Horticultural Research

Our horticultural research facilities are located at Mount Annan Botanic Garden. The facilities include a tissue culture laboratory, seed drying and storage rooms, growth cabinets, climate controlled glasshouses and several shadehouses. Research undertaken in these facilities is centered on the conservation and horticulture of Australian plants, particularly threatened species and species with economic potential. The research includes work on cultivation requirements, reproductive strategies and seed biology, and is closely allied with the NSW Seedbank.

Horticultural research aids in the management of threatened species by providing information on factors affecting their growth, reproduction and dispersal. Such information is essential to effective conservation, whether in situ or ex situ. Our work on the Wollemi Pine, for example, has increased our understanding of the environmental factors affecting germination and growth in the wild, and has enabled the establishmenet of a substantial ex situ population. Similarly, work on the symbiotic germination of terrestrial orchid seed has led to the development of a useful method for propagating individuals for restoration programs.

Horticultural research also provides valuable information on the propagation and cultivation Australian plants for the nursery and floriculture industries. The overall aim of this research is to bring a range of native plant species into cultivation and thus contribute to the conservation of biodiversity by increasing community appreciation of the Australian flora, and by reducing the occurrence of bush-harvesting.

Our team

• Dr Cathy Offord — Program Leader
• John Siemon — Senior Technical Officer
• Amelia Martyn — Seed Research Officer
• Karen Sommerville — Technical Officer, Horticultural Research
• Amanda Rollason — Horticultural Research Assistant
• Veronica Viler — Horticulturist

Current programs & projects

Our current research program includes the projects listed below. Click on the links provided for more detailed information.

• Conservation of threatened terrestrial orchids and their associated mycorrhiza
• Desiccation tolerance in rainforest species of eastern Australia
• Seed biology of NSW Rutaceae species
• Storage requirements of NSW native seeds (includes estimating seed longevity using rapid aging techniques)
• Susceptibility of Proteaceae and Myrtaceae species to infection by Phytophthora cinnamomi (in collaboration with the Plant Disease and Diagnostic Unit at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney).

Completed programs and projects

• Development of the Waratah for cut-flower production
• Development of varieties of Flannel flower for gardens and cut-flower production
• Biology of the Wollemi Pine, including seed and reproductive biology, factors affecting growth, propagation and cultivation methods, and population genetics

Systematics Research

Our plant systematics research is about discovering, documenting and classifying plants, and understanding their relationships and evolution. The National Herbarium of NSW is the leading agency for plant systematics in New South Wales.

The primary focus of our research is the native flora of NSW, but we also take an active interest in plants of neighbouring states, countries and sources of naturalised plants — after all, plants don’t respond to political boundaries! We also investigate the evolutionary relationships of our native plants with those of other regions.

Our systematics research involves: discovering, naming and describing plant species, determining and characterising the relationships between plant taxa, and modifying plant classification to reflect improved knowledge of plant relationships.

Our research laboratories are based at the Royal Botanic Gardens. Our scientists’ research is published in a number of systematics publications, including our plant systematics journal Telopea.

Find out what our Botanists are doing

• Lord Howe!
• Mmm … smell the seaweeds!
• Tea-tree or not Tea-tree?
• Drifting waratahs or continents?
• She-oaks — tough survivors
• Surprise results from DNA studies!
• Cycas — ancient survivors
• DNA of ground orchids
• Nightcap Oak

