os o life for rore ond species. ploy hord tn nos tricky of pursuit the plont t or hour after hour, a repetitive \ motorised growl was emanating from an on-site van at a south coast caravanpark on a Spring day in 1993. Hobby fishers and other holiday camperswere no doubtwondering what on earth was happening on the other side of the caravanwalls. lt uas a seed biologist working for the Departmentof Consel.ration and Land Management (CALM), putting her old sewing machine through its last pacesas she stitched 50 metres of fibreglass flyscreenwire into placeto completea 'seed set of traps' contraptions that would, ironically,go on to be huge labour-savingdevices in a long-term A PLANTWITH A PEDIGREE southerntemperate Australia. Of the 33 rescue effort for a rare plant, spiky The biologist was working for descrlbedAdenonthoJ species, 31 occur adenanthos \Adenanthos pungens CALM'SThreatened Flora SeedCentre in the southwest of WesternAustralia. subsp.pungens). The sewing machine (TFSC),on an expeditionto collectseed They are shrubs or small trees did not sur.,rive,but becauseof it, the from a colony of a rare speciesof the belonging to the protea family planis might. genusAdenanlhos. which is endemicin (Proteaceae),which includessome of our best-known plants-including Banksia, Dryondra, Greuillea, Isopogon Preaiouspage I tconeflowerst.Petrophile. Persoonio I Theerect habit. spiky leaves and hair, I stylesof spikyaden anthos lAdenanlhos (snottygobble) and Conospermum pungens subsp.p ungens ). (smokebush,made famous as a potential Photo- AndrewDavoll/l.ochmrn'lYanslarencies medicine).The best-knownamong the Adenanthos speciesis probably the l,46ouerYellow-fl owered woollybush Albanywoolly bush (A.sericeus). I rklenanthosllauidifloras t. one of the I manysoft-leaved woolly bushes found in Adenanthos are found in many the south-westof WestemAustralia. different vegelalion communilies Photo- MarieLochman includingopen woodlands, forests and I left: Matureseed of yellowjugflower heathlands.Some have lignotubers that I lAdenanlhosdelmoldri) showing healthy allow them to regenerateafler fire: I whiteendosperm. others are killed by fire and regenerate I Belowleft: Spll<yadena nl hosseed trap al from seed.Many speciesare popular as HamillaHills in theStirling Range I garden species, propagated from I NationalPark. cuttings and highly prized for their Belo.r.Retrieving seed from spiky I pretty pink or red flowers, therr I adenanthosat l-akeChinocup. I Photos- AnneCo(hrane/CALM interesting foliage, or their suitability as densemat ground covers. 50, o"ruru Endemicto the southernWheatbelt of WesternAustralia, spiky adenanthos has been classified as vulnerable accordingto WorldConservation Union criteria,and could indeedbecome extinctwithin the next decadedue to risingsalinity and other environmental impacts. Therefore, collecting seed samplesfor off-site conservationhas becomea matterof urgency. A TOUGHNUT TO CRACK The problem with collecting Adsnanthosseed is that it is setwithrn tuuits that are hiddenwithin bracts, which in turn arehidden in the tips of whorledbranchlets. Collecting this sort of seedhad in the pastproven to be an extremelylabour-intensive, low-yield task, further complicatedby the fact that the plantsoccur in hard-to-reach places,always a long journey away, Oncecollectors reached the site, they hadto work for hoursat a time overa periodof severaldays or weeksto find the fruits in the foliage.The result of this back-breakingeffort might be a handfulof fruits,many of whichwould not containseed. Theseed traps sewn in the caravan park that dayproved to be the answer. Tentraps were installed in the Stirling RangeNational Park at one of two knownsites for the species.The traps consistedof aluminiumfence droppers insertedinto the ground aroundthe outsideof individualplants. These were joinedby light fencingwire that served asa framefrom which hammocks offly- wire could be suspendedto capture falling seed.Enough seed was blown outsidethe catchmentarea of the fly- wire or escapedthrough a gaparound the stemof the plant ground to the to secondspiky adenanthos collection site I Likemany species of Adenanlhos. the ensurethat naturalregeneration could at Lake Chinocup.The effort finally I commonbuket flower(Adenonthos still occur. The traps could be left yielded enough material for I obouatusl,has ali1notuber and can unattendedand periodicallycleared, resproutafter fire. germinationtrials and long-term Photo- MarieLochman dramaticallyincreasing the volumeof storageand monitoring. seedthat couldbe collected, with much bythe plants do not havefully developed lesseffort. WEIGHINGTHE EVIDENCE endospermor embryo.The only wayof TheStirling Range traps were left in Havingovercome the difficultywith being absolutelycertain of a fruit's placefor four years,with localfarrning collection,TFSC scientists then faced contentsis to cut it open under a families employed to clear them the problemof identiflringwhich fruits microscope,a procedurethat risks regularly. The operation was so containedactual seed. The fruits are damagingthe preciousseed. succ€ssfulthat, in 1997,funding was small,measuring approximately five After weighingand cutting opena grantedby the World Wide Fund for millimetresby two millimetres.The range of seeds, TFSC scientists Naturefor membersof the Australian seedconsists of an embryosurrounded determinedthat fruits above aweight of Trust for ConservationVolunteers to bya nourishingwhite pulpy endosperm. 