Botanic Gardens Trust, Sydney, Australia

Department of Environment and Climate Change NSW

Lord Howe!

Elizabeth Brown, Bryologist

Many of the plants in garden beds near the Opera House Gate at the north-western corner of the Royal Botanic Gardens were collected from Lord Howe Island as cuttings or seed by Botanic Gardens Trust scientist Elizabeth Brown while studying the island’s liverworts. Liverworts are small moss-like plants, among the first to appear on land more than 200 million years ago. The island’s liverworts (about 100 species) are closely related to those in Australia, New Zealand and New Caledonia. Elizabeth is also  part of a group of volunteers who weed out invasive introduced plants, an important role in maintaining the island’s World Heritage standing.

Did you know?

  • Lord Howe Island is a volcanic island 7 million years old, 700 km north-east of Sydney.
  • Nearly 50% of the island’s plant species are found nowhere else in the world. This, and its great beauty, seabirds and marine life, earned its World Heritage status in 1982.
  • One of four native palm species, the Kentia Palm, Howea forsteriana, is native only on Lord Howe Island. Growing seedlings for the indoor plant industry is an important export activity.
  • W eedy Psidium cattleianum (Cherry Guava), species of Pittosporum and Asparagus (asparagus ‘fern’), and the weedy liverwort, Lunularia cruciata, could displace the native flora.

Elizabeth-Brown
Elizabeth Brown

LHI-photo-Ian-Sutton
Lord Howe Island.
Photo: © Ian Hutton
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