Seed Hunters - they're big in Japan!

Date posted: 23 February 2017

In January the South Australian Seed Conservation Centre got a nice surprise when one of its images of the Large Mudwort (Limosella curdieanavar. curdieana) found its way to the front cover of Japan-based international journal, Journal of Plant Research.

The plant was collected from pools amongst the rocky outcrops of Bimbowrie Conservation Park.

The Seed Centre team collected plant specimens and seeds on their travels Olary Ranges in the North East pastoral region in September 2008, with the images and notes uploaded to its Seeds of South Australia website, which contains information for over 2,600 plant species.

The site is a treasure trove of images and data on South Australian plants, and it provides information to assist community and industry-based restoration projects.

And – as the Journal of Plant Research front cover demonstrates – if often attracts the interest of plant lovers, organisations and scientists from interstate and around the world!

Check out a few of the other weird and wonderful places the Seed Centre’s images have recently popped up:

• An Egypt-based science journal included a Gunniopsis image due to the seed’s shape being comparatively similar to that of a Saharan species under study.
• A producer from a Japanese TV show at NIPPON TV - one of the country's largest networks - requested images of Caleana major (Flying Duck).
• Members of the Scottish Rock Garden Club shared the site on its forum, impressed with its features. Someone noted excitedlythe site “Even has an embryo chart!!!”
• An image of a Spreading Sneezeweed (Centipeda minima) turned up on a Thai website dedicated to medicinal and herbal remedies.
• A Tall Yellow-top (Senecio pilosicristus) image was found on a Japanese succulent website.
• The CSIRO used an image of Sclerolaena calcarata in a media release and newsletter after the first discovery of the plant in Victoria.
• The New South Wales Department of Primary Industry used images of Austrostipa nitida and Austrostipa blackii in a NSW grass identification guide.
• An image of a Grampians Goodenia (Goodenia gracilis) was used in a native garden app in Melbourne.
• Images and information of a number of rare species were used in booklets and posters for landholders in the SA rangelands, to help increase awareness of pastoralists of their local flora and fauna.
• A South Australian artist used a photo of a Solanumaviculare for a painting displayed in the South Australian Living Artists (SALA) Festival.
• Another South Australian woman requested some images of local wildflowers to help her design some embroidered cushion covers.
• The Weekly Times newspaper in Victoria used the rare River Murray floodplain yellow button (Craspedia haplorrhiza) images after the plant was listed under legislation and open for public comment.
• Images and notes on our page used to confirm a population for the nationally endangered Lepidium monoplocoides in VIC was still extant.
• Images of the Ptilotus genus (Pussy-tails) images were used in the ‘Australian Plant Society’ Native Plants Query Database.
• Images on the webpage were used to help identify the seeds of species of plants consumed by rare birds (Flock Bronzewings) in the SA Arid Lands to better understand their diets.

The South Australian Seed Conservation Centre is proudly supported by CMV Foundation, Thyne Reid Foundation, Antony & Mary Lou Simpson, ElectraNet and High Noon Trust.