SociETY FOR CRQWlrdG AUSTRALIAN PLAN JS. VERTICOPDIA 5TUDY GROUP. NO.

May I wish all of' you alrery prosperous I985 7.6.th particu1a.r emphasis on your achie~~ementsin the Verticor6ia direction. The Study Group is pleased to yt7elcome the fol1o~:ingnew ACTIVE Members:- Mr. M.H.Kunt, Caves Road, Wellington, N.S.W. 2820. Mr. David L. Jonest 22 Brinsmead Rd. ,Nt. Nelson, Tasmania 7007. Mr, Norm Stevens, Box 92 Ongerup, Vestern Australia 6336. Mr, Dylan P. Hannon, 1843 East 16th. Sto, National City, California 92050, TJa S.Ao Yew PASSIVE Membership is alsc welcomed from:- Keilor Plains Group, S.G.A.F. Kealba, Victoria. Maroondah Group, S.G.A.P. Ring~oad~Victoriao Canberra Region S.G.A. P. Australian Capital Territory,

The following bodies have made contributions 'in excess of that required for Bassitre Xembership of the Study Group:- S.G.A.P. Victorian Regian - 1984 - 3.00 & 1985 - $ 7,OQ, ScG.A.Po Canberra Region - 1984 - $ 3.00. S.G.A.P. Maroondah Group - 1984 - $ 3.000 These are very much appreciated and demonstrate to us that our efforts are worthy of their special suppor-La We also acknowledge the support of S.G .Ae Pa N. S.W. Region rho agreed: to meet the Study Group's costs for such items as telephone, postage stationary and photocopying for the establishment years I983 and 1984, VERT ICO3DIA STTUTIY GROUP S-IJ3SCRIPTI-O.& It now becomes necessary for the Group to become self supporting. Accordingly I have decided that from Sazuary 1985 until further notice an annual subscrintion of $ 3,Og be charged for both ACTITTE and PASSIVE Membershipo As ever increasing communication costs render it impracticable to pursue matters such as renewal of membership I appeal to all members to forward to me promptly their subscrintion for 1985, Cheques should be mzde payable to myself or the TTerticordia Study Grou?, The challenge to grow Verticordias not only in \rinter rainfall areas but in y~aryingclimatic zones is one which I believe vre are winning. fbbody should prete~dhoJ?e~rer that all of the problems will be solyred without a degree of dedication, and the Study Croup needs the full support of all it's members, FUKGU S C ONT ROL . In nTe~srsle+,tesNo, I I suggested chenical control measures for the nildew like fungal attack on the stems of some snecies when they are at a y~iqorousgrowing stage*Jeff Mountstephen in Perth,told me he had successfully controlled it with the simple and innocuous expedient of spraying with Mhite Oil, Since arri~yinghome accordingly I have testsd thls trsatment and todate results agpear q~:ite encouraging, I would appreciate comment from other members after giving this method a try0 One would , hardly loqk to White Oil for use as a fungicide but perhaps a coating of it on the lush quickly growing stems, by cutting off a%r supply for a. time to the fungus, arrests itts deyrel.npment thereby allowing the stems to progress to the more fungus resistant semi mature stage, If this sfmple treatment is proved reliable it could ha7.e ~~ery signiff cant inplications for the species TVert. nitens in particulart whose rapidly growing preflowering header stems seem to be especially prone to attack. 'tihen the fungal attack is neslected complete collapse of the plant ensues cpielcly seeming to indicate "cat it is the real I culprit rn Brian Crafterls comments on this specles which I quoted in Newsletter Noo 2 may now be seen to have a$ded significance. He reported that until he had adopted the practise of remo~~ingthese leader stems from his olants he had not been abl-e to prevent their loss. With remoy~ala differing growth form had ensued which was more compact, Flowering was spread generally over the plant, It would seen that remo-ral of the ~~eryrapid and lush growth concef~tratedin the leader stems tras replaced by wider spread general derelopment which was not so yrulnerable to fungal attack If this lJhite Oil treatment does pro~esatisfactory with TTert, nitens it could osen uo conaercial possibilities with the Cut Flower trade, This much sought after yellow "Morrisonu is one of the easier species to propagate and cultivated plants could be an alternati7.e to the e~~erdiminishing stands in it? natural distribulfon, VERTIC OHDIA GRANDIS FROM CUTTING* Much has been ~7rittenover the years on methods of propagating t this magnificent species from cutting. In early days it had e~~enbeen claimed -irtually innossibleo Subsequently ho?.:e~rer?~arious methods hayre been reported which hayre ostensibly yielded a degree of successo

