Alex George

The name Eucalyptus obtusiflora has been applied to both an eastern Australian species and to a distantly-related species from Western Australia. We have re-examined the literature and type material of E. obtusiflora and conclude that the holotype was most likely collected on the west coast of Western Australia, possibly as part of the Baudin Expedition, and was certainly not collected by Sieber, with whom the type specimen has previously been associated.

The type collection of Sturt pea was thought to have been lost soon after the publication of its original name, Donia formosa G. Don. For a long time, it was assumed (wrongly) to be at the Natural History Museum (BM), but it has now been located in the herbarium in Geneva (G). Annotations on the sheet show that the collection details have also been mistaken: instead of the ‘Curlew River’, collected by Phillip Parker King or Frederick Bedwell, it was collected by Allan Cunningham on the Malus Islands in the Dampier Archipelago.

Human milk contains a complex combination of lipids, proteins, carbohydrates, and minerals, which are essential for infant growth and development. While the lipid portion constitutes only 5% of the total human milk composition, it accounts for over 50% of the infant’s daily energy intake. Human milk lipids vary throughout a feed, day, and through different stages of lactation, resulting in difficulties in sampling standardization and, like blood, human milk is bioactive containing endogenous lipases, therefore appropriate storage is critical in order to prevent lipolysis. Suitable sample preparation, often not described in studies, must also be chosen to achieve the aims of the study. Gas chromatography methods have classically been carried out to investigate the fatty acid composition of human milk lipids, but with the advancement of other chromatographic techniques, such as liquid and supercritical fluid chromatography, as well as mass spectrometry, intact lipids can also be characterized. Despite the known importance, concise and comprehensive analysis of the human milk lipidome is limited, with gaps existing in all areas of human milk lipidomics, discussed in this review. With appropriate methodology and instrumentation, further understanding of the human milk lipidome and the influence it has on infant outcomes can be achieved.

The transfer of Dryandra R. Br. to Banksia L. f. was based on the use of holophyly (monophyly s. str.) as an essential criterion for recognition of taxa. The transfer was significant in scope and focuses on two iconic genera of plants in Western Australia. It has been accepted by some and rejected by others. It is one of many examples in a debate that pits recent genetic analysis against centuries of field and herbarium studies, and cladists against classical taxonomists. I argue that: (1) there are sound morphological characters distinguishing Dryandra from Banksia and they should be maintained as genera; (2) paraphyly should be accepted in biological classification; (3) scientifically, and for a morphologically complex genus of 137 specific and infraspecific taxa, the use of 11 taxa for the molecular analysis of Dryandra was insufficient; (4) some morphological data, mapped onto the cladogram a posteriori, were incorrect; (5) molecular cladistic approaches should complement rather than override pre-existing and extensive classifications based on phenotypid traits; (6) the acceptance of the transfer for the Australian Plant Census was premature according to guidelines published by Australian herbaria.