Newsletter of Menai Wildflower Group Menai Wildflower September 2017 Group President's Report cheques or credit card payments and I will process them in the new system on your behalf. Chilly mornings have given rise to bright, Membership fees are: Individual $56, sunny, wintery days and the seasonal flowering Individual concession $48, Joint $66, Joint is quite spectacular with optimal rainfall and concession $58. If you wish, you can renew for temperature. 3 years. Sharon Pearson Our list of speakers has been quite exceptional for the year and our group was thoroughly New APS Logo entertained by David Eldridge in June on the You can see the new APS logo at top right of fascinating soil crust mosses, lichens and newsletter. liverworts from Australia's dry land. In July, Lyndal Thornburn showed our Contents members and guests the extensive range of Eremophilas which are available and seem to President's Report _______________________ 1 suit most soil types if you can provide good APS Membership ________________________ 1 drainage. For further information why don't you New APS Logo __________________________ 1 visit the Eremophila Study Group, found in the Study Groups directory in the NSW APS Coming Local Events _____________________ 2 journal. Reports from Meetings ___________________ 2 The Five Islands project has been a big success Biological Soil Crusts in Australian Drylands ...... 2 with 1000 plants grown by the nursery group Eremophilas – not just for dry climates ................ 3 and then used to revegetate a large part of the Acacia suaveolens ________________________ 5 island in mid-June. Our next meeting is on Saturday 12 August, Special Interest __________________________ 5 starting at 1pm. So remember to come early to Nursery Report __________________________ 6 explore the garden mounds of the fire station, Joseph Banks Gardens Upgrade ____________ 6 as there should be plenty of flowers on show. Our guest speaker will be presenting his talk on Looking for speakers _____________________ 7 Bladderworts. Garden News ___________________________ 7 Hope to see you all there. Jason Cockayne APS Membership APS NSW is creating a new on-line membership system. It will allow our members to log into APS NSW membership system direct and will make renewing and paying for membership much easier. It is planned that the system will go live from 7 August and members will receive either an email or letter explaining how this new system works. For those members who do not have access to the internet, I will be happy to collect your cash, The mounds at the fire station garden are looking great. P Forbes. Newsletter of Menai Wildflower Group September 2017 Coming Local Events Reports from Meetings (More in Special Interest) Biological Soil Crusts in Australian 5 Aug Working Bee at IRFS 9-12 followed Drylands by Propagation from 1pm. In June we were fortunate to have David Eldridge share some of his extensive 12 Aug Prof Richard Jobson will be knowledge of lichens, mosses and liverworts talking about Bladderworts at this with the large audience at our monthly meeting. month’s meeting. From 1pm at IRFS. With the aid of some good photographic images and an easy way of imparting tricky scientific 2 Sept Working Bee at IRFS from 9am facts, David gave us the kind of talk that could then Propagation from 1pm only come from someone expert in his field. He told us how such tiny caretakers of the soil hold 2-3 Sept APS NSW Get-together at Coffs its surface together through extremes of heat, Harbour dryness and sudden, intense bursts of rainfall. They form a biological soil crust which is 2-3 Sept Grevillea Park Open Day actually a closely knit community of fungi, cyanobacteria, bacteria and the more visible 9 Sept Saturday meeting. Ross Jefree will mosses, lichens and liverworts. speak on Environmental Conservation Successes in Bhutan 9-10 Sept Grevillea Park Open Day 17 Sept Sutherland Council Bushcare Festival at Parc Menai 24 Sept Lucas Heights Waratah walk. Contact Lloyd if you are interested. 7 Oct Working Bee at IRFS from 9am then Soil Crust, photograph by M Graw, Microbes Propagation from 1pm in the Mud Blog 14 Oct Meeting 1pm. Pruning Grevilleas; a Lichens have the ability to take carbon dioxide workshop with Ray Brown from from the atmosphere, convert it to organic Grevillea Park carbon and store it in the soil. This organic carbon provides the glue which binds soils 4 Nov Working Bee at IRFS from 9am then together. Cyanobacteria and some lichens also Propagation from 1pm produce nitrogen after even small falls of rain. This nitrogen is used by flowering plants once 8 Nov Meeting Wednesday7pm AGM it is released from the crusts through digestion followed by a talk, topic TBA by small soil animals, bacteria and fungi. The cycle of life goes on, with small animals being 2 Dec Working Bee at IRFS from 9am then eaten by larger burrowing animals, whose holes Propagation from 1pm allow any water to penetrate to lower levels. 