Mr. Bill Cane, ail e--perienceci nurseryman fron Haffra in victorfa reoorter! g~o6res1116is using new side shoots from a potted snecimen ~.rhichhad besn lined annually in eariy snring. From another nlant vhich had not been gi~~enthis treatment his results were nilo The National Botanic Gardens at CanSerra suggested that the mefiinm in the bottom of the propagation tubes should be ken-c on the ilry side. iX~r olljn Study Gsoua MemSer Pat lfoyle has hser, achieving reasonably goqd results from side snoots ushg a "PotogatorH for? Sottom heat- She commented that after striki~gthe plants made 7-ery In r\le..7slc?tter No. I I mentioned the work being done ir? Perth by Mrs, Elizabeth Berndt in co-operation with Mr, Alee George and the Western Australian Herbariumo I was in Perth in September last and LTas very pleased to have the opportunity to pursue &s matter a little further vith her. It will be sone time yet before the Genus re~~isiormhas progressed to the stage ~'rherea comprehensi~~eupdated key can be prepared hut I hay-e her promise that imediately one is available it .tail1 be sent to Use It does appear at this stage that the current list shotm in Blackall and Grieve ?:ill be considerably e-panded as many new forms, or in some cases specres are coming to light. I did succeed in getting from her however sorzle advance information which will at least assist us to place some of our plants into correct groups thereby eliminating a little of the confusiono In tne ~reryTrariabQ yellow gr0~13:- -The specific name "oreisseiMis no longer valid, The acerosa group. These hayre a distinct I0 ribbed calyx with deciduous bracteoles. The chrysantha nrouD. These ha~~epersistent bracteoles which are in 2 distinct pieceso The randi if lora ~roup.These ha~~epersistent bracteoles which are connate( Fused to form one piece) Flowers furthermore cannot necessarily be identified on basis of size as sometimes they can be quite small. Of those with herbacesus a~penc3agGs to the .calvxlb The nenniz.era groun. Thess always ha~~ea dentic~rlate apex to the petals thus:- 0 The drumaondii EPYO:ID. These always ha~rea long frinne to the apex of the petals thus:- Petals are elongated;and are either entire or are minutely denticulate at the ape? with only a few teeth thus:-, c3D This has very tiny distincti:~e foliage closely annressed on stems. Flowers are also tiny and the calyx has a distincti-re honeycomb like appearance, Pstals are ovate and distinctly fri~~ed55th cilia. Still on the subject of taxonomy, Peter Bail-lsy has sent me copy of corresnondence from the Western Australian Herbarium indf catlng that the Inter~ati~nalEotanical Congress of 19131 has decreed that the should be reinstated into certain plant names such as Verticordia muelleriana little gro~rrthin the first year but grev away satisfactorily in the second,

The late Mro Les. Norton at Maida Trale 1~r.A.~used cuttings of nature vood ~rhiehhe set around the perimeter of a 5 gallon drum. They were inserted in a reclining positiona the drum being filled with a mixture of sand and gra~rel.It was located in the garden in such a ' position that it was shaded from mid-day sun.The only attention given was watering in mornings with the rest'of the garden using a rotary type general sprinkler. >To o~rerheadco~~ering to maintain humidity Qas used. He claimed reasonable success and used the same method with ~~ario-2sother zrertieordfa speciesa Mr Brian Jack, wholesale plant narsepyman from Coorow, W.A., seems to have sol~~eclthe problemo I have been inforned he uses mature wood cuttings taken pro~ressi~7elyalong stemso On this question of mature, as op~osedto new ~aoodJeff- mount step he^ commented to me that the gsey/green mature foliage of t?ert. grandis had an abundant starch content vhereas the netr growth was compieteiy devoid of itoWe hesitated to draw infsrences from the fact but felt that it could ha7.e implications. For my own record, hayring tried to propagate Vert, grandis from ttlikelytl looking material over a period of many