Category Archives: Publications

New Journal articles: June 2017

The State Herbarium‘s journal was renamed from Journal of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens to Swainsona this year, as we announced a few months ago. The journal’s web-site has now been changed and updated to reflect this name change. It can be accessed using the new web-address flora.sa.gov.au/swainsona.

The Volume numbering will continue. This year, it is planned to publish two volumes of Swainsona: Vol. 30 of the renamed journal will contain the Proceedings of the Botany Symposium at the 2016 NRM Science Conference and will be published later this year. Regular papers are published in Vol. 31.

Papers are published electronically as soon as they are reviewed, edited and typeset. A hardcopy volume is printed at the end of the calendar year or beginning of the next year, collating all articles published during this time. Printed volumes are distributed to botanical libraries around the world and are also available for purchase. The journal is also available through JSTOR.

Leptecophylla pogonocalyx subsp. decipiens, a newly described subspecies from Tasmania. Photo: J.A. Jarman.

Today, the State Herbarium published four regular papers in the online version of Vol. 31 of Swainsona.

S.J. Jarman & G. Kantvilas, Leptecophylla in Tasmania: a reassessment of four species. (12.5mb PDF)

In this article, the occurrence of Leptecophylla juniperina in Tasmania is reviewed by two botanist from the Tasmanian Herbarium. Two subspecies of this taxon are re-instated to specific rank and the new combinations published: L. oxycedrus  and L. parvifolia. Leptecophylla juniperina itself is excluded from the Tasmanian flora. Tasmanian plants previously identified as L. juniperina are mostly either L. oxycedrus or the newly described L. pogonocalyx subsp. decipiens. An identification key is provided for Tasmanian species of Leptecophylla.

P.S. Catcheside, S. Qaraghuli & D.E.A. Catcheside, A new species of small black disc fungi, Smardaea australis (Pezizales, Pyronemataceae), is described from Australia. (1.8mb PDF)

Smardaea australis, a new small black disc fungus from Kangaroo Island. Photo: D.E.A. Catcheside.

The authors from the State Herbarium and Flinders University describe a new species, Smardaea australis. This small black fungus is known from five collections made between 2001 and 2014 in South Australia and one older specimen from Victoria. This is the first record of the genus Smardaea in Australia. The phylogeny of Smardaea and Marcelleina, both genera of violaceous-black discomycetes having similar morphological traits, is also analysed and discussed.

G. Kantvilas & J.A. Elix, Tephromela baudiniana sp. nov. (lichenised Ascomycetes) from Kangaroo Island. (1.5mb PDF)

Lichenologists from the Tasmanian Herbarium and the Australian National University describe a new species of the genus Tephromela, which contains very unusual chemical substances. Many species of the genus are characterised by their metabolites. Alternariol and 9-O-methylalternariol occur very rarely as major metabolites in lichens and are known as such only in the unrelated species Pertusaria praecipua from Papua New Guinea.

G. Kantvilas, Two species of Bacidia De Not. with pruinose apothecia from Kangaroo Island. (2.4mb PDF)

Bacidia brigitteae, a new lichen species from Kangaroo Island. Photo: G. Kantvilas.

The author continues his research on lichens from Kangaroo Island with this paper reviewing two species of Bacidia, one of which is described as new. Both belong to a group in the genus with pruinose apothecia.

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.

New Journal articles: Dec. 2016

Today, the State Herbarium of South Australia published two large papers in the online version of the Journal of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens.

H.R. Toelken, Revision of Kunzea (Myrtaceae). 2. Subgenera Angasomyrtus and Salisia (section Salisia) from Western Australia and subgenera Kunzea and Niviferae (sections Platyphyllae and Pallidiflorae) from eastern Australia. (8.1mb PDF)

Kunzea pulchella. Photo: M. Fagg (ANBG).

This paper almost completes Hon. Research Associate Hellmut Toelken‘s revision of the genus Kunzea. Some Western Australian taxa were treated before by Toelken (1996) (5.38mb PDF) and Toelken & Craig (2007). The current paper revises most of the eastern Australian species, as well as others from Western Australia, and follows the infrageneric framework established by de Lange et al. (2010). Ten new species and two new subspecies are described and illustrated; hybridisation within the genus is discussed in detail. A review of Kunzea sect. Niviferae in Australia, which contains K. ericoides and related taxa, is currently in progress and will complete the revision of the genus; it will be published in the near future. The New Zealand members of that section were described by de Lange (2014).

P.S. Short, Notes concerning the classification of species included in Calocephalus R.Br. s.lat. and Gnephosis Cass. s.lat. (Asteraceae: Gnaphalieae), with descriptions of new genera and species. (4.4mb PDF)

Trichanthodium skirrophorum. Photo: P.S. Short.

Phil Short from Darwin continues his revision of genera of Asteraceae, after the publication of his recent paper on Brachyscome and Roebuckiella in J. Adelaide Bot. Gard. 28: 1-219 (2014) & 28: 221-222 (2015) (10.5mb PDF & 342kb PDF), with this monograph on Calocephalus, Gnephosis and related taxa. Fourty species are described in the paper: Two new genera (Balladonia & Notisia) and five new species. The complicated taxonomic and nomenclatural history of the group is also discussed.

