Cannabis sativa, male specimen

The State Herbarium of South Australia recently took its expertise in plant classification and identification to a whole new level. The State Herbarium, as the State’s legal authority and ‘point of truth’ for the ultimate identification of plant species was engaged by the Chemistry Unit in Forensic Science SA to provide their staff with a custom-designed two-day course on the botanical identification of Marijuana, Cannabis sativa.

The expectation from the Forensic Science team was to come away from the course with the skills and knowledge that would establish their credibility as experts in the identification of Cannabis when dealing with police evidence and when subsequently justifying their results in court.

The Herbarium used its high resolution camera to take a series of photos of these specimens to show the whole plant as well as close ups of diagnostic features such as hairs and leaves, floral structures and seeds. These were included in a comprehensive course manual that would also later serve as an identification guide for the forensic scientists.

Cannabis sativa, seeds

A range of decoy plant material was included in the course. The species selected came from police and forensic cases where other plants had been confused with or mixed with for Cannabis. The Adelaide Botanic Gardens kindly provided access to fresh samples of some of these plants, which were used as part of the training.

The course was a great success with the forensic team keen to work even more closely with the State Herbarium in the future.

The State Herbarium of South Australia has added the 5000th vascular plant to the Census of South Australian Plants, Algae & Fungi. Podolepis rugata subsp. trullata (“pleated daisy”) is a rare native daisy with striking yellow flowers. The subspecies was named this year in an article in the taxonomic journal Muelleria (1mb PDF) by Jeff Jeanes from the National Herbarium of Victoria, who is an expert in this group of plants.

“trullate” involucral bracts

The new daisy has a limited range, and occurs only in Innes National Park, Althorpe Islands Conservation Park and Busby Islet, off the northern shore of Kangaroo Island. The scientific epithet “trullata“, is derived from Latin and means “trowel shaped” and describes the shape of the small leafy bracts around the flower-head.

In a press-release, Chief Botanist Prof. Michelle Waycott said that the discovery is particularly special as 2015 marks the 60 year anniversary of the State Herbarium of South Australia.

“The pleated daisy was found in Innes National Park by amateur naturalists Trudie Jaques and Tony Lewis, who recognised its unique appearance. Thanks to photos and specimens they collected under a scientific permit we were able to formally identify the plant.”

Founded in late 1954 the State Herbarium provides foundational knowledge about what plant species occur in the wild in South Australia, including both weeds and natives.

“Every year around 50 new records are added to the State’s list of species. This is one of the primary roles of the Herbarium, to discover, study, describe and identify plant species so they can be formally recognised and consistently identified. The Herbarium is also responsible for maintaining the collection of all of South Australia’s known species of plants, fungi, mosses, lichens, algae and seaweeds.”

The State Herbarium of South Australia’s collection includes more than one million specimens valued at more than $71 million. Many of these specimens are priceless as their plant species and communities no longer exist.

“The history of the collection is a very important scientific tool, providing snapshots of plants and their locations throughout European settlement. It shows us where and how plant communities have changed over time, including species that are now extinct in the wild. It’s through the recognition of each unique species that we can understand and manage them appropriately, whether it be a rare pleated daisy or an aggressive weedy dandelion.”

Angianthus globuliformis M.Lyons & Keighery

Our colleagues at the Western Australian Herbarium have announced the addition of the Western Australia’s 10,000th species of native vascular plants to their Census. Angianthus globuliformis is a small daisy and occurs only on gypsum-rich dunes at the margins of one salt lake near the town of Lake Grace in the Wheatbelt region. The species was first discovered in 2000, but not formally described until May 2015 in the WA Herbarium’s journal Nuytsia.

Western Australia is one of the world’s biodiversity hot-spots.  More than 50 new native plant species are named and described each year from WA .  That state has the greatest number of plants in Australia; if subspecies and varieties are included (i.e. “taxa” are counted), this increases to over 12,400 natives.  In 2009, the number of described vascular plant species in Australia was reported as 19,324, and the total number estimated to be about 21,645.

In South Australia, the number of native vascular plant taxa (i.e. species, subspecies and varieties) is currently at 3,463.  In addition there are 1,536 weeds present in the state. The number of taxa added to the SA Census is about 50 per year, which can be roughly divided into three: one third are newly described taxa, one third are plants already known in neighbouring states and now recorded as occurring here, and the last third are weed species.

The Northern Territory has now released its own online Flora. The state has a distinctive flora of more than 4,300 species of native plants, including some 702 endemic species, concentrated particularly on the Western Arnhem Land Plateau. The first version of eflora.nt.gov.au features:

• Checklists of NT Plants, threatened species and weeds
• Searching of flora information by any combination of spatial attributes, plant name or plant characteristics including conservation status to produce a species list
• Access to Northern Territory Herbarium specimen data
• Browsing by plant name to access fact sheets and other information
• Fact sheets include distribution maps, illustrations, photos of each plant, conservation status, distribution, flowering times and other information; also available are PDFs of descriptions and keys.

The NT eFlora will be particularly interesting for people working on the Flora of arid South Australia, as many plant species occur in both states. More information and images are promised in future updates.