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

Celebrating our fascinating plants!

For more information:

https://plantday18may.org

Hemistemma aubertii, the type of Hibbertia subg. Hemistemma. Illustration in Du Petit Thouars, Histoire des végétaux recueillis dans les isles australes d’Afrique.

Tim Hammer is currently undertaking a post-doc at the State Herbarium of South Australia and The University of Adelaide, working on the genus Hibbertia for the Flora of Australia, He is collaborating with Hon. Research Associate Hellmut Toelken, a world-expert on the genus.

Today, 5 Apr. 2022, two research papers by Tim and co-authors were published online…

(1) J. Kellermann, T.A. Hammer & H.R. Toelken, Uncovering the correct publication date, spelling and attribution for the basionym of Hibbertia subg. Hemistemma (Dilleniaceae). Taxon 71.

The authors resolve a complex nomenclatural issue, namely the spelling, author ship and correct publication date of Hemistemma, the basionym of Hibbertia subg. Hemistemma, which contains many well-known species from eastern Australia. It was published in the journal of the International Association of Plant Taxonomists, Taxon.

(2) T.A. Hammer & K.R. Thiele, Hibbertia archeri (Dilleniaceae), a new and rare species from Western Australia with transcontinental affinities. Swainsona 36: 67-70 (1.6mb PDF).

A new species of Hibbertia from north-east of Esperance is published today in Vol. 36 the State Herbarium’s journal Swainsona online. It is only known from two populations, c. 40 km apart. It is most closely related to species of the Hibbertia stricta species group from eastern Australia, e.g. H. deviatata, H. setivera and H. riparia.

Hibbertia archeri, the new species from Western Australia. Photo: E.D. Adams.

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

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!

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

Ventilago viminalis, widespread in northern Australia. Photo: M. Fagg (APII).

For over 20 years, State Herbarium of South Australia botanist Jürgen Kellermann and colleagues Kevin Thiele (Canberra), Frank Udovicic and Neville Walsh (both Melbourne), are undertaking research on  Rhamnaceae and revise the plant family for the Flora of Australia. Collaborators on the current research grant supporting this research by the Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra, are Michelle Waycott, Ed Biffin, Korjent van Dijk from Adelaide and Catherine Clowes from Melbourne, as well as Francis Nge, who now works in Montpellier (France).

Polianthion wichurae from Western Australia. Photo: K.R. Thiele (APII).

Ramnaceae is a medium sized family of over 900 species and includes tropical and temperate trees, shrubs and some vines. It is cosmopolitan and species grow on all continents, except Antarctica. In Australia there are currently about 250 species recognised in 24 genera. There is a high level of endemism with at least 90% of Australian species occurring only on the continent. A significant number of species (approx. 30%) are classified as nationally rare or threatened.

This week, the treatments of 19 smaller genera (with 37 species) were published in the new online Flora of Australia. Most of these are widespread tropical and subtropical genera with only a few representatives in Australia: Alphitonia (5 species), Colubrina (2 spp.), Emmenosperma (2 spp.), Gouania (2 spp.), Hovenia (1 sp.), Noltea (1 sp.), Rhamnella (1 sp.), Rhamnus (2 spp.), Sageretia (1 sp.), Schistocarpaea (1 sp.), Ventilago (3 spp.) and Ziziphus (4 spp.). Some other genera are endemic to Western Australia or centred in this state: Blackallia (1 sp.), Granitites (1 sp.), Papistylus (2 spp.), Polianthion (4 spp.), Serichonus (1 sp.) and Siegfriedia (1 sp.). Finally, Discaria (2 spp.) occurs in eastern Australia and Tasmania, with related species in New Zealand and South America.

Work on the remaining five, larger genera (Cryptandra, Pomaderris, Stenanthemum, Spyridium and Trymalium) is in progress.

Granitites intangendus, a monotypic genus from Western Australia. Photo: K.R. Thiele (APII).

Written by State Herbarium botanist Jürgen Kellermann.