MRe LsG. ADAMS, HERBARIUM AUSTRALIENSE,

‘CeSeIeRO0- v

P.O. BOX 1600,

asbs newsletter

AUSTRALIAN SYSTEMATIC BOTANY SOCIETY

Newsletter No. 2

President:

Vice President:

‘Secretary: Treasurers

Councillors:

July, 1974.

AeSeBe S e COMMITTEE

Dr. Trevor Whiffin, Department of Botany, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria. 3083. Prof. Dennis Carr, Research School of Biological Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra.

Mr. Don McGillivray, National Herbarium, Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney. 2000,

Dr, Andrew Kanis, Herbarium Australiense, Canberra.

Mr. Des Boyland, Queensland Herbariun, Meiers Road, Indooroopilly, Old. 4068, Mr. Alex George, Western Australian Herbarium, Department of Agriculture, Jarrah Road, South Perth. W.A. 6151.

. This newsletter is produced three times a year and deadlines fox copy are 20th January, 20th May and 20th September. The editor is pleased to receive any articles or newsworthy items for incorporation in the newsletter, | |

Des Boyland +: Editor (address above).

CALL FOR SPEAKERS

ANZAAS = Canberra 20-24th January, 1975

The Australian Systematic Botany Society became officially affiliated. to ANZAAS earlier in this year. Our next general meeting will be held during the 46th ANZAAS Congress in. Canberra, 20-24 January 1975, The Program Committee of the Society is organising a symposium of invited papers on modern approaches in plant taxonomy, which will be an integral part of the program of Section 12 (Botany).

Contrary to what we have written in an earlier circular letter to all heads of botany departments and state herbaria it will now be possible to present "contributed papers" within the program of the Botany Section and an independent open meeting of the A.S.B.S. for this purpose will not be necessary. However, it has been agreed that the A.S.B.S. will now organise a session within the ANZAAS program, and we should like to hear from those interested to speak on topics in plant taxonomy and geography or in closely allied disciplines, We should like to have an idea about the number of potential speakers and the subjects of the papers offered as soon as possible, so that selection can be made if necessary, .

We should also like to hear from anyone interested in organising a demonstration or exhibition in one of our fields of activity, whether in conjunction with a contributed paper or not, We might be able to find suitable accommodation for such efforts i£ we know as soon as possible, the latest by the lst of October, about their nature and the space required.

aA. Kanis

Convener,

AeSeB.eS. Program Committee

PUNGI AND THE FLORA OF AUSTRALIA

Although most mycologists realize that fungi are not really | plants, they are, for practical purposes, still treated as an annexe of the Plant Kingdom, It is thus reasonable to include them in the project of the proposed Australian flora, The flowering plants, © and many of the green cryptogams, differ sufficiently in different. parts of the world, often at genus — or even family —- level, to make regional flora'’s highly desirable. The same applies to several groups within the fungi. Specialized parasites are limited by the geographic distribution of their hosts, and some saprophytes are sufficiently sensitive to minor details in their substrate, e.g. many Basidiomycete species, to be geographically limited in a similar manner as higher plants. To study Basidiomycetes on a regional basis is a sensible approach. Although genera are usually widespread, many species show a limited distribution; it remains essential to compare local material with related species from other areas = too often Basidiomycetes have been named | by assumption rather than comparison, A similar approach seems suitable in the case of many Ascomycetes, particularly the specialized plant parasites among them. Many other groups of fungi, however, are considerably more international, This is well known for saprophytic Hyphomycetes, particularly the soil inhabiting ones, but it applies to several ecological groups like keratinophilic, thermophilic, and doprophilous fungi. Most of these fungi have always been studied | regardless of geographic distribution and there is little reason to include them in any regional type of flora, A check list of such organisms will be useful, but further details like keys and | descriptions are already available in the existing literature and _ thus need not be repeated on a regional basis. This does not mean that such fungi are in no need of local studies; on the contrary, our _ knowledge of the Australian fungus flora is so scanty that taxonomic and ecological studies in any groups of fungi carried out locally are | bound to yield useful and interesting information.

