Tendrils Newsletter Issue 12, March 2020 Australian Botanical Artists Regional Network (ABARN)

Tendrils Australian Botanical Artists Regional Network (ABARN)

Spotted Gun Forest, Clyde River National Park, Feb.2020. Photo by Dr Kevin Mills

Editor’s note Tendrils is an online newsletter distributed Contents Page across Australia. Commenced in 2017 by artists from Bowral, Canberra, the Shoalhaven and From the Editor 2 Sydney, it aims to share ideas and information in After the Fires 3 regional and metropolitan locations, among those who share a passion for the botanical art genre. News from the Regions 5 We welcome news and articles from individuals Exhibitions 9 and groups across the country. You are Our Botanical Legacy 10 encouraged to advertise workshops, events and exhibitions free of charge. May Gibbs – a botanical beginning 10 Teacher of Lore - Winifred Curtis 14 Please just send text contributions in a regular email. Images need to be jpegs that are easily Scientific Names of 16 emailed. Book Review 19 Enquiries and contributions to Cathryn Coutts, Workshops and Events 19 at: [email protected] Websites 19 Issues are published in March, June, September and November. Deadline for contributions is the Dear Readers: The format of sections used in previous issues of Tendrils is changing. This is to allow us more first Friday of each month of publication. flexibility to publish the wide variety of ideas and views that readers are sending in. I hope you enjoy the new format and articles in this issue. Cathryn Coutts, Editor.

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Tendrils Newsletter Issue 12, March 2020 Australian Botanical Artists Regional Network (ABARN)

From the Editor… Why, you might ask, am I talking about this in a magazine for botanical artists? The reason is that I’m sure you’ve all heard the saying ‘may you I want to encourage all of you to reflect on the live in interesting times’. To describe the time need to protect and conserve our native flora, we are currently living in as ‘interesting’ hardly regardless of the plants you like to paint. I’ve seems fitting. Together we have just lived mentioned in past issues of Tendrils that as through a summer I’m sure you will all botanical artists we have the capacity, through remember to the end of your days. After the bush our work, to communicate important messages to was devastated by fire, with such appalling loss the general public. of human life, property, fauna and flora, we got the rains. Marvellous soaking rains. After the Perhaps some of you may be inspired to go into rains, the virus… nearby bushland and observe what is occurring after the fire. There are some amazing things to A bit of good news out of all these disasters is see, which would make wonderful subjects for a that with the rains came the regrowth – showing painting. Perhaps you could focus your next how amazing our native flora can be. exhibition on bushland regrowth. I regularly work with local bush regeneration The foliage emerging on regenerating plants is teams, here in the NSW Southern Highlands. It’s often in beautiful colours - pinks, reds, yellows, our job to notice things, and be able to bright greens, while the seed capsules we love to selectively remove invasive plants that should draw in all their marvelous textures and shapes, not be growing on a site, so that the native flora burst open after fire. Images of regenerating can survive and flourish. plants are very rarely seen in botanical art. Now Over time I have become fascinated by the way is your chance to show the wider community the the bush can regrow, once its given a chance. I beauty and wonder of what actually happens. watch the plants come back to life. I see little seedlings emerge from the leaf litter, new shoots on the trunks of trees. It’s truly wonderful to see.

Bush recovering from fire near Mittagong, NSW. Photo Cathryn Coutts Regrowth after fire near Mittagong NSW. Photo Cathryn Coutts Some species are more vigorous than others and Fund-raising exhibitions to assist recovery in they tend to dominate the early stages of communities devastated by the fires is another regrowth. The forest shown above, was important contribution you can make with your photographed about two months after the fire, art work. just north of Mittagong, NSW (south of Sydney My interest in bush regeneration after fire has on the Hume Highway). This area is an prompted me to lead this issue with an article by important koala habitat, so seeing it regenerate is one of our local experts, Dr Kevin Mills, noted particularly heartening. botanist and author. I have published Part 1 of it

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Tendrils Newsletter Issue 12, March 2020 Australian Botanical Artists Regional Network (ABARN) here, with his permission. The article was first evolved to ensure the next generation of the published in Budawangia, Issue No. 95 Feb. species is assured. Plants either survive the fire 2020. This is an E-newsletter for all those and have the ability to grow back from plant interested in the native plants of the NSW South parts that withstand fire or they die completely Coast. Part 2 is to be published in Budawangia and regrow from seeds stored in the soil. Seeds next month. and spores blown in from patches of unburnt bush also play a part, but this is not discussed After the fires - regeneration in the here. All photographs below were taken west of bush and how plants survive - Part 1 Nowra (NSW) in mid-February.

By Dr Kevin Mills Plants that survive fire (All photographs by the author) Most trees and some other woody plants survive fire and are able to regrow from the trunks and The Australian bush burns and has done so for thicker branches that remain viable. These millions of years. Fires are not novel or unusual species may have thick bark to protect the for summer along the east coast of Australia. It is underlying live tissue, the outer bark sometimes the intensity and extent of fires this season that is being shed following the fire. Such species unprecedented, as is the length of the fire season. include most eucalypts and Banksia serrata. A As I write this, flooding rains are falling on few ferns have thick trunks that can survive most many of the fire grounds, another inevitable fires, such as Cyathea australis and Todea weather event following severe drought in this barbara. Other species that regrow from thick country of contrasting weather, made more trunks include Macrozamia spp. and unpredictable through the changing climate. Xanthorrhoea spp. Some species, losing all of their aerial parts, survive by regrowing from Inevitable also, is that the bush will grow back, underground root systems, such as rhizomes and as it has always done. However, this time things lignotubers. will be a bit different. While it has rained and regeneration will occur relatively quickly, the extent of the fires and their intensity mean that on many sites what grows back is going to be different to what grew before the fires. Some types of vegetation are going to take a very long time to recover their floristic and structural integrity, particularly rainforest. Close to whole populations of some rare plants, and animals, have been destroyed in the fire and how strongly these species recover no one knows yet. Monitoring is critical to determine the ultimate fate of some threatened species. Much work has already been done on this issue, see: https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/topics/park s-reserves-and-protected-areas/fire/park- recovery-and-rehabilitation https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/research- Epicormic growth on Sydney Peppermint Eucalyptus piperita and-publications/publications-search/wildlife- Shoots in the trunk of the tree grow quickly after and-conservation-bushfire-recovery-immediate- fire, keeping the tree alive and allowing for the response. canopy branches to re-grow leaves. The epicormic shoots eventually die. Eucalypts have This piece is about how plants recover after fire, a second strategy, which is to release seeds from exploring the ways in which strategies have