years, I can claim a success rate until this year of eractlg niloI believe this corresPonds closely with results achieved by the o~rerwhelmingraa jority who hayre enthusiastically put down cuttings only to see them hold on for many months but ultimately lose leaf colour and defoliate. m This year howe~~erI resolved to gi7.e the species one more 'cry pro~~idingI could locate cutting material of a particular type. (Ply first precaution accordingly was to arm nyself with' a collector^ . . Libense, f?orri? the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife W.A..) I had read a paper presented..Z.or 3 years ago in Perth at a Seminar of the nursery trade by IeRoDixon of The Kings Park and Botanic Gardeno The subject was the propagation of TTert, grandis. Results of controlled evperiments vere quoted which yielded a vide range of cutting performance, By far the best results were obtained from cutting material of etiolated form,(pale in colour due to the lack of ex'posure to This was obtained in winter from regrowth off rootstock of old plants pre-liously burht back by fireo It was found that Y7ery low success rate vas achie~~edfrom cuttings taken oncc the characteristic pinkish stem coloratLon had started to c3e~relop~ b I vas fortunate to locate some of the abo~telikely looking regrowth material at Eneabba in September following a bushfire during the ~reviousFebruary. Se~rencuttings about 75 mm long vere takeno They :.ere selected from bnes which had emerged from the rootstock fror. slightly be lo^.^^ gmmd level so that the portlon of the cuttlcg to he emkedcied as the section which had been pre~~iouslysubnerged in the sandy surface soilo Stem en6s vere dip~~edfor 5 seconds in a sol~tion of IBA and XAA 2iluted 5 to I with :.rater. (I am not able to quote the exact concentrations of the original. sol~xtion) 3f necessity my propagation procedures vere quite priraitiy~e compared to the controls of light, humidity, hornonal treatment, soil nix etc. quoted by Mro Dixono The cuttings ..ere placed around the perimeter of a 50~1propagating tube filled wlth crushed quartzitep and carried with other species in a 2 litre plastic ice-cream container to t,ihich I had fitted a raised clear plastic cotrerc Tubes were stood on I can of peatmcss and vere vatered by hand mister as required (approxo weekly) After 7 weeks ail cuktings had struck. They were potted up I weel: later and are a11 still progressing satisfactorily with good root arid leaf gro~~rth,the tallest being no.iLT170 m high. Another 5 cuttings of similar apnearance green stemr2ed material but taken from abo7.e ground net.7 growth were taken from a bulldozer attticked niant at Arrir,oI These were taken within a few days of' the abot~eand were gi-.en identical treatment but in this case the success rate was back to my usual zeroo The ob~riousquestion is :- ?!!as I just lucky with the first group or Zras the selection of natbrial significant ? The answer will be pro~~fdedwhen mope of us ha~~erepeated the exercise,

---.-SITgAT TONS I Verticordi_a, plu-mosa was noted in Newsletter No. 2 as a species which has sometimes been grown well in rather shaded locations. I instanced Keith Alcockfs plant in Melbourne, The best plant of this species I have seen in Sydney region is in Colin Thorley's garden at Baulkhan Eills. It ~rouldget ~~irtually no sun in winter and in summer only a little in Late afternoon. According to Cole it flowers ~erywell. I was interested to note also that when I examined it at Christxas time it was still fully foliaged having shown none of the dornancy effects I ha-ye come to e~pectwith this species when matureo Another rather shaded garden in which growing of this species does not, seem to present any problerns is that of Bernie Clarke at Oyster Bayo By way of contrast Dennis Margan has found this snecies one of the most difficult to maintain* It is perhaps not a ccincidence that his plants; in large containers are located in a warm sunny situationt and gi~~entrery little hand watering* V Plants in my own garden of recent times hayre also failed gi-tren sunny situations with mfninal or no hand. wateringt whef eas pretrious ones in rather more shaded parts of the garden had li~redmany years,, I referre5 in tke earlier ITetrslktter to the rather