‘University of Melbourne

oe 8 s

TERM AS LIAISON OFFICER AT KEW

‘GoM. Chippendale

Following is a precis of parts of a talk which I gave to the ‘AeCeT. Chapter of the A.S.BsS. on 31st October, 1973, but I have added a few more notes. .

I arrived in London, with my wife and youngest child, on the © 8th July 1972, We were unable to get a suitable flat for two months, but were accommodated in a hotel in central London for this period on a generous settling-in allowance as an Australian Government Officer. Eventually, in September 1972 we moved to a flat in Kew Road, only ten minutes walk from the Herbarium and this was a most happy situation for the rest of our stay in Britain.

We found it economic to hire a car for weekend trips, rather than buy one, and this proved satisfactory for our circumstances,

In the work as Liaison Officer, I received about 100 letters from Australian botanists, most of which were simply answered.

I was comfortably settled in a bay of the Herbarium at the top of Wing B near the eucalypts. There was binocular microscope and light belonging to the position, and while I was there I requested CSIRO to provide a 35 mm camera and this (Pentax) was purchased before I left, I had been using my own camera to photograph specimens till then,

My project at Kew was to photograph all type specimens of Eucalyptus, and also to list all label information for transfer to computer cards as part of my EUCALIST project. In order to photograph the type specimens,

I had firstly to extract the published information for all species, including most synonyms, and then search for these specimens as I worked through the genus, Dr. Nancy Burbidge had photographed some of the types in 1953-4, but there were many more which had not been put in a type folder.

t also did this work at the Herbarium of the British Museum of , Natural History, and thus worked there for one day each week to keep parallel with my work at Kew. I can fully recommend to all future Liaison Officers that a definite time at the:B.M. is very worthwhile. The Keeper of the Botany Dept, at the:BsM. has donated 64 duplicate specimens of eucalypts collected by Robert Brown and Allan Cunningham, respectively, to the Porest Research Institute Herbarium, Canberra, following work I did in identifying these,

I visited herbaria in Cambridge, Edinburgh, Leiden, Vienna, Geneva and Florence, and at each of these I photographed type specimens of eucalypts, as well as carrying out investigations as requested,

My family and I were most happy being in Britain, but were also delighted to come home to Australia again, and we were home in Canberra on 18th August, 1973.

' RESOLUTION 9 ¢ STRENGTHENING OF ‘TAXONOMY

'TsUsBeS. Sept-Oct. 1973.

Prof. Dennis Carr (Vice Pres.) has informed us of the following resolution passed by the General Assembly of the International Union of Biological Sciences:~

Resolution 9 : Strengthening of Taxonomy

RECOGNIZING that the future of mankind depends on the treatment given to natural resources and that a rich variety of living organisms is a fundamental part thereof,

- that our present knowledge is very deficient and that in most biological disciplines, and especially in ecology, a proper knowledge of the systematics of the investigated organisms is of decisive import- ance,

REALIZING that the biota of many countries are still imperfectly known, that taxonomic handbooks are Lacking for many organisms and areas, and that competent taxonomists are too few to cope with all the material that requires determination,

BE IT RESOLVED that IUBS urge all governments, asbéclalty those providing technical assistance to developing countries, to strengthen taxonomy and especially taxonomic infrastructure required for training taxonomists and for making the ecological studies necessary to facilitate improvements in the use of resources and the effectiveness of technical development and also urge the responsible authorities of all countries to recognize taxonomy as a fundamental branch of biological science

and to support it accordingly.

This sounds all very nice = but words have been thrown around many times before =» what we need is action} = Ed, comment

a a

IT have prepared a list of Eucalyptus specimens photographed | overseas, and this is available for interested botanists, I have listed where the specimen is housed and have given a judgement on the type status.

I was deeply moved by the sense of botanical history at Kew and the -BeMe, and was thrilled with the documentary material available, for instance all of Bentham's diaries and a copy of his will. I t was exciting to read such entries in Bentham's diary as "24.10.65, At Kew til1:4.22 finished my paper on Leguminosae and got out Eucalyptus to begin upon for Fl. Australiensis,." Later, "5.1.66, At Kew till :'4,.20 finished Myrtaceae for the Australian flora."

I also saw Cunningham's field notes and extracted references to eucalypts.