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Tendrils Newsletter Issue 12, March 2020 Australian Botanical Artists Regional Network (ABARN) their woody capsules, many of which survive a most mallees to survive in their highly fire-prone fire, germinating soon after a fire to grow environment. unhindered on a bare ground. Paperbarks, Melaleuca species can also re-sprout from shoots in the trunk. While the leaves of Burrawang Macrozamia communis (below) and Grass Trees Xanthorrhoea spp. (also below), are incinerated in the fire, new shoots, protected inside the woody trunk, sprout soon after the fire. These species also flower and seed after the fire. The Burrawang plants produce large cones, the Grass Trees a tall spike. Nowra Mallee Ash Eucalyptus langleyi

Ettrema Mallee Eucalyptus sturgissiana Ettrema Mallee Eucalyptus sturgissiana (above) responds to being burnt in a similar way to the Nowra Mallee Ash. Old stems are killed, to be replaced by a new generation of stems. Burrawang Macrozamia communis Other species seen exhibiting a similar response, that are growing from underground root stock, in the same location include Banksia spinulosa, Lambertia formosa, Callistemon citrinus and Hakea dactyloides

Grass Trees Xanthorrhoea spp. Nowra Mallee Ash Eucalyptus langleyi (below) produces new shoots soon after fire. All of the original stems are killed by fire, the plant renewing itself by sending up new stems from Common Bracken Pteridium esculentum the underground lignotuber. Many of these The new shoots of the hardy fern Common shoots will eventually die back, leaving a few to Bracken Pteridium esculentum grow from an replace the dead stems. This is a typical habit of underground rhizome. Because of this successful

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Tendrils Newsletter Issue 12, March 2020 Australian Botanical Artists Regional Network (ABARN) strategy, this species may quickly dominate the Tutors: This group is self-taught, however we do ground cover in a burnt area. Bracken also have workshops with visiting tutors each year. produces spores following fire; these are similar We cater for beginners to experienced artists. strategies of another hardy fern that can survive New members are always welcome. Bring your fires, Gristle Fern Oceaniopteris cartilaginea own work, art materials, and lunch. (below). For the Love of Plants Exhibition. Once again in 2020 we hope to hold our biennial exhibition from 9-19 October 2020. Opening 10am to 4pm daily at Bowral Art Gallery, 1 Short Street Bowral NSW. Confirmation details to follow closer to time. Our workshop at the Plant Bank, Mt Annan Botanic Garden Sydney, with Barbara Duckworth was planned for Sunday and Monday March 22-23. It has been postponed to a new date, yet to be confirmed. Gristle Fern Oceaniopteris cartilaginea Illawarra Botanical Illustrators Group Article and photographs reproduced here with permission of the author. To receive Budawangia please contact Dr By Jean Dennis. Meetings: Fridays 1-4pm. Kevin Mills at: Venue: Above Levers Art Shop, 30 Flinders St [email protected] Wollongong. Costs: $5 Studio fee. News from the Regions Tutors: Beginners to experienced. New members are welcome. No regular tutor. Lessons available Please be aware that all meetings, exhibitions by arrangement: Tutor Jean Dennis. and workshops planned for this year may be postponed or cancelled in response to Contact person: Jean Dennis: 0418 515 728: government shutdowns of non-essential [email protected] services. Please check with the relevant contact people for details about each event. There are currently about six members in the group, with others coming on a casual basis. We could do with some more members and would welcome beginners or experienced artists. At the BDAS Botanical Artists, Bowral moment, I give lessons when I feel they are By Cathryn Coutts needed, I am an experienced teacher, but with a larger group we could start to invite visiting Dates: One meeting per month, always on teachers as well. As it is, members do travel to Mondays. attend lessons by other artists occasionally. Term 1: 2020: February 10, March 9 Queensland Term 2: April 20, May 18, June 22 Term 3: July 20, August 17, September 14 Botanical Art Society of Queensland Term 4: October 12, November 9, December 7 www.botanicalartqld.com.au Location: Bowral Art Gallery, 1 Shepherd St. Readers are advised to check the BASQ website Bowral, in Studio 3, from 10am to 4pm. One above, for information about events which are meeting per month. cancelled or postponed this year, or send enquiries to: Costs: $30 per term [email protected]

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Tendrils Newsletter Issue 12, March 2020 Australian Botanical Artists Regional Network (ABARN)