To access content of all volumes of the Journal of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens since Vol. 1 (1976), please visit the journal’s web-site at flora.sa.gov.au/jabg (the Journal is also available through JSTOR).

New paper published

ASBv29n3_cvrs_Cover24(2)A team from the State Herbarium of South Australia and The University of Adelaide have just published a research paper in Australian Systematic Botany. This journal issue combines several papers presented during the Australasian Systematic Botany Society Conference in Canberra in 2015.

The authors show in three examples, how Next Generation Sequencing can provide numerous tools for population and systematic studies. These tools are helpful for researchers working with non-model and poorly characterised organisms where little or no genomic data exist.

The case studies discuss the genetics of Acacia pinguifolia, the relationships of Acacia pycnantha at and above species level, as well as relationships in Myrtaceae: within eucalypts and at higher level.

 

2012 Bush Blitz report now available online

In November 2012, five staff members of the State Herbarium of South Australia participated in a two week survey on Hiltaba Station and Gawler Ranges National Park. These staff collected vascular plants and cryptogams as part of the Bush Blitz program.

The detailed report prepared for Bush Blitz is now available on Enviro Data SA:

  • Lang, P.J., Kellermann, J., Bell, G.H. & Cross, H.B. (2013). Flora survey on Hiltaba Station and Gawler Ranges National Park: vascular plants, macrofungi, lichens, and bryophytes. Report for Bush Blitz, Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra. (Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources, South Australia: Adelaide). — 5.9mb PDF.

Area of outcropping granite dominated by the Gawler Ranges endemic shrub Grevillea parallelinervis and by Melaleuca uncinata and Triodia irritans; hill NW of Mt Hiltaba, Hiltaba Station. Photo: J. Kellermann.

A summary of the results was published in:

  • Bush Blitz (2015). Hiltaba Nature Reserve and Gawler Ranges National Park SA 2012: a Bush Blitz survey report. (Australian Biological Resources Study: Canberra). — 5.8mb PDF.

The primary survey effort was focussed on Hiltaba Station, which had been recently acquired by Nature Foundation SA, and records were made at 134 sites. Across the two properties the survey resulted in the collection of 782 plant specimens, plus a further 524 plant sighting records. The collections were supplemented by 136 vascular plant tissue samples collected in silica gel desiccant for future DNA analysis.

A total of 88 plant taxa were newly recorded for the Hiltaba Nature Foundation property during the 2012 Bush Blitz Survey. This comprised 36 vascular plant taxa and 52 cryptogams (26 bryophytes, 22 lichens, and 4 macrofungi). In the Gawler Ranges National Park, 21 plant taxa were recorded for the first time, comprising 12 vascular plant taxa and 9 cryptogams. These surveys have made a significant contribution to our knowledge of the flora on both properties.

Extensive area of intact Maireana sedifolia (Pearl Bluebush) Low Shrubland on open plain SW of Peeweena Bore, Hiltaba Station. Photo: P.J. Lang.

The results of the survey and the problems encountered when revising and compiling flora lists were discussed in a presentation at the Bush Blitz Symposium in July 2013 (Old Parliament House, Canberra). Recordings of all presentations from the Symposium are available online.

  • Kellermann, J., Lang, P.J. & Waycott, M. (2013). To the hilt: tackling flora lists for Hiltaba Station and Gawler Ranges National Park. — Recorded presentation (15 mins) by Jürgen Kellermann.

More information on the 2012 Bush Blitz:

BushBlitzLogo_orangeBush Blitz is an innovative partnership between the Australian Government, BHP Billiton Sustainable Communities and Earthwatch Australia. It is the world’s first continent-scale biodiversity survey, providing the knowledge needed to help us protect Australia’s unique animals and plants for generations to come.

New Journal article: Aug. 2016

Today, the State Herbarium of South Australia published one paper in the online version of the Journal of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens.

G. Kantvilas, A synopsis and key for the lichen genus Caloplaca (Teloschistaceae) on Kangaroo Island, with the description of two new species (10MB PDF).

Gintaras Kantvilas (Tasmanian Herbarium, Hobart) provides an overview of the cosmopolitan lichen genus Caloplaca Th.Fr. (orange lichen) for Kangaroo Island. Species of Caloplaca are a prominent component of the southern Australian, maritime lichen flora, especially in lower rainfall areas. Species of the genus are responsible for the orange, red and yellow banding of coastal rocks, but they are also found away from the littoral zone on bark, wood, calcareous and siliceous rocks, and consolidated soil in open forest, woodland and heathland, as well as in areas disturbed or modified by man.

Caloplaca gallowayi growing on coastal rocks. This species is usually the dominant contributor to the orange-red zonation of the littoral zone. Photo: G. Kantvilas.

The paper gives a synopsis of the 32 taxa on Kangaroo Island, as well as an identification key. Two further new species are also described, one of which honours the work of Sergey Kondratyuk, the world-authority of the genus and the lichen family Teloschistaceae, and architect of the current Australian Caloplaca taxonomy.

To access content of all volumes of the Journal of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens since Vol. 1 (1976), please visit the journal’s web-site at flora.sa.gov.au/jabg (the Journal is also available through JSTOR).