Benthamiana at Kew included the pen with which Bentham wrote the Flora Australiensis and Genera Plantarum, At the:B,M. is the table which belonged to Sir Joseph Banks and later to Robert Brown, And of course, Linnaeus’ specimens are in a modern new vault at the Linnean Society offices. |

I found a house at Strand<-on~the=Green, near Kew, where Allan Cunningham Lived between his two visits to Australia. I found the house in Wilton Place where Bentham lived from 1862 until his death in 1884, and I have suggested to the London Council that a plaque be placed on this house. In Brompton Cemetery I found Bentham's grave in an unmarked plot, and recommended to the Director, (Prof. J. Heslop<Harrison) at Kew that the grave be marked, This has just recently been done.

{I was impressed by the sense of history also, when several botanists from the: B.eM, and Kew went to Kensal Green Cemetery to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the death of fF, Welwitch ~- they placed some plants of Welwitschia on his grave I feel that we could well hold small celebrations for many suitable dates, such as the birth or death date of such men as Banks, Brown, Cunningham, Bentham, and others.

The library at Kew is wonderfully arranged, beautifully kept and must surely be the best botanical library in the world.

As a result of a suggestion I made before leaving Kew, the Deputy Director, Mr. Pat Brenan has agreed that where I can indicate that there are several duplicate specimens of historic collections of Eucalyptus at Kew, he is prepared to consider donating these to Australian herbaria, ~ will prepare a list based on my notes, but I realise that this will be a slow business, as the Kew staff are very busy,.

I enjoyed working with the botanists and staff both at Kew and the BoM, and I feel I have friends in both places.

AUSTRALIAN BOTANICAL LIAISON OFFICER

Mr. Don Blaxell of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney (N.S.W.) will be our next Liaison Officer.

Don, with his family, will be leaving Sydney on the 25th July and en route to London will be visiting a mmber of botanical institutions: D.S,IeRe, Christchurch, .0.R.S.T.O.M. Noumea; Bishop Museum, Honolulu; University of California (Davis, Berkley and Irvine); Missouri Botanic Garden; University of Akron; and Oakes Ames Orchid Herbarium, Harvard. He will arrive in London on the 30th August, allowing time for discussions with Miss Helen Aston who completes her term as Liaison Officer on the Gth September,

Australian orchids will be the main subject of his research and he will be gathering data for a revision of Prasophyilum.

Don plans to attend -the 8th World Orchid Conference in Frankfurt- am=Main (April 1975) and the 12th International Botanical Congress in Leningrad in July 1975. |

Details of his itinerary of visits to European herbaria in April- May 1975 will be given in a later issue. | |

GUIDELINES FOR THE PREPARATION OF TAXONOMIC PAPERS

As a coordinated effort, the Advisory Committee for the Australian Journal of Botany (chairman: T.C, Chambers), the Advisory Panel for the Contributions from Herbarium Australiense (chairman: Hj. Eichler), and a special committee of the Australian Systematic | Botany Society (convener: P,G. Wilson) are engaged in drafting a nov version of Recommendations for the Preparation of Rotanical and Taxonomic Papers which will supersede those issued by CSIRO in 1953, Any member of the Society who is dissatisfied with the outdated 1953 issue, or wishes to make comments thereon, is invited to communicate eriticism and suggestions before the lst September, 1974 either to Mre:P.G, Wilson (Western Australian Herbarium, Jarrah Road, South Perth, 6151) ox to the undersigned, so that members! views can be duly considered in drafting the new version.

je Eichler,

Herbarium Australiense, CSIRO, P.O. Box 1600, CANBERRA CITY, A.CsT. 260

Members this is your opportunity to have your say - please assist the Advisory Panel with your comments, Ed.

INTERNATIONAL INDEX OF CURRENT RESEARCH PROJECTS IN PLANT SYSTEMATICS

This index has been compiled by the Flora North America Program for the American Society of Plant Taxonomists, It contains a Catalogue of 3,500 projects arranged systematically and geographically, representing 1,769 individuals, The index is most complete for North America, followed by Western Europe and least complete for Asia, About 60 Australian systematists have their projects listed, .