Tasmania Jenny Phillips Returns to Hobart Botaniko is pleased to be again hosting an By Jean Henley in Hobart advanced botanical art workshop presented by the renowned Jenny Phillips from 26-30 October Frederick Mackie – Quaker Plantsman 2020. The workshop, Close and Personal, will Exhibition focus on the identification, detailed drawing and After almost six months at the Narryna Heritage painting of flower parts. The workshop will be Museum in Battery Point, Botaniko’s fifth held at the Kingston Community Hub (Kingston annual exhibition Frederick Mackie – Quaker is a major town 12 kilometres south of Hobart). Plantsman has moved to the East Coast Heritage For further details, please refer to Botaniko’s Museum at Swansea on ’s east coast. website: www.botaniko.org It was opened on 2 March by Mr Chris Tassell, past director of the Queen Museum and Lomatia tasmanica Art Gallery in Launceston. Along with Botaniko’s artwork, the museum has displayed By Brenda Haas in Devonport memorabilia from the Cotton family and Dr George Story. Arriving in Van Diemen’s Land in 1828, they established a farming property, Kelvedon, near Swansea that soon became a major centre of Quakerism in Tasmania. It was often visited by fellow Quakers George Washington Walker and James Backhouse as well as Frederick Mackie during his visits to Van Diemen’s Land. Dr Story, the District Assistant Surgeon at Swansea, was a passionate botanist and geologist and from 1842 to 1844 was in charge of the Royal Society Gardens in Hobart (now the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens).

Lomatia tasmanica by Brenda Haas Tasmania’s rugged South West is visited by very few and home to just a handful of intrepid nature lovers. Today, there are even fewer people able to leave the city behind. One such man in the 20th century was Denison (Denny) King. He and his family grew here where self-reliance and subsistence living was survival rather than the throw-away line of today. He found and recorded flora and fauna rarely seen outside this area. One such plant was Lomatia tasmanica which he first saw in 1934. It was not described botanically until 30 years later by Winifred Curtis (see article about Winifred Curtis in this issue). Some hardy naturalists trudged with ‘Denny’ through the scrub to collect samples for her to study and then to be Images from the Exhibition – Frederick Mackie - Quaker Plantsman sent on to Margaret Stones in Kew. Every single

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Tendrils Newsletter Issue 12, March 2020 Australian Botanical Artists Regional Network (ABARN) plant appeared sterile ‘so tho’ it seemed a Winery’s, beaches, restaurants, great surf, generous population, it was all layered clones of majestic Karri forests, not to mention the many one plant.’ The 40,000-year-old fossils were the and varied art galleries. The list could go on and same, so this was indeed a very old plant! It on! seems to have similar structure to two other My studio will be open for the duration of the endemic Lomatia, including L. tinctoria and L. Open Studios and people are welcome to have a polymorpha. wander in the garden. More details about my Today in 2020, there are just two centres work can be found on the MRROS website. licenced to propagate this very threatened plant. I felt very privileged to be offered a ‘once in a lifetime’ chance to see, study and draw this plant while in flower at the nursery. What a challenge! So few people have actually seen it in the wild and I had so many questions. I have never depended so much on photos and research as I did to do this. It took me two weeks to develop a sketch I was happy with! Even now I keep asking myself, ‘Did I get that leaf attachment right, not to mention colours?’ How real is nursery protection compared to natural environment? And so I consider it so good to know this enthusiasm, uncertainty, anxiety and Banksia cuneata by Christine Cresswell satisfaction and finally ask myself, ‘Have I got it This year the Margaret River Region Open and how on earth did Margaret Stones achieve so Studios have been postponed until Spring 2020. much?’ Readers are encouraged to check the website for updates. ACT https://www.mrropenstudios.com.au/ NatureArt Lab has several new workshops advertised. Please consult their website for You can also engage with the artists via their course details and cancellations for this year: social media channels – Facebook and Instagram https://natureartlab.com.au/ while they continue to produce new creative work. Enquiries to: [email protected] South Australia Western Australia By Jenni Elmes in Mt Gambier By Christine Cresswell in Margaret River (Although living in South Australia, Jenni writes Margaret River Region Open Studios here about her visit to an amazing garden in Camperdown Victoria - The Camperdown For the past two years I’ve participated in the Botanic Gardens and Arboretum). Margaret River and Regions Open Studios (MRROS). The first year with great The Camperdown Botanic Gardens and apprehension and the following years with Arboretum, Victoria recently achieved 150 years enthusiasm and excitement. It’s been an amazing of establishment. I have attached a description experience for me, and the visitors who come to and photographs of the delightful gardens that I the region are thrilled with what is available for enjoy visiting in South Western Victoria. them to experience - from the many different Botanic gardens are defined by Botanic Gardens artists (over 100!) to what this beautiful Australia and New Zealand (BGANZ) as gardens southwestern region of WA has to offer. open to the public, which grow plants for public

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Tendrils Newsletter Issue 12, March 2020 Australian Botanical Artists Regional Network (ABARN) enjoyment, scientific, horticultural, conservation, Bullen-Merri and to the north across the Western or educational purposes, and which have local, District Volcanic Plain; the large conifers, pines, national or international roles. cypress, redwoods, Arucarias and cedars from An Arboretum is a place with a living collection around the world, which still stand on the highest of trees and other woody plants and shrubs. ground; and the avenue of European Linden (Tilia x europea), which was listed on the According to renowned botanist Professor David National Trust’s Register of Significant trees in Mabberley botanic gardens and arboreta are not 2019. just parks or public gardens. They are for education as well as recreation. As with other William Guilfoyle was engaged in 1888 to take collections-based cultural organisations like the site to the next stage. As he did when he took libraries, art galleries and museums, it is the up the position of director at ’s melding of these two functions that makes Botanic Gardens in 1873, he culled trees and botanic gardens and arboreta extremely precious redefined pathways and planting, but concurred to society. with bunce (Director of Geelong Botanic Gardens) on the location of the entrance drive. Guilfoyle had an unusually long association with Camperdown. In 1910, just two years before his death, he prepared a detailed plan for the public park. The plan and his handwritten key to specified trees is housed in the Camperdown and District Historical Society’s museum. The listed trees include remnant indigenous and other Australian natives, deciduous and evergrrens, flowering species and conifers, and trees of a wide variety of form and foliage colour.

