Plant Press Cross-Border Community Nursery Newsletter Volume 1—Issue 1
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Plant Press Cross-border Community nursery newsletter Volume 1—Issue 1 Jan– Feb 2014 Newsletter debut Welcome to the first edition of the Plant Press Newsletter produced by Nature Glenelg Trusts Cross-Border Community Nursery. The purpose of the Newsletter is to keep growers, seed collectors, revegetators and interested community members up to date with activities and events being run either by the Nursery or in partnership with other organizations. It will also provide current and relevant information about the germination and propagation of native plants discovered by plant scientist and professional and amateur plant growers in our region. Where relevant , knowledge and experience from further afield will be included. Nursery sowed seeds for success in 2013 Volunteers Welcome The Cross-Border Community Nursery invites interested Before arriving in Mount Gambier to take up the position of the Cross- community members join our Friends of the Cross-Border Border Nursery Co-coordinator in late February 2013, I was aware that Nursery Group. there wasn’t much in the way of a nursery to coordinate. Friends Group members will Nonetheless, when I arrived, I headed be involved in all aspects of straight down to Vansittart Park to check propagation, nursery care and out my new work place. After a few laps the development of our com- around the Park I decided that the few munity herbarium. trays of plants placed on top of an old farm We’d love to hear from anyone gate, adjacent to what looked like a derelict Volunteer Samantha Baker who is interested in being in- & Internee, Yvonne Riley volved. Nursery opening hours and roofless old toilet block must actually working in the nursery be the ‘Nursery’. are 10-12 Wed & Sat. Nursery during construction in April 2013 Nearly twelve months later, and after many hours working with builders, NGT staff and Forums & Workshops well received volunteers, I am delighted to say, we have In 2013 The Cross-Border Community Nursery worked with State now dispensed with the farm gate and ac- environment agencies and community groups , on both sides of tually have a small but very well equipped the Border, to deliver seven seed collecting and propagating nursery, which includes a spanking new forums and workshops. greenhouse. 2014 is shaping up to be another busy year. Since our official opening in June 2013 we Following on from the success of our Sowing the Seeds of Suc- have propagated around 40 species, in- cess Forum in Hamilton in September 2013, the Coorong Dis- trict Local Action Plan cluding many threatened species from Nursery in early January 2014 (LAP) Committee and South Australia and Victoria. the Lakes Hub Com- munity Nursery Net- work are hosting an- other Seed Forum in Threatened species in the Nursery Tailem Bend in 2014. Athropodium milleflorum This Forum will fea- ture Linda Broadhurst, tissue culture special- ist Andrea Kodym, Vulnerable in South Australia CSIRO seed geneticist Linda Broadhurst, and geneticist Adam giving a presentation at the Hamilton Seed Miller. Forum. Photo: Lachlan Farrington Illustrated by Samantha Baker Plant Press Volume 1—Issue 1 Cross-border Community nursery newsletter Researchers ramp up Gahnia radula production It is now recognized that sedges fruit had the outward appearance Here at the NGT Nursery we are like Gahnia and Lepidosperma play of being well formed and healthy hopeful of recovering filled fruit for an important role in the ecology no filled fruit was found ( Kodym & tissue culture from G.radula popula- of many ecosystems. Delpratt ,2010 ). tions that we bagged on both sides of the SA/Vic border in December However, the inclusion of many A Study of Lepidosperma concavum 2013. species of these genera in revege- ( Kodym et al 2010 ) revealed that tation programs has proven difficult filled fruits are shed soon after References due to the inherent low viability of maturation, while unfilled fruits Kodym, A. Delpratt J. ( 2010 ) System- the seed and because they can be remained on the inflorescence. This Researchers Andrea Kodym and atic investigation of fruit viability in study also revealed that the timing John Delpratt, examining growth very slow to propagate vegetative- Thatch Saw-sedge ( Gahnia radula, of Gahnia radula plants propagated ly. of collection was critical to securing Cyperaceae ). Ecological Management by tissue culture. good quality seed. Bagging the inflo- While this fact is well known to & Restoration, Vol. 11, No 1. rescences of Lepidosperma & Gahn- many propagators, what is not so ia species has turned out to be Kodym, A; Turner S. and Delpratt J. well known is that there is often a important for recovering filled fruit , ( 2010 ) In Situ seed development and complete failure of the seed to in vitro regeneration of three difficult– especially for G.radula. Happily, after develop an endosperm in many of to-propagate Lepidosperma