Dr. Stanwyn:G. Shetler, Program Director, FNA (Smithsonian Institute, Washington D.C. 20560,:U.5.A.) advised that as long as the supply lasts, copies will be sent out in response to demand,

Information about Current Taxonomic Research in Australia will continue to be made available in reports from the Heads of Herbaria. Answers to the questionnaire in the back of our first newsletter will -help to make this information more complete, If you haven't already done this please complete the form and Bend, it off to our editor Des Boyland, at the Queensland Herbarium.

COMING PUBLICATIONS

Flora of New South Wales - Gramineae. | No. 19, part 2 and a supplement to part 1 by Dr. Joyce W. Vickery are in presSe

"An Extended Phytochemical Survey of the Australian Species of Acacias Chemotaxonomic and Phytogenetic Aspects" by Mary D. Tindale and ‘D.G. Roux is in press in Phytochemistry Vol, 13.

Contr. Qd. Herb. No. 16: Solanum nigrum (Solanaceae) and allied species in Australia. iReJd.F. Henderson. in press.

Contre Qd. Herb. No. 17: Revision of the genera Cymbopogon and ‘Schizachyrium (Gramineae) in Australia. ST. Blake. in press.

Contre Od. Herb. No. 18: A Revision of extra~Australian species of Acacia subg. Heterophyllum. B. Pedley. in the editors hands.

COMMITTEE OF INOUIRY ON MUSEUMS ' AND NATIONAL COLLECTIONS

The Government, through the Special Minister of State, has appointed a Committee to advise on the future development of national collections and museums. Notice of the Committee's terms of reference appeared in newspapers on or about 15th May,

The Committee calls for submissions (typed wherever possible) from private persons to be lodged if possible by 3lst July, 1974 and from organizations, institutions and societies by the 3lst August, 1974,

Membership of the Committee is :=

Chairman ~ Mr. P, Pigott, managing director of several companies; interests in conservation, .

Prof. :GsN. Blainey, University of Melbourne (Economic History) Mr. RoW. Boswell, Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission Prof. DeJe Mulvaney, Australian National University (Prehistory) DreiFeHe Talbot; Director, Australian Museum Dre DF. Waterhouse, (Chairman, ABRSIC) C.SeTeReO, Mrs Andrew Clayton, National Park and Wildlife Foundation My. Frank Waters, ex General President APWU plus 1 member from Special Ministry of State,

In particular the Committee has been asked ~ (i) To advise on the scope, objectives and functions of an Australia Institute to develop, co-ordinate and foster collections, research and displays of historical, cultural and scientific material of national significance, giving particular attention to its relationship with Government and other institutions;

(ii) to recommend steps to establish such an institute;

{iii) in relation to the Australian Government's direct field of responsibility and interest, to recommend measures which should be taken in the immediate future to (a) improve collection and conservation facilities for national material, with particular attention to research needs and training;

(b) ensure effective co-ordination of the Australian Government's activities in this ~ield;

(c) institute new developments and institutions, with particular attention to the establishment of a national museum of history in Canberra;

= se

(iv) to recommend longer term measures in the field of museums and collections, with particular attention to the Australian Government's role in relation to state, local government and institutional authorities.

The announcement also mentions that the Committee is interested in proposals relating to a museum of natural history.

Engquities and submissions should be addressed to :+

The Secretary, .

Committee of Inquiry on Museums and National Collections, Box §286, P.Oe, ibd

CAIBERRA CITY, A.C.T, 2600,

RNOW THE HERPARTA This newsletter will attempt to cover a different herbatium every issue, The first in this series is that attached to the Waite Institute, Adelaide South Australia, WALITE INSTITUTE HERBARIUM ADYW

Curator: DeEe Symon

Assistance: One technical assistant.

Duties: To provice a taxonomic service to the Institute. To give lectures in the Faculty of Agriculture,

To supervise the Waite Arboretum (65 acres, 1500 trees, 760 species).

To carry out taxonomic research. ‘Current Interests:

Actives A revision of the Australian Species of Solanum {this is well advanced)

Dormant: Previous work on Australian Cassia

Potential: Mot yet active (Anthocercis, Anthotroche)

Herbarium:

m 1D =

The herbarium was established in the early 1930's and now contains 40,000 sheets of higher plants, No bryophytes, lichens, algae and few ferns are kept.