Entrance to the Botanic Gardens enclosure Camperdown Botanic Gardens and Arboretum occupy a 25-hectare section of a 100-hectare public park. The park was reserved in 1869 for the enjoyment of the public on the recommendation of Government Surveyor Robert Scott. The Botanic Gardens was laid out as a ‘floral enclosure’ within a treed park. As Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria CEO Tim Entwisle has observed, this arrangement is an eminently practical one for regional botanic garden, where Autumn view of North American Swamp Cypress (Taxodium intensive horticulture is concentrated in a limited distichum) and Coast Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) in the Arboretum. central area surrounded by a lower-maintenance arboretum. Guilfoyle became Australia’s most renowned landscape designer. His gardens are Daniel Bunce, director of the Geelong Botanic distinguished by sweeping lawns, serpentine Gardens, provided advice on planting and layout. paths, long views and short vistas in the His legacy includes the entrance drive from Park picturesque landscape style. He was a skilled Road with its views to the south over lake horticulturalist and plant collector, who was

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Tendrils Newsletter Issue 12, March 2020 Australian Botanical Artists Regional Network (ABARN) inspired by the sub-tropical vegetation of northern New South wales and the volcanic landscapes of the South Pacific. The special character of Camperdown Botanic Gardens and Arboretum was highlighted by historian Dr Helen Doyle in her 2017 Conservation Management Plan. The siting of Camperdown Public Park, perched dramatically on a volcanic hill that overlooked two deep volcanic lakes, gives it a special place in the wider landscape. It was the site’s unusual topography and remarkable outlook that triggered its reservation as a public parkland, precluding it from alienation by private interest. The hand of nature had created a superb vista, Spring Tulips (Tulip acv.) under the Weeping Elm (Ulmus and the Public Park reserve promised to preserve camperdownii). this for the good of the people of Camperdown, and to improve by way of a landscape setting for the viewing area. The plan for the central elevated Gardens enclosure was to enhance and frame the celebrated outward views of the Basinbanks, and the visual drama of the volcanic country beyond; the basalt plains and distant protruding volcanic cones. Source: Camperdown Botanic Gardens and Arboretum Trust Inc. PO Box 270, Camperdown, Vic, 3260 Email: [email protected] Ph. 0427629557 Instagram : Camperdown Botanic Gardens and Arboretum Trust Inc. The Gardens’ website is well worth a look. You can access it via this address: https://www.corangamite.vic.gov.au/Parks-sport- Mediterranean Fan Palm (Chamaerops humilis) in the foreground recreation/Camperdown-Botanic-Gardens-park and New Zealand Hebe (Veronica buxifolia) under the Queensland Bunya Pine (Araucaria bidwillii). Exhibitions

Current and Future Exhibitions Margaret Flockton Award 2020 Notice of Cancellation - Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Margaret Flockton Award Exhibition dates (May 9 - 22, 2020 Maiden Theatre, Royal Botanic Garden Sydney site) have been cancelled. Mt Annan (June/July) and Mt Tomah (Nov/Dec) dates remain in place until further notice. Oregon Grape (Mahonia aquifolium) Digital exhibition - announcement of winning works and the launch of the 2020

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Tendrils Newsletter Issue 12, March 2020 Australian Botanical Artists Regional Network (ABARN)

Flickr gallery (showing all of the entries) will Our Botanical Legacy now take place on May 8, 2020 and be posted on this web page: May Gibbs (1877-1969): a botanical https://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/ beginning. For any enquiries email: by Sarah Morley, Curator, State Library of [email protected] NSW Margaret Flockton Award is unique amongst international art awards, focusing exclusively on contemporary scientific botanical illustration, as distinct from botanical art.

Botanic Endeavour: The Florilegium Society celebrates the Banks and Solander Collections and exhibits new works in 2020.

May Gibbs, ca.1914-ca. 1920 by Robin Cale Courtesy Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales Popular Australian children’s author and illustrator May Gibbs is best-known for her lovable Australian bush creatures Snugglepot and Cuddlepie. Where did these characters come from? And how did May Gibbs develop the talent that would feed the imaginations of generations of Australians. Cecilia May Gibbs was born on 17 January 1877 in Sydenham, , and immigrated to Australia with her family when she was four years old. They went first to South Australia, and then to Western Australia, ultimately settling in South Perth. Both of May’s parents were creative people, and quickly became prominent members of Perth’s artistic society. The exhibition of new botanical paintings May spent much of her childhood exploring the celebrating the historical Banks and Solander Australian bush, observing the wildlife and herbarium specimens is postponed. gathering flowers to draw. Her parents encouraged her artistic pursuits and she would The beautiful new limited edition publication is accompany her father, Herbert, on drawing available on order. Please send enquiries to the excursions. Her father was a great mentor and following address: role model and guided the development of her Email: [email protected] skills as an artist. Herbert Gibbs was one of the founding members of Perth’s Wilgie Sketch Club, which is believed to be the first artists’