shallow root system which this species seems'tb de~relop,Itmay well be that its apparent tolerance or perhaps ev-en liking of a degree of shade is nore atune to this root system unless other conpensating factors pre~rail,I noted Glyn Sagofs plants at Pomonal, victoria were.in very shallow sand o-er laterite bedband Richard Mc, Fayden's at Charlestown N.S.W. in deep sand Sut with .regetati-re aulcho Trerticordfa chr~,-sostachj-A is another species which Bernie Clarkc reports doing 77ery well at the momentolt is in a location which rect?i?res a sumer maximum of only 3 hours sun per day in a rather dry eie7-ated be6 of predominantly broken sandstone, This plant has been tried in se?~eraldifferent garden positions but on each pre~rious occasion had regreesed wtth complete ~~efoliati~~~ Trerticordia minutiflora is another which Bernie Clarke grows satisfactorily and which appears rather shade tolerant, E STABLISHlBNT OF JtJTTENILE PLANTS, In Australian Plants, Voluriie IT, Noo 92$ I suggested using a bell jar or improvised wine flagon as an aid to garden establishment, of juvenile plantseI still adhere to this practise throughout the year which en&bles the plant to dey~elopthe bulk sf itasroot system in situo I have recently noted plants of Be mitchelliana and V, nitens whf ch were planted thus in March 1984 directly from the propagation tube made no new growth until october I984 when new growth cormenced. The bell jars wef-e then removed ar,d despite complete lack of hand watering they hayre continued to make rapid progressnand are .+re11 branchedoThey are both currently 150 mm high, Jeff Mountstepher? in Perth howe~erga~re the method a trial and found that the sum'%e+s there are so hotand dry that the ju~renile plants did not surviveo He does agree howe~rerwith the concept of pla~tingout directly from the propagating stage but does this through late autumn and wintero With the weather in Perth at these times y~eryhumid and relati-rely cool he finds it unnecessary to use the bell jar. 1 The ob~riousinference 20 be dram from these cor;?ments would be that cuttings should be se3,where possibletfor striking at a time to suit weather situation where they are to be grown ont thereby ob~~iatingthe necessity to stage them in containers*

STUDY GROUP MEMBERS IN W.A. AND SaA. Nail Arthixr is pursuing the propagation of some of the more desirable species such as Verts. grandis, ovalif6-j-ia and oculata by tissue culture process* To date he has worked out a satisfactory multiplication media but has yet to find a media which will produce a high degree of root ini;tiationo Ne~~erthelesshe is confident of same in the not too distant futureo Alex. Hooner is a ~~erybusy man rkning Xanthorrea Nursery, Ne~~erthelesshe is selling what I believe is the greatest range of Verticordia species in Pertho He has planted a large garden dispiay bed and many species are doing very wello Pa.t and Kormmle as notea earlier hayre just moy~ed to Yindurah where, Pat told the+-would ha7.e more room and better conditions to pursue the in-ground growing of Yerticordiaso She told me they had made some ' plantings already and that two plants of Verticordia grandis vere thriving in the sandy soil and were making far superior grovth to that achie-red at Floreat Parko This cakes me Trery en~riousas at the latter a$dress I was greeted by a 3 fe9t high plant of same in flower growing on the footpath in front of the property. At Floreat Fark they had prown specinens nainiy in large con- tainers,where I foulmi the collectfoh, many of which were in flower, really spectacularo There would be very few nerticordia species not in this coilectiono I believe a prcninent member of the Kings Park and Botanic Garden has also expressed his adrairation and emy saying that it puts their efforts to shameo The battery of plants stands on brick pa~vingand is. vatered regulariy in dry weather. Slash watering between the pots is used whfci a~~oidsvetting of the soil surfacec It is also less damaging to the flowers. Pat has found that some species do better in the traditioal , type earthenware pots than in the plastic type currently in cormon use. She feels that the earthenware type tend to keep the root system cooler although nore frequent watering is often required.