0.015grams were most likely to contain constructan additional20 traps at a A largeproportion of the fruits produced viable endospermand embryos.All , LsNosmpt5l I.Aroue. Erectingseed traps for lAdenanthos labillardierei in lhe I FitzgeraldRiver National Park. Photo- AnneCochrane/CALM l ref. The attractiveAdenonthos loreophilus, confinedto the area I betweenthe FitzgeraldRiver National Park and Mt Raggednorth-east of Esperance. Photo- GregHarold I SelorarThe hairyjug flower, (Adenanthos glistening 'l| barbigerns) with earlymorning dew. Photo- AndrewDavoll{achman Ttansparencies plants. It also shows how much in the way of time and resourcesis requiredto conserve our rare species for future generations. The knowledge gained through this persistent effort can be applied to other speciesin the same genus, streamlining the learning process. Nevertheless, the essential qualities for the conservation fruits above this weight were then one year after the seedshad been endeavour will always be patience, presumedto containviable seeds and frozen,introduced other factors such as determination and human ingenuity, ' were moved into storage and exposureto smokedwater to simulate along with quantities of seed-the germination trials. Fruits weighing the effects of fire. Eventually,it was foundation of plant life. under 0.015grams were cut open to determinedthat ihe keyto overcoming confirmthe lackof healthyendosperm. dormancyin theseed was to completely - Of the 4,624fruits collectedat Lake removethe seedcoat. Replicate trials Chinocup,only 84 percent were filled. are still being conducted, but systematictesting of treatmentsby the ACCELERATINGNATURE: TFSChas increased the germinationrate GERMINATION of the storedseeds ftom eightper cent Little is known about how spiky to 71per cenl andreduced germination adenanthosgrows. Perhaps the most time from 35 daysto 15days. importantundertaking of the TFSCwith this specieshas been to determinewhich CONCLUSION combinationout of a rangeof possible Weare finally coming to termswith factorsis mostlikely to tdggerthe seeds how somerare and threatenednative to germinate.The relatively large volume plantspecies regenerate. What is amply of seedmade available through the seed evident is that it is seldom a trapshas allowed a complexprogram of straightforwardprocess. Fodunately, germinationtrials to takeplace. not all native plant speciesare as Initial experimentsusing controlled difficult to understandor as hard to light, temperatures,moisture and growth collect as Adenanthos.But the tale of hormonesyielded only an eightper cent the spikyadenanthos shows how much germinationrate. Later trials, conducted there is yet to learnabout our native 52 ^*sn " 058''! 5 VOTUMEFIFTEEN NU[/IBER 2, SUMMERI999_2OOO COMMONGROUND RoBTHotVAt KETTH NoBLE & MANDYC1EW5.......................10 SAVINGTHE MALLEEFOWL SANDRAMCKENZTE & J0HN 8lyTH.........................................17 BALANCINGACT IANHERFORD, JOHN IRELAND & MANDY C1EWS.,.,..,..,....,..,..22 "What I wam't preparedfor wos the magic of the qcpeience." See 'Desert WONDERFULKALBARRI Impressioru'on page35 for the slor| of ALANTHoRNE . .. .. .. ..... .......,.........28 a LI\NDSCOPEheedition. How many seah or sea lions are thefe 'A DESERTIMPRESSIONS around WA\ coqsts?See Tale of Ttto Seak' on page 42. THEDEFIANT SEED ANNECoCHRANE.. ........ ................49 The malleefoul has declinedto 46 per cent of its former ronge, Readabout the combinedeffofi to saueit on page 17. BUSHTELEGRAPH ENDANGERED cAt\4ER0NSCAVEEC0toctCAL CENTRE.. .....................,........53 URBANANTICS TWtNKLE,TWTNKLE LtTTtE 5TAR..............................................54 Enjoy the WAenuironment-and don't Traditional 'Balancing owners are working uith get hurt! See Act' on page CALMand other agenciesto manage 23. the land. Seepage 10. ExecotiveEditor: RonKawalilak ManagingEditor: RayBailey Editor: DavidGough Story tditors: I\randyClewtVena Costello, Sandra Toby, Carolynlhomson'Dans Scientific/te.hnicaladvice: Andrew Burbidge, Greg Keighery lanAbbotl NeilEurow' PaulJonesand staff of CALI\,tScienreDivision