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Tendrils Newsletter Issue 12, March 2020 Australian Botanical Artists Regional Network (ABARN) society in Western Australia (Holden 2011). prize for her study of West Australian Contributors to the club’s first and only wildflowers in oils and on 6 October the West exhibition included distinguished wildflower Australian reported: ‘The picture is a charming painter Ellis Rowan, Lady Margaret Forrest and artistic reproduction of flowers of a (wife of Governor John Forrest), as well as May cornflower blue colour’. The colony’s Governor Gibbs and both her parents. John Forrest bought the picture. The wildflowers of Western Australia, known During the late nineteenth century botanical art for their beauty and abundance, provided artists and illustration was very much a genre for with a great source of inspiration. In October women and exhibitions provided a platform for 1892, the first of Perth’s Wild-Flower art shows the young artist to share her work and develop a featured contributions from Herbert and May name for herself. In 1896 she exhibited alongside Gibbs. At 15, May received first prize for an oil her father at the first Western Australian Society painting. of Art exhibition. Her painting ‘Sunflowers’ was described in the Inquirer and Commercial News as an ‘excellent study’. At the turn of the century Australia’s plants and animals were becoming a great source of national pride. By 1899 May had received many accolades and had established a reputation in Perth’s art community for her wildflower paintings. In 1899 the Western Australian Paris Exhibition Committee held a competition to select studies of West Australian wildflowers to be exhibited in the West Australian Court at the Paris Exhibition of 1900. From a field of 15 entrants, May won the five guinea prize together with the honour of having her work displayed on an international stage. Her entry received a special mention in the West Australian for its ‘freedom of brushwork, strength of colour and natural taste in arrangement, combined with a by no means incorrect rendering of the subject botanically’. After the Paris Exhibition, artworks from the West Australian Court were exhibited in Glasgow, and Birmingham before returning home. While in Perth May attended art classes at the Art Gallery of Western Australia, and her teachers there recommended she travel to London to further her study. Between 1900 and 1913 May travelled to London on three separate occasions to study drawing, with the hope of ‘West Australian Orchids painted when I was a girl, C.M.O. developing her skills and attaining professional Kelly’ by May Gibbs (PXD 304/vol. 17) success. © The Northcott Society and Cerebral Palsy Alliance 2020 May prided herself on the anatomical and Over the next decade May exhibited and morphological accuracy of the plants that she regularly won prizes for her botanical studies at drew. She consulted plant specimens and her this annual event. In 1893 she won a special personal library (a portion of which is now held

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Tendrils Newsletter Issue 12, March 2020 Australian Botanical Artists Regional Network (ABARN) in the Marian and Neil Shand Collection at the eucalypts, it is difficult to identify which gum- North Sydney Community Archives) contained nut or gum-blossom variety, if any, these many reference books she undoubtedly consulted characters were based on. It is likely that for her work. Titles included Flowering Plants Western Australian varieties, with their and Ferns of NSW by J.H. Maiden, Native comparatively large nuts and flowers, were an Flowers of Victoria by E.E. Pescott and Familiar inspiration. The Boronia babies were based on Wild Flowers by F. Edward Hulme. Boronia pinnata and Boronia megastigma, the When May returned from England after her third Flannel Flower babies were Actinotus helianthi and final trip, she settled in Sydney, which and the Wattle babies were clearly based on offered more publishing opportunities to an Sydney black wattle or Acacia decurrens. enthusiastic artist than other parts of Australia. It In 1918 Angus & Robertson published Gibbs’ was in Sydney that May’s early affinity with the first full length book, Tales of Snugglepot and Australian bush led to the development of her Cuddlepie, which introduces the menacing magical bush characters. Many of her characters Banksia Men (Banksia serrata). In an interview were based on Australian native plants and with Hazel de Berg (the only known recording of animals. her voice) 91-year-old May tells of walking through a grove of banksia trees in Western Australia: ‘they were all smothered in these little ugly men and I thought what a great idea, I’ll use those’. Ever the astute business woman, May also produced a series of merchandise — including bookmarks and cards — that featured her loveable bush characters. In addition to her already published ‘Bush-Baby’ characters, other recurring characters were inspired by Christmas Bells (Blandfordia flammea), Red Bottle Brush (Callistemon lanceolatus) and Native Rose (Boronia serrulata). May enjoyed the outdoors and regularly sought inspiration in the Blue Mountains, where she owned land in Blackheath. It is likely that her fairy-like characters evolved in part from the Australian wildflowers she encountered while exploring this bushland. May was passionate about conserving the environment and her keen environmental awareness formed a common theme that flowed throughout her work. Tales of Snugglepot and Original illustration for the cover of Boronia Babies by May Gibbs, published in 1919 Cuddlepie opens with a plea: ‘Humans, please be (PXD 304/vol. 3) kind to all Bush creatures and don't pull flowers © The Northcott Society and Cerebral Palsy Alliance 2020 up by the roots.’ May’s first major publishing success came in the May was inspired by activities of daily life and form of five booklets released by Angus & the natural world around her. The garden at Robertson between 1916 and 1918. They Nutcote, her home in Neutral Bay, provided a featured Gum-nut babies, Gum-blossom babies, sanctuary for the private artist, and it was where Boronia babies, Flannel Flower babies and she produced many of her popular books and Wattle babies. From over 1000 species of comic strips. Gibbs would carry a sketch book

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Tendrils Newsletter Issue 12, March 2020 Australian Botanical Artists Regional Network (ABARN) and pencil around in her pocket and jot down THE WILD FLOWER SHOW. (1892, October ideas while gardening — the best ideas came to 15). The Inquirer and Commercial News (Perth, her when she was out in the open. WA : 1855 - 1901), p. 3. Retrieved January 6, May Gibbs was a talented artist and produced a 2020, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news- phenomenal body of work over her long working article66307204 life. She wrote and illustrated 14 children’s Walsh, M. (2007). May Gibbs, mother of the books, and produced two comic strips, one of gumnuts / by Maureen Walsh. Sydney.: Sydney which is Australia’s longest running comic ‘Bib University Press. and Bub’. From 1925 to 1935 she wrote and illustrated a weekly short story column titled ‘Gumnut Gossip – Extracts from the Daily Bark’. Perhaps it was her early training in botanical drawing that would spark her imagination and ultimately deliver the success and professional career for which she hungered. Further Reading Holden, R., & Brummitt, J. (2011). May Gibbs: More than a fairytale : An artistic life / Robert Holden & Jane Brummitt. Richmond, Vic.: Hardie Grant Books. Walsh, M. (2007). May Gibbs, mother of the gumnuts / by Maureen Walsh. Sydney.: Sydney University Press. References Holden, R., & Brummitt, J. (2011). May Gibbs : More than a fairytale : An artistic life / Robert Holden & Jane Brummitt. Richmond, Vic.: Hardie Grant Books. Maiden, J., Campbell, W., & New South Wales. Forest Branch. (1895). The flowering plants and ferns of New South Wales : With especial reference to their economic value / by J.H. Maiden ; assisted by W.S. Campbell. Sydney: Tea Tree Blossom picked in N. (Neutral) Bay by May Gibbs (PXD 304/vol. 17) Charles Potter, Govt. Printer. © The Northcott Society and Cerebral Palsy Alliance 2020 NEWS Of THE WEEK. (1899, December More of May Gibbs' original illustrations can 16). Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), p. be viewed through the State Library of NSW 49. Retrieved January 10, 2020, from catalogue. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article33181983