species several years of research Dr Kodym these species. ( Cyperaceae ). Australian Journal of has now worked out how to grow Botany 58,1 In one study carried out by Dr G.radula reliably from tissue culture. Andrea Kodym & John Delpratt at This knowledge has recently been For further information contact: passed on to a commercial tissue the University of Melbourne [email protected] NGT wetland project officer, (Kodym & Delpratt , 2010), 2,694 culture laboratory for mass produc- Dan Anderson, demonstrated Gahnia radula fruits from 175 inflo- tion . At the moment, only one *Papers referred to here are avail- admirable dexterity with stockings rescences were collected from five population (from Drouin) is in able for loan from the NGT Library while bagging these Gahnia seed heads. different locations. Although this production. Seed viability—a cautionary tale Seed Fill-Making By David Carr the cut The term ‘seed fill’ describes what In 2008 The Border Rivers Gwydir the seed mix for one site. Sow- proportion of a seed has intact em- CMA and Greening Australia ing this mix would have resulted bryo and endosperm. conducted trials of large scale in a bare site that would need For many species this can be deter- direct seeding using agricultural reseeding. The cause of the low mined by cutting the seeds in half seeders in the Moree district of viability is likely to be collecting with a scalpel and examining them NSW. immature seed, collecting poor with a hand lens or under a dissect- quality seed from small isolated Seed for the trials was obtained ing microscope. The endosperm populations and/or from poor by tender from 8 different seed tissue in viable seeds is usually firm storage practice. suppliers including both profes- and white. sional and amateur collectors. As Interestingly, both professional part of the trial process, all seed and amateur collectors provided batches were tested for viability seedlots that had serious viability using a tetrazolium test. problems. The results were alarming. Of the This article first appeared in 2008 in Greening Australia’s Thinking Bush This photo shows some tetrazoli- 30 seedlots obtained, 4 had zero series in an edition called There’s more um stained seeds. viability and a further 8 had less than 50% viability. If these had to seed than local provenance. Tetrazolium (TZ) is regarded as a quick test of seed viability. Seeds been sown in the paddock, one It has been reprinted here with the are considered viable if they stain permission of David Carr third of the effort of seeding Cut test of Leptospermum myrsinoides red when treated with TZ. How- would have been wasted with ever, accurate interpretation of the References indicating 95% viability. TZ test results depends on a good little or no germination resulting. Photo provided by the South Australian knowledge of seed structure and Carr, D. ( 2008 ), There’s more to One seedlot of river red gum Seed Conservation Center seed germination. seed than local provenance. (Eucalyptus camaldulensis) had Thinking Bush Series, Greening http://saseedbank.com.au/splash.html Photo: Wikipedia encyclopaedia zero viability and made up most of Australia. Available online here Plant Press Volume 1—Issue 1 Cross-border Community nursery newsletter Page 3 Taraxacum cygnorum – Coast Dandelion – Not your average threatened species By David Pitts, Department of Environment & Primary Industries, Heywood. Taking up the position of Threatened Flora Project Officer in October 2008 for Victoria’s south west came with some trepidation, particularly when it came to familiarising myself with the suite of threatened species encom- passed within the project. Sure, there was a great range of data for many of the species such as the Mellblom’s Spider-orchid, Gorae Leek-orchid and Wrinkled Cassinia, but there was one species that was all but unknown apart from some 1980s information from the Lower Glenelg National Park, near Nelson. I had to ask myself – why? Was it because, as the literature suggest- ed, it’s a species very difficult to distinguish from your average garden weed? Or perhaps it was not considered attractive enough to really capture ones attention. Whatever the reason I decided that the Coast Dandelion was a species that deserved more attention so I took it upon myself to find out more – and exactly that I did. But before I get into the specifics I should mention a bit more about the Coast Dandelion (Taraxacum cygnorum) which is listed as plant itself. The Coast Dandelion, Taraxacum cygnorum to some, is a small endangered in Victoria perennial herb that belongs to the daisy family. First collected in the 1840s partment and Environment & Primary Industries, Parks Victo- from Western Australia’s Swan District, as the name cygnorum implies, the ria, the Melbourne Herbarium, the Glenelg Hopkins Catchment Coast Dandelion was subsequently collected from the Bass Strait Isles of Management Authority and the federal governments Caring Flinders, King and Seal shortly after this time.