Zef f Mcunt steulien would ha.-& to ha--e the largest coliec.tion of' Verticordia species in Australia grown in the ground, Since I saw his garden in I982 he has introduced a quantity of yellowish sand-y loan containing a trace of laterite, as is frequently found in the W.A. sandplain country, ( I would love to hagre a few loads of it o-rer here.) Many species ihcluding Vert, etheliana are doing very well, From ny ' memory L believe P an correct in saying that little, if any ~~egetati~~e nulch is used, Norm Ste~~ensand TJife 3ar-g are the stalwarts of the wildfloGejrs community at Ongerup. Their ~rirtualbackyard is the Fitzgerald Ri~7e.r National Park where se~reralundescribed species of Verticordia have been unearthed, A stand of the rare &nd endangered species Vertlcordia , helichrysantha was, I believe? disco~reredby Rorm at Cape Riche. A new form of the sane species has also been recently found in the park. I was pleased to note Norm's efforts in propagation of, in . particular, hi9 loczl species. He is particularly welcome to the Study. Group as it gi~resus representation and a chance to study growing performance in a new and slightly differing climatic zone which is noted for it's rather low rainfallo Brian CrafterDsgarden at his new address'at Sellibks Beach south of Adelaide is really somethingo It is de-.eloped 0.-er fow suburban sized blocks of ~~irginland where one sees such other plant species as Banksia coccinea and Ku-nzea pulchella in flower, His Pert. nitchelliana tras the lagest of the species I have seenc Vert grandif lora was thriving with mass plantation. Verts. ovalifolia nitens and pennicillaris were growing evtremely well and according to Brian posed no problems except as noted above for nitens in regard to the stem fungal attack, Verticordia monadelpha was perhaps one of the , species he found easiest to grow. It is so vigorous and tenacious that he has allocated alarge area specifically for this purpose which he I cuts heay~ilyfor the cut flower tra:leo His soil is of deep light coastal type sand and his plants are grovn in eleyrated beds or strip mounds, He uses a light vegetati~~e nulch whizn he claifas is of great assistance in his dry summer conditions . I noted his garden hadbbeen e:ctensi~relg fitted mlt-for trickis iprigation. He told me howeer he only uses same until his piants hayre reached reasonable ~aturity,According to Brian the light muich has not caused his any problems due 1 would think to his light soil.type where h-anus break-down would be e-rpected to be carried dcvn from the surfzce a littls rnore quickly and where six-mers in any casg are naturally dryo Ph.-Uis Dbds:.rell-- fn Gavler S.A, is also engage.! in the nursery trade and is a -7ery enthusiastic T?erticordia grower,- Her soil type is brown sand which I would e-cpect to be suitable for many species. The parden Is situated in an area where sand had pre~~iouslybeen mined and noYarpro-ides a warm wind free situation which should suit some species admirably. She is no^^ getting it back to "scratchI1 after hayring been forced to neglect it for se.-eral months in the weed growing sea son,

Understandi~gof seasonal grot,rth ?atterns in relation to rainfal is one subject ~,~rhichhas attracted my attention. since embarking on this concentrate6 "attacli" c;c the gt?r~~s.Sydney's swf~ters,iji?llke those in the south of the Continent are traditionally dry, Dur surmers tend also to qpoose those of southern areaso In Perth ?at Moyle commented to me that in the rare dry winter conditions that can at times occur there, many species go dormant and cannot be encouraged by hand watering to make reasonable gro~~rth,It i s not surprising then that fn Sydney optimur~growth of many species is seeming to occur during summer, where during January, our hottest month, despite an occasional short hot spell of 37 to 40 degrees C, our average daily maximum is of the order or 26 degrees, To many Verticordias this must seem rather a push ~177er0I note also that flowering time for some species appears to be later here than in hr.k,. Some species of course, e.go acerosa, chrysantha and huegelii do seem t~ be evceptions to the rule and seem to be predominantly wiilter grovrerso In this regard they follow