australia, Argentina and Germany in this research, identifying the barn swallow as the most likely vector dispersing seeds of the plant to this sub-Antarctic island.

Ochetophila trinervis on Marion Island. (a) The single shrub, c. 25 years after establishment. (b) Close-up of branch of the plant. Photos: J.M. Kalwij.