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.