Alex George

From 1937 to 2009 the Australian Federal, State and Territory Governments, jointly, stationed a succession of botanists at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Their role was twofold: first, to service inquiries from Australia for information from the vast collections of plant specimens, literature and archives: second, to conduct research on their own special areas of interest.

Fifty-two botanists spent terms averaging a year at Kew (one twice), with visits to other herbaria in Britain and on the Continent. The information gathered supported immeasurably the quality of thousands of scientific books and papers. Further, by updating the nomenclature on specimens (often unchanged since the 19th century) they improved the standard of collections both in the herbaria visited and in Australian herbaria. With an essay on the history of the scheme and an essay on each person who held the post, this book is illustrated with photographs of each ABLO, staff at Kew and many aspects of Kew and other herbaria.

Banksias are Australia's most iconic plants after Eucalypts - known for thousands of years to Australians and - through writing and art - to many more who have never visited this land.

This extensively revised edition includes the most recently discovered Banksia, vincentia, with descriptions and illustrations of all 79 known species with many new photographs and updated species descriptions. It provides the history of their discovery, evolution, how to find and grow them and how they have inspired artists and artisans. With some 400 beautiful colour illustrations it is the comprehensive, up-to-date guide to these unique and fascinating plants.

Tables list which Banksias to grow for particular purposes and the three authors have between them, studied and grown all 79 species of Banksia, their combined experience totalling over a hundred years.

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.

Latin is one of two acceptable languages for describing new plants, and taxonomists must be able to translate earlier texts in Latin. Providing a simple explanation of Latin grammar along with an in-depth vocabulary, this is an indispensable guide for systematic botanists worldwide. All relevant parts of speech are discussed, with accompanying examples as well as worked exercises for translating diagnoses and descriptions to and from Latin. Guidelines for forming specific epithets are also included. The authors cross-reference their grammar to Stearn's Botanical Latin and to articles in the International Code of Nomenclature for Algae, Fungi and Plants. The comprehensive vocabulary is enhanced with terms from recent glossaries for non-flowering plants – lichens, mosses, algae, fungi and ferns - making this an ideal resource for anyone looking to hone their understanding of Latin grammar and to translate botanical texts from the past 300 years.

An Australian reference book on the history and sources of information especially relevant to the study of plants in Australia, including its offshore territories. It also contains biographical entries for some 2600 names of people who collected plant specimens between 1699 and 1900. Finally there is a list, with concise details, of all ships that carried natural history collectors and passed through Australian waters.