NEWS AND NOTES. (1899, December 19). The West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954), p. 4. Retrieved January 10, 2020, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3240766 THE PERTH WILD FLOWER SHOW. (1893, October 6). The West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954), p. 6. Retrieved January 6, 2020, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3053337

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Tendrils Newsletter Issue 12, March 2020 Australian Botanical Artists Regional Network (ABARN)

Teacher of Plant Lore: Winifred Curtis Though able to work on this in Australia, she had to return to London for the oral exam. by Brenda Haas In 1945, the University’s combined Although and botanical art have played Biology/Zoology Department was split, and the an important role in the lives of Europeans for Botany department was established. She became thousands of years, in this country, plant lore is Reader in Botany, the most senior position ever very young, with only 250 years of printed held by a woman. Immediately she began work knowledge. We Australians have much to learn, on the replacement of Rodway’s 1903 much share and use therapeutically, about our native revised textbook, with the five volume The flora. Student’s Flora of Tasmania which took fifty The Aboriginal people shared their knowledge years to complete. by word and we don’t want to lose their wealth She often wrote in the evenings and spent of information either. Perhaps we should share weekends collecting specimens for both this and information on the various teachers of plant lore her teaching. Class work had to come first. in each state. Dennis Morris, botanist and plant lover, became Tasmania’s Winifred Curtis is a good starting her friend and they shared a mutual respect, as he point. She is recorded as being a did the illustrations. botanist/teacher, but she was so much more! In the 1960’s Tasmania was to become home to She was born in England in 1905, at the a retired British diplomat who developed a beginning of a century which was not kind to special interest in our flora. This was Lord women of intelligence. However, she was Talbot de Malahide who owned an extensive educated at London University before migrating grazing property in the state’s East, Malahide, to Tasmania with her parents just before the but also cultivated Tasmanian plants on his outbreak of the second World War. Here she family estate in Ireland. He sponsored the became known as ‘the Father of Botany’. magnificent six volume, The Endemic Flora of Tasmania which took more than 10 years to To gain peer respect, women of these times complete. Although Lord Talbot died before the needed to be strong minded, tough-skinned and project was completed, his sister, Hon. Rose work twice as hard as the men, which she did. In Talbot, continued the sponsorship. some ways, the war years gave women their chance to enter men’s domain but it appears that it still required an extraordinary level of academic endeavour and personal commitment to reach high levels. Her first appointment in this country was as Science Mistress at the private girls’ college, Fahan. It was during this period that she rewrote the teaching text, Biology for Australian Students because she felt it was ridiculous that the curriculum at the time was based on British books. In conjunction, she was teaching at the (UTAS) where she was only the second woman ever appointed. As if all this wasn’t enough, she also worked towards her PhD, because she was so intrigued by the cytology of many Australian plants.

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Tendrils Newsletter Issue 12, March 2020 Australian Botanical Artists Regional Network (ABARN)

Winifred wrote all the text and collected most All this occurred in an age when women were specimens, ably assisted by friends with not expected to have academic leaning. knowledge and commitment to the project. Transport was, by today’s standards primitive, More than 250 paintings were completed by and the limited knowledge of our flora meant she another Tasmanian, Margaret Stones who at the was hiking and collecting most weekends for her time was working at the Kew Gardens classes and writing most evenings for her own Herbarium. We can imagine the reaction when, studies and advancement. on receiving a plant, Margaret had written, Apart from formal texts, there are many endemic ‘…please recollect, this sample has not survived plants named in honour of Winifred Curtis. In transport.’ Some of these collections may have recognition of her valued role in Tasmania, a required several days hard hiking to get to. nature reserve on the east coast, the Winifred Curtis Reserve, has been established just south of Scamander. It is 97 hectares of remnant dry sclerophyll forest permanently protected by the W. M. Curtis Trust in conjunction with Dept. of Primary Industry and Water. History describes Winifred Curtis as a botanist/teacher. She was far more than that. She lived to be 100 years old and spent her life learning and sharing not only the love of nature but also science, with everyone around, be it in the universities or outside. During much of the 20th century it seems that botany was a part of most university science degrees so, in summary I suggest: Both women’s work was recognised in the 1977 Honours List. Winifred M. Curtis was awarded Botany + Latin + Science = Wisdom. A.M. on Australia Day 1977 for services in the field of Botany.

She authored Australian teaching texts for botany classes in schools and universities, at a By chance I was attending a graduation at UTAS time when it was more accepted to use British in 2003 when, at 98, Winifred attended to see the texts. She found and identified new plants and Hon. PhD bestowed on Dennis Morris! explored their cytology. Meanwhile, she worked toward and gained her own PhD.