Our team and their current programs & projects

• Elizabeth Brown — Lepidoziaceae, Fossombronia, Asterella, hepatics in Australia, wet tropics cryptogams, Styphelioideae
• Barry Conn — Westringieae (Lamiaceae), Chloantheae (Lamiaceae), Lecantheae (Urticaceae), trees of Papua New Guinea, plants of Lord Howe Island, Logania (Loganiaceae)
• Tim Entwisle — freshwater macroalgae and bryophytes, microalgal communities, filamentous algae
• Joy Everett — Asteraceae (Gnaphalieae), stipoid grasses
• Surrey Jacobs  — stipoid grasses, Australian Nymphaea,Vallisneria, Aponogeton
• Bob Makinson — Grevillea, Astrotricha
• Adam Marchant — Restionaceae, Solanum, Camellia, Lavandula, bryophytes, Gymnopilus, Abildgaardieae, Juglans, Sporochnaceae
• Alan Millar — marine algae and invertebrates, Gelidiales
• Peter Weston — Proteaceae, Diurideae (Orchidaceae), basal-relictual angiosperms
• Karen Wilson — Cyperaceae, Casuarinaceae, Juncaceae, Polygonaceae
• Peter Wilson — Chamelaucium alliance (Myrtaceae), Myrtaceae clade of the order Myrtales, Babingtonia (Myrtaceae), Indigofera pratensis, Indigofereae (Fabaceae)

Ecology Research

Our ecologists study, describe and map the natural vegetation communities across New South Wales. These studies provide a basis for well-informed species and habitat conservation advice and natural resource management — to aid in conservation decisions by Government, private landholders and land use agencies. The research provides increased knowledge of the distribution, abundance and dynamics of plant species, and improved floristic classifications of vegetation on a regional basis.

Our ecologists also provide expert scientific opinion to the Government and the general public by participating in advisory committees that are part of recent conservation legislation.

We have dedicated research laboratories for a wide range of opportunities in conservation and population genetics research. Genetics studies are aimed at developing adequate management strategies for rare and threatened species. DNA-based techniques are used to investigate changes in population dynamics, gene diversity and overall viability that occur as a consequence of the loss of connectivity across fragmented habitats.

Vegetation maps and reports are provided to other Government agencies and the general public and made available in general interest publications and in specialist ecology publications, including our journal Cunninghamia.

Find out what our Plant Ecologists are doing

• New South Wales Vegetation Classification & Assessment Project
• Ecology of Cumberland Plain Woodland
• Plants … vegetation … landscape … country
• Habitat fragmentation

Our team and their current programs & projects

• Doug Benson (Senior Ecologist) — Sydney plant species, western Sydney plant communities, Cumberland Plain woodland, woodland remnants
• John Benson (Senior Ecologist) — vegetation of western NSW, Wollemi Pine, Riparian rainforest, grasslands of Liverpool Plains
• Maurizio Rossetto (Research Scientist) — Elaeocarpus, Nightcap Oak, Achronychia littoralis, Cissus, Vitaceae, Trachymene (Apiaceae), Davidsonia (Cunoniaceae), Hakea pulvinifera
• Surrey Jacobs (Principal Research Scientist) — stipoid grasses, Australian Nymphaea,Vallisneria, Aponogeton
• Christopher Allen (Senior Technical Officer)
• Lotte von Richter (Technical Officer) — Cumberland Plain Woodland

Plant Pathology Research

As well as managing the Plant Disease Diagnostic Unit, our Plant Pathology section conducts a wide range of plant pathology and mycological research relevant to the aims of the Botanic Gardens Trust, including fungal associations & pathogens of the Wollemi Pine and management of Wollemi Pine diseases. Other research areas include pathogen populations, pathogen evolution and genetics and fungal taxonomy.

Our plant pathology scientists have produced a large number of pest & disease fact sheets which you can view on this website. They also publish their scientific results in specialist plant pathology publications.

Find out about what our Plant Pathologists are doing

• Fungi — not always fun guys!
• Phythophthora in national parks in NSW — an introduced disease that is a serious threat to many of our native plants
• Australian microfungi — perhaps the most numerous and least known of fungi, we are trying to find out about both the good and the bad
• Fusarium — ecology, taxonomy and pathology of Fusarium and related fungal species

Our team and their current programs & projects

• Brett Summerell (Director Science & Public Programs) — Fusarium, macromolecular techniques for plant disease diagnosis, fungi of Australian native plants, SE Asia plant pathology
• Edward Liew (Head of Plant Pathology Section) — disease diagnostics, pathogen populations, fungal phylogenetics, tropical crop diseases, Fusarium, Phytophthora
• Suzanne Bullock — Senior Technical Officer 
• Julie Bates — Technical Officer
• Sarah Dunstan — Technical Officer