13 Dec Meeting Wednesday Xmas Social Farmers, please note! Evening These tiny organisms follow the “live hard, die young” method of survival in deserts. They have developed coping mechanisms to ensure survival, some in niches or furrows that collect Page 2 Newsletter of Menai Wildflower Group September 2017 water, where seeds may grow and soil animals present will surely tread lightly around any aerate the soil. Some lichens curl their leaves lichens, mosses and liverworts that reveal to shade their stems in extreme heat, while themselves on our next bush walk. For those others produce acids to protect themselves from who missed out, or want to read more, I have ultraviolet light. Some liverworts form plate- extra information from David that I can lend to like scales that close up as they dry out, but you. Pam Pitkeathly retract when wetted, allowing the liverwort to soak up and store moisture, helping to provide Eremophilas – not just for dry a barrier against erosion. climates Land management practices can have an effect Lyndal Thorburn’s July talk covered 3 broad on soil crusts and their regeneration. Soil crust areas: the genus itself, growing Eremophilas organisms are destroyed by fire and by the and the Eremophila Study Group. trampling of stock in overgrazed areas. David’s slides showing a TSR (travelling stock route) The Genus Eremophila is part of what used to and a fenced, overgrazed paddock right beside be called Myoporaceae but is now called it gave a telling picture for anyone who has not Scrophulariacae. There are half a dozen genera formed an opinion on current moves to open within that family (some of which occur in TSRs for grazing. Overgrazing can set back China, Japan and the Caribbean). They are: ecological recovery for decades, not a season or Calamphoreus two. It’s good to know that certain lichens that Pentacelium - with a single species in Japan and have blue-green alga are able to fix atmospheric China nitrogen and eventually pave the way for other Bontia - single species In Carribean lichens and mosses to re-establish and then Glycocystis - 1 species in W Australia these may be followed by flowering plants. Diocirea - 4 species in WA Myoporum - 30 species in Australia,NZ Pacific, East Asia and Eremophila. Lichens P Forbes David’s research interests were glimpsed The Eremophila or the Emu Bush, is also called through slides of W.A. (bilby study north of the Poverty Bush - a name which comes from Roxbury Downs) Lake Mungo and erosion and its ability to survive in dry climates. It is areas of western N.S.W. from Walgett, Cobar distributed mostly over drier regions which and down to Mildura. Study of soil crusts is have around 400 mm or less of rainfall. It is yielding scientific information that will help us very widespread - being found in all states understand and manage better the land in drier except Tasmania - but particularly in a band parts of our continent. across the centre of Australia. Many of them are David’s talk was informative and entertaining found in the areas of 200 mm or less rainfall and those who were fortunate enough to be with very dry, very poor soil. (Lyndal recently Page 3 Newsletter of Menai Wildflower Group September 2017 acquired an E. exilifolia which she was told was greenish and may age to brown. All this variety frost hardy: it has just survived the -5ºC in colour and form gives lots of options for temperature that Queanbeyan had a few weeks designing a garden around them. ago!) Within the genus Eremophila, 25 groups have been described by Bob Chinnock and grouped by a number of characteristics - flowers, vegetation or fruits. Groups 1–6 are temperate species mostly found in the southwest of W.A.; 7, 8 and 9 are mostly found in Central Australia. 20–25 are bird pollinated and the remainder are grouped by flower, fruit and hair variation. The variability and the variety within the genus appeals to Lyndal: leaf colours of greys Range of flowers. All photographs by P Hempel Eremophilas are usually not grown from seed as it is very difficult to break the seed case without damaging the seed. Because a lot of eremophilas won’t grow from cuttings, a common method of propagation has been grafting. The stock species is generally a myoporum. Lyndal has recently sent out a survey through the Study Group to see what is being used This E. spectabilis is growing on its own roots successfully (though of course stock that is (ie not grafted) and often flowers for a long successful in SA won’t necessarily be time.