The collection is mainly Australian augmented with exchange material from Europe and California, The accent is towards weedy and agricultural plants, but it is in no way confined to them, |

A small amount of type material is held and there may be a small number of isotypes or syntypes in material received in the A, Morris herbariun,

The specimens are all mounted and each sheet is enclosed in a 'flimsy' and stored in metal cupboards, The specimens are poisoned by dipping in lauryl penta-chlor=phenate in white spirit before mounting, Each sheet is numbered in a single numerical sequence,

No register of sheet numbers is kept but a card for each species in the collection contains the number of the sheet, date and brief locality details, This card index is not used very often and may be discontinued,

The backlog of unidentified, unincorporated specimens is relatively small and it is now policy to get material incorporated as soon as possible if only identified to genus, Most recent collections have included duplicates and general policy is to return a duplicate to the State in which it was collected, to send a duplicate to CANB and depending on the amount of material available to known specialists or to KylapBe

A limited amount of exchange with several European and American herbaria is practised, Material wanted: any Solanaceae; Available: miscellaneous Australian plants. Library facilities are not large and interlibrary loans have to be used freely.

‘De. SYMON

ADEQUATE NAMES FOR OUR LOCAL CHAPTERS

The politico-administrative system of Australia is often reflected in the structure of bodies with a nation-wide membership, even when their activities are essentially non-political. The reasons for this tendency probably are geographical as well as traditional, However, when the Constitution of the A,S.B.S. was discussed, there was no debate between the founding members about federalist principles as opposed to centralist ones. There is no doubt that a relatively small, profession~oriented society like ours should not spread its capabilities too thinly and its nationally elected Council should be empowered to represent it at all levels. On the other hand, it was envisaged from the start that many activities of direct interest to the membership would be best organised at a local level, Now that chapters have been established in most metropolitan areas it has become opportune to look at their position more closely. _

Chapters established so far are all based in capital cities, obviously because members are concentrated there in sufficient numbers to make viable groups possible, It might therefore seem logical that they should claim to represent or cater for the whole of the Society's membership in the respective states and territories, as would appear from the names adopted by the chapters at present, However, in time it could foster the possible miconception that the A.S.B.S. would be subdivided in state branches or would be a mere confederation of state bodies,

Apart from the ideological aspect there is the practical consideration that members in remote secondary centres and country towns can not be reached effectively from capital cities for the normal chapter activities as day or evening lectures and meetings. In fact there will always be a mumber of Society members who, for geographical or other reasons, will not become members of any chapter and this imposes important restrictions on representative claims by chapters.

In a not too distant future it is well possible that more chapters will be established in some of the states and territories for reasons of convenience. It is not yet likely to happen in Western Australia, South Australia and Victoria, but people in the Townsville-Cairns area are well accustomed to organising their affairs independently from Brisbane and it could also occur in the Armidale<Coff's Harbour region of New South Wales. On the other hand, members living in the south-eastern corner of the latter state should be able to join the chapter based in Canberra.

In conclusion it is suggested here that the various chapters name themselves after the city or town they are centred on rather than after the state or territory they happen to be in, thus avoiding the appearance of state branches preempting the establishment of further chapters,

(A, Kanis) - ‘Herbarium Australiense, Canberra,

- 12 =

I agree entirely with Andrew's comments and have taken the liberty of ammending the names of the various chapters - Ed,

CHAPTER NEWS

PERTH

Since the formation of the Chapter the following meetings have been held: .

23 July 1973. Mr, Paul Wilson led a discussion on the Flora of Adstralia project.

3 September 1973. | Mr, Charles Nelson, Australian National University : the genus Adenanthos (Proteaceae) «

19 November 1973. Dr. Warren Stoutamire, University of Akron, Ohop: "Pollination Studies in Australian Terrestrial Orchids",

18 February 1974. A resume of current activities at the Western Australian Herbarium, and the Botany Department, University

of Western Australia, presented by various speakers, Dr. Neville Marchant delivered a short talk on plant collecting techniques.

lL May 1974, Prof.:- B,J. Grieve: the history and development of Blackall and Grieve "How to know Western Australian Wildflowers".