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Tendrils Newsletter Issue 12, March 2020 Australian Botanical Artists Regional Network (ABARN)

Nomenclature, and and Johann Bauhin (1541-1613) took important steps towards developing a binomial system in Systematics: An explanation of th conventions regarding scientific names the 16 Century, by pruning Latin descriptions, often to two words. However, it was due to the of plants work of the Swedish botanist/physician Carl von Linné/Carolus Linnaeus (1707–1778) that By Tanya Scharaschkin biologists adopted a system of strictly binomial “The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter, nomenclature. Linnaeus honoured the Bauhin It isn't just one of your holiday games; brothers in the name Bauhinia. You may think at first I'm as mad as a hatter A common name is also known as a vernacular name, colloquial name, trivial name, trivial When I tell you, a cat must have THREE epithet, country name, popular name or farmer's DIFFERENT NAMES.” name. It is a name in general use within a The Naming of Cats by T. S. Eliot community. Common names can be problematic as the same name can refer to different species. The naming of plants, unlike cats, follows a set The common name “Christmas Bush or of rules so as avoid confusion and prevents the Christmas Tree” refers to plants from a number creation of multiple names for the same species. of different plant families in Australia alone. The principles of naming vary from the relatively informal conventions of everyday speech to the internationally agreed principles, rules and recommendations that govern the formation and use of the specialist terms used in scientific and other disciplines.

Nomenclature is a term that applies to the system of principles, procedures and terms Shown above: Species, common name and family of some plants commonly called Christmas Bush. Left: Bursaria related to naming. A few different systems are spinosa (Tasmanian Christmas Bush) Pittosporaceae; explained below. middle: Ceratopetalum gummiferum (New South Wales Christmas Bush) Cunoniaceae; right: Prostanthera Binomial Nomenclature is a formal system of lasianthos (Victorian Christmas Bush) Lamiaceae. naming species by giving each a name composed of two parts. Both parts use Latin grammatical Prior to the adoption of the binomial (two name) forms, although they can be based on words system, names were either based on their from other languages. Such a name is called a common names in various languages or on a binomial name, scientific name or a Latin name. more-or-less standardised description. In The first part of the name identifies the genus to medieval Europe, these descriptions were which the plant belongs and the second part, typically in Latin. Such "polynomial names" called the specific name or specific epithet, were Latin phrases of short descriptions. As new identifies the species within the genus. Both species were discovered, their descriptions words are italicised (when printed) or underlined needed to become ever longer in order to when written by hand. For example, the distinguish them from existing species. For scientific/binomial name for tomato is Solanum example, the polynomial name for tomato, now lycopersicum. The genus is Solanum and the called Solanum lycopersicum, used to be species epithet is lycopersicum. The first letter of Solanum caule inermi herbaceo, foliis pinnatis the genus is capitalised but not so for the species incisis, meaning "the smooth-stemmed epithet. If this was written by hand, the two herbaceous solanum with incised pinnate words would be underlined separately Solanum leaves”. If you think binomial names are lycopersicum. complicated, be grateful we are no longer using polynomials! Two Swiss-French botanist/physicians, the Bauhin brothers, Gaspard Bauhin (1560–1624)

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Tendrils Newsletter Issue 12, March 2020 Australian Botanical Artists Regional Network (ABARN)

Scientific names on botanical art- a personal particular specimen called a type specimen. perspective: My science training has drilled in Types are physical specimens that are kept in a the habit of underlining scientific names when I research collection, such as a museum or write them by hand, be this in my botanical field herbarium. When identifying material, a scientist note book, lab book, art sketch book or a scrap of attempts to apply a name to a specimen based on paper! The impression I have is that most having read the type description or an botanical artists don’t follow this convention if examination of the type material. In some cases, they write the name of the plant on their artwork. a plant might have been described by different I have had a few discussions with various artists botanists at different times and been given over the years and it seems they have been different names. When this happens, the oldest taught to trace the name from an italicised print. (prior) name, based on the date of the scientific As far as I have been able to find out, this publication of that name, takes precedence. This doesn’t meet scientific convention as it is still is the principle of priority of publication. A considered handwritten. question that often gets asked is “How far back I get around this issue by not writing the name of do we go in accepting prior names?”. The the plant on my artwork, be it the common name publication Species Plantarum ("The Species of or scientific name. If the work is exhibited, Plants") by Linnaeus in 1753, is used as the printed labels accompany the artwork and the starting point for deciding if a particular name scientific name will be printed in italics. I have has been used previously or not. additional reasons for not writing the name on Taxonomy is the science that deals with the my artwork. Firstly, the dread of misspelling the study of identifying, grouping, and naming name; secondly, concern about being neat organisms according to their established natural enough; and finally, plant names can and do relationship. Taxonomy (Greek: taxis change. “arrangement” and nomia “method”). Biological International Code of Botanical classification is still generally the best-known Nomenclature (ICBN). The rules and guidelines form of taxonomy. It is an empirical science, referred to by botanists when naming a new with classifying only the final step of a process, species or determining the correct name for a and a classification only the means to given species are formalised in a code called the communicate the end results. It also includes the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature. prediction, discovery, description and The main principles of ICBN are as follows: (re)defining of taxa. It uses taxonomic ranks, including, among others, (in order) Kingdom, 1. Botanical nomenclature is independent of Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and zoological and bacteriological nomenclature Species. Taxonomy itself is never regulated but 2. Application of names is determined by means is always the result of research in the scientific of nomenclatural types community. How researchers arrive at their taxa varies; depending on the available data, and 3. The nomenclature of a taxonomic group is resources, methods vary from simple quantitative based upon priority of publication or qualitative comparisons of striking features to 4. Each taxonomic group can bear only one elaborate computer analyses of large amounts of correct name DNA sequence data. 5. Scientific names are treated as Latin Taxonomic Hierarchy in Botany regardless of their derivation Formal taxonomic ranks used in botany have 6. The rules of nomenclature are retroactive standardised endings. The following example unless expressly limited using Acacia pycnantha, the Golden Wattle (Australia's floral emblem), illustrates the Most of these principles are self-evident, but #2 system. This example is based on the Cronquist and #3 might need some clarification. A system. In the current APG (Angiosperm scientific name is almost always based on one Phylogeny Group) system, only the ranks of