more closely a pattern I halve noted with a few other species of Austra1ia.n Plants which seem to be nore influenced by the calender than by the weather, come what mayo The winter gro~~ringspecies noted abo-e do perform well in Sydney but of' the others one is at times tempted to en7.y the results achie-ed by growesas ir, the winter rainfall belto I am beginning to tronder if with augmented sw!ler 7,later supply during drier s pel1s Yae could produce growth and consequently f lovering performances nearer to their stand-ard, While recently in Wongan Hills K.A.,I observed many plants of TTert. monadelqha which is one of thk indigehousvspecies in that area, By far the 'best grovn specimen however I ha--e e-er seen either in the natural state or under culture was one that had been planted in the Apex park in the main street of Ifongan Hillso It Teas @own in an o3en area free f'rom shade or root com_netition. Soii YSTakgra-eilp sandy loan yel-lowish in colour and bed was slightly ele-yated abo-e nearby patho the soil surface was so hard that it vras quite difficult to make even a scratch marko The plant was about 2 feet high and 5 to 6 feet across. It bras hemispherical in bhape with -cry compact foliape., completely to ground, It ~~ras'y~eryheay-il-y in bud with sone flowers Segin~ingto onen. Nearby se~-era1clants of ?rert0 chrysantha though much smaller, had assumed a similar dense growth formo 'tihat interested me particularly hove--er FTas the eristence of a trickle irrigation hose which emerged from the ground near each of the p1ants.A~ this area is one with vet winter conditions and the hose had oby-iously not been used recently I could only assume that it had been installed to ~aintainplant growth through the hot ant?. dry sunqers, The e7-idence was certainly there that despite a natural tendency fa--ouring summer dormancy the plant had relished the added attention, It is not so surprising then that in Sydney, izany Verts, seem to favour the sum.-!er period for growtho The natter of sumrder watering nust of cqurse be assessed in relation to the likelihood 6f fungal attack to the stems or root systens. f suggested in prey~iousNetrsletters, and I see no reason as yet to re~~isesame, that apart from a few s ecies I am gro~"Tng~ (mainly from the herbacious apnendage groupP %attackby collar rot does not'seem to c~nstitutethe major hazard in Dur summers that rnigh-l ha~rebeen expected, pro~ridingreasonably healthy soil surface conditions are maintained, W2th the aboY~egroup my zvperieilceskto date seen to indicate that sterile surface conditions should be providede-. I belie--2 the sun and weather pro~ridethe best means of achie7-ing this condition, (refer to my article in Australian Plants 'rol, 11, No. 92) Other factors of understan?.ing and cultural management will undoubtedly emerge in due course* Another factor which may influencg our use of augmented s-er 7:later supply is the matter on" dormancy y+rhici?many species, I believe? do appreciate in sumer after floweringo From ny experience to date, I feel it would 5e unwise to attempt to depriy-e plants of at least a short dormancy period,This may well be controlled by the time it takes for the bulk of the old flower heads to fall, if new growth is then obser~~edthis may well be an appropriate time to start watering, 'As your Study Group Leader it has been most instructilre for me to haY-ehad the opportunity to date to ..isit the gardens of nearly all of our Acti7.e memberso The acf~~antageof personal discussion at the garden letre1 1s idea. and! itassists in contrast and comparison of results achibed under differing climatic and other conditions, thereby I belie7.e grbatly cbntributing to understanding of the problems we are all stri~~ingto o~rercome. Unfortunately it is not practicable to pursue this type of contact on a regular basis and I must rely on all of you to keep me informed of your successes and failures so that we may further our documentation,

' Your comments either for or against any of the obsey~ationsI ha--e made would be ~relcomed, Finally may I again draw your attention to the urgent matter of subscription, H.Maxvel1 Hewett Verticordla Study Group Leader. 4-7 Railway Street, Eount Kuring-gai, M.S.W. 20300