SYDNEY

At a meeting in March 1974 the local chapter was formed with MY S« ‘Kel. Wilson as Convener and Mr. A Rodd as Deputy Convener,

Our main activity this year centres on the informal evening seminar series originally initiated by the National Herbarium and the Botany Dept., Sydney University, for which Dr, Johnson has given permission for use of the Botanic Gardens Eduction Centre (this is beside the National Herbarium), Not just ASBS members but as wide an audience as possible is welcome _Wisitors to Sydney please note.); for example, librarians came to the talk given by Miss Edwards, Topics for this year are as follows:~

3rd April - Dre LeAsSe Johnson, Director, National Herbarium - "Evolution and Classification in the . Proteaceae" 3rd May ~ Miss P,I, Edwards, Librarian, British Museum

(Nat. Hist.) - "The British Museum : some of its manuscripts and collections."

Sth May = Dr. Helene Martin, Dept. of Biology, Univ. of NeSeW. = "A new approach to biogeography"

i2th June - Dre: J. Sved, School of Biol. Sciences, Univ. of Sydney - "Recent advances in. population genetics"

10th duly = . Mire Se Jacobs, National Herbariun < "Ecological significance of the Cy pathway"

l4th August ~ Mre:I. Southwell, Mus, of Applied Arts and Sciences ~ “Eucalypts and the Koala”

Day and weekend trips are being planned for later in the year to Ashton Park (at Bradleys Head), Castlereagh State Forest and Warrah Research Station, with appropriate specialists to discuss points of interest.

Apart from the above activities, special seminars will be organised as needed to enable overseas visitors to be heard (as was done in the ease of Miss Edwards).

; MELB QURNE

At a meeting in the National Herbarium on the T4th Pebruary it was Cecided to establish a Victorian Chapter of the A.5.B.S.

De, U.ed, Swart and Mrs:J, Martin were elected as Convener and Secretary respectively, Tt was decided to hold reguiar meetings on tha third or fourth Tuesday of alternate months, the first being on Tuesday, 23rd April, with Mx. J, Willis as speaker, Further meetings are planned for June, speaker Mrs:-S.C, Ducker, and August, speaker Dr. T. Whiffin.

I

“ADELAIDE

The chapter was formed at a meeting of members and interested people at Mr. David Symon'’s home on November 7th, 1°73, _

It was decided that a convener be elected each vear to organise and run the chapter, The convener would co-opt members when necessary to assist in the organisation and running of the chapter, It was agreed that meetings and field excursions would be arranged on alternate nonths and these would be kept as informal as possible and when possible meetings would be held at members homes,

Mr, Bob Chinnock was elected convener for 1974,

Interstate visitors who wish to join in on a field excursion or lecture are asked to write to the convener for further particulars, Talks by interstate members passing through Adelaide would be welcomed, and anyone prepared to do so is asked to contact the convener and a meeting will be arranged to fit in with his or her plans, ‘Two weeks notice of pending visit is necessary,

Name and address of Convener of South Australian Chapter 1974:- Mr. Bob Chinnock, State Herbarium of South Australia, Botanic Garden Department, North Terrace, ADELAIDE, :SsA. 5000 Telephone: 268 1021 (home); 223 3038 (work)

Current membership for South Australia is 20,

Programae January ~ November 1974 Friday, 22nd Pebruary

Sunday, 30th March Wednesday, 24th April Sunday, 26th May

Wednesday, 26th June

Wednesday, 3lst July Sunday, 25th August

Wednesday, 25th September

Wednesday, 30th October

Sunday, 24th November

BRISBANE

-— Interstate members welcome, +

Informal wine and cheese.

Cape Jervis and surrounding area, Fleuieu Peninsula.

Problems of Taxonomy in a large cosmopolitan genus =~ Mr. D. Symon.

Marine plants ~ Port Willunga and Victor Harbour ~ Leader Dr. E. Wollaston.

The Pteridophyte Flora of Australasia, Mr. Re Chinnock « Lecture room | Administrative Block, Botanic Garden,

The Classification of the Algae Dr. E.- Wollaston = University of Adelaide.