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Tendrils Newsletter Issue 12, March 2020 Australian Botanical Artists Regional Network (ABARN)

Order and Family are recognised. Only the genus consulted by most plant systematists in and species epithet are italicised when in print. Australia. Rank Ending Example Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG) or Kingdom -ae Plantae Angiosperm Phylogeny Website (APWeb) Division/Phylum -ophyta Magnoliophyta http://www.mobot.org/MOBOT/research/APweb Class -opsida Magnoliopsida Subclass -idae Rosidae /welcome.html Order -ales Fabales APWeb is usually very up-to-date with Family -aceae Fabaceae publications and phylogenetic changes. Click on Genus - Acacia the Family or Order tabs to see if a given name is Species - pycnantha currently accepted or not. Systematics is the field that provides scientific names for organisms, describes them, preserves Atlas of Living Australia (ALA) collections of them, provides classifications for https://www.ala.org.au/ the organisms, keys for their identification, and This website is an incredible resource and well data on their distributions, investigates their worth becoming familiar with. It incorporates evolutionary histories, and considers their information previously found on different environmental adaptations. websites and databases (e.g., AVH- Australia’s The term "systematics" is sometimes used Virtual Herbarium, APC-Australian Plant synonymously with "taxonomy" and may be Consensus). Australia’s Commonwealth, state confused with "scientific classification". and territory herbaria house over six million Taxonomy, in particular alpha taxonomy, is plant, algae and fungi specimens. The collecting more specifically the identification, description, information stored with these specimens and naming (i.e. nomenclature) of organisms, provides the most complete picture of the while "classification" is focused on placing distribution of Australia’s flora to date. ALA is organisms within hierarchical groups that show an online resource that provides immediate their relationships to other organisms. access to this invaluable information. Images, Systematics alone deals specifically with maps and records are easily accessible. relationships through time, i.e., evolutionary Australian Plant Consensus (APC) history. Systematics is fundamental to biology https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/APC because it is the foundation for all studies of APC is a database of the accepted scientific organisms, by showing how any organism relates names for the Australian vascular flora, both to other living things (ancestor-descendant native and introduced, and lists synonyms and relationships). misapplications for these names. APC will cover I like clarifying the distinction between all published scientific plant names used in an systematics and taxonomy because I am a Australian context in the taxonomic literature, systematist! And as someone who crosses over but excludes taxa (including cultivars) known between science and art, I consider it important only from cultivation in Australia. The Council for me to share my scientific training with non- of Heads of Australasian Herbaria (CHAH) scientists. If, as botanical artists, you have any endorses the taxonomy and nomenclature questions regarding botany, plant names or adopted for the APC. botanical conventions, please do not hesitate to International Plant Names Index (IPNI) contact me. http://www.ipni.org/ On-line Resources for Nomenclature and IPNI is a database of the names and associated Taxonomy basic bibliographical details. Coverage of plant It is important to check the current names is best at the rank of species and genus. It nomenclatural status of the plant you are includes basic bibliographical details, associated working on. The following websites are ones with the names, and its goals include eliminating the need for repeated reference to primary

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Tendrils Newsletter Issue 12, March 2020 Australian Botanical Artists Regional Network (ABARN) sources for basic bibliographic information about plant names Australian Plant Name Index (APNI) https://www.anbg.gov.au/apni/ APNI includes any and all names that have been used for Australian taxa. It does not recommend any particular taxonomy or nomenclature. The website provides information for taxonomic names, such as bibliographic information, secondary references and typification. It is easier to determine if a name is currently accepted via ALA. Species lists for an area: http://www.derm.qld.gov.au/wildlife- ecosystems/wildlife/wildlife_online/index.html Workshops and Events “Wildlife online” allows members of the public to generate species lists from protected area, Owing to the current situation with social forestry areas etc. distancing requirements, no workshops or events are being advertised in this issue. However, we Book Review artists are fortunate, in that there are many videos and websites available to look at online, By Cathryn Coutts as well as ever increasing opportunities to share Nature’s Argonaut: Daniel Solander 1733- our work the same way. Information is available 1782. By Edward Duyker. Published by on just about any technique and medium you Miegunyah Press at Melbourne University wish to use. So, go to it, enjoy your drawing and Press. 1998. painting! This year is the 250th anniversary of Captain

Cook's voyage in HMB Endeavour. With him on Websites that voyage, as many of you will know, were naturalists and collectors, Joseph Banks and I recently saw a story on ABC TV ‘Gardening Daniel Solander. In this anniversary year, I Australia’ that caught my attention, shown on thought it fitting to draw your attention to this March 6, 2020. comprehensive biography of Daniel Solander, by The story is ‘Unsung Women in Australian Edward Duyker. Horticulture’. Nine women are listed - all of ‘Solander was the first Swede to circle the globe and was whom made a considerable contribution through one of the first Europeans to visit the south-western their work. A number of them were/are also Pacific. He was un-questionably one of the founders of botanical artists. It’s worth checking out, at: botany and zoology in Australia, but has been overshadowed by Banks and marginalized by Australian https://www.abc.net.au/gardening/factsheets/uns historians.’ (p.1). ung-women-in-australian-horticulture/12030704 Duyker writes that Solander’s life, stamped with (If any readers would like to do research on one of these the enquiring spirit of the Enlightenment, was women for a future Tendrils article, please let me know by one of the grand adventures of the eighteenth email: [email protected] century (p3). His connection to Carl Linnaeus, as his student, is significant and had a considerable impact on his scientific career. This book makes very interesting reading.

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