Roachdale, Mt, Lofty Range. Leader Mr.:B. Jackson,

Heath Vegetation ~ Mr, J, Carrick Lecture Room, Administration Block, Botanic Garden.

Discussion Evening and Election of Convener for 1975,

Mangroves at Port Gawler - Dr, A, Butler, Zoology Department, University of Adelaide.

A local chapter has been formed in Brisbane, Mr, Rod Henderson (Queensland Herbarium), Mrs. Estelle Ross (Queensland Herbarium) and

Dr. Valerie Boughton (Queensland University) have formed a committee

to organise meetings.

The first meeting is to be held on the 25th dunee Meetings will take the form o£ informal discussions with discussion leaders appointed tather than the formal lecture=discussion approach.

NEWS AND NOTES

Miss Pel. Edwards, Librarian of the Botany Department, British Museum of Natural History made a visit to Australia privately, but spent some time visiting people and institutions with common interests in Australian botany and its history. While in Sydney Miss Edwards showed annotated examples of the different kinds of Robert Brown's specimens, viz. ~ study set, private herbarium, national collection, Banksian herbarium and duplicate collection. Photographic negatives of these specimens are available to other herbaria on loan from the Director, Royal Botanic

Gardens, Sydney, 2000. A special meeting of the Sydney Chapter, complemented by librarians, heard an enlightening illustrated talk from Miss Edwards about "The British Museum (Natural History) some of its Collections and Manuscripts".

Bernie Hyland (Atherton) has visited antipodean herbaria to consult material relevant to his studies on Eugenia sens. lat.

We'ye had the good news that Jim Willis is to be the recipient of

a very well deserved Doctor of Science Degree (conferred by the University of Melbourne) .

Dr, David Given,:D.5.I.R., Christchurch visited Sydney for a few days to study ferns and Celmisia in the herbarium and in the field,

REQUESTS

John Carrick, State Herbarium South Australia would be grateful for collections of Prostanthera, particularly mature fruits (nutlets in calyx), and full-blown flowers preserved in fluid,

Wee Lek Chew, Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney requests material of Epacridaceae, Piperaceae and Urticaceae from Malesia, Melanesia and Australia.

AUSTRALIAN BIOLOGICAL RESOURCES STUDY INTERIM COUNCIL

Announcement of grants by ABRSIC for 1973=<74 are expected by the time this Newsletter is issued. It is understood that funds made available for 197374 may be carried over if necessary.

Since March the Government has called for further applications to ABRSIC for 1974-76, Applicants who made submissions prior to the 4th March relating to grants for 1974~76 did not have to re-apply and were given the opportunity of amending their original submissions relevant to that period. That part of the Council's role relating to grants | for and advice on the maintenance of national biological collections would appear to be subsumed by the Committee of Inquiry on Museums and National Collections (see page 8), Further news on this in the next newsletter.

Any inquiries about the Interim Council and its grants may be made to the Secretary, Australian Biological Resources Study Interim Council, Department of Science, P.O. Box 449, Woden, A.c.T. 2606.

REQUESTS

Mre Don Blaxell, Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney 2000, would be grateful for spirit collections of Prasophyllum (Orchidaceae) with collection data and if possible a dried voucher specimen. Please send specimens to Sydney where arrangements have been made for them to be processed during his absence overseas as Liaison Officer, If it is possible to send material which arrive in Sydney in fresh condition this also can be handled.

Bernie Hyland, Botanist at the Forestry and Timber Bureau, Atherton would appreciate material of Australian species of Eugenia sens, late Acnena, Cleistocalyx, Eugenia, Jossinia, Syzygium and related genera.

Rex Filson, National Herbarium, Melbourne, requests specimens of Cladia and Heterodea for determination and if possible duplicates for retention at Melbourne,

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ARE YOU A. FINANCIAL MEMBER?? .

PLEASE FORWARD SUBSCRIPTIONS’ FOR 1974

THREE DOLLARS Cheques payable to A.S.B.eS. and forwarded to

Dr. A. KANIS (Treasurer, AsSeBe Se) Herbarium Australiense, CeSelsReOe,

P.O, Box 1600,

CANBERRA CITY. A..C.eT. 2601.

Please find enclosed $3.00 for 1974 membership fees.

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