JOURNEY INTO THE HEART OF THE HERBARIUM

Prue Gibson has loved archives since she spent much of her twenties working as an assistant curator at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, surrounded by precious prints, drawings and watercolours. Three years ago, with the help of a grant from the Australian Research Council, she once again found herself immersed in a world of carefully curated treasures, except these were housed in the National Herbarium of NSW.

An academic researcher at the University of NSW School of Art and Design, Gibson has over the past decade examined the way plants are “represented and aestheticised in art” – in the process generating several books, including a study of Australian artist Janet Laurences’ BioArt. With her latest book, The Plant Thieves, she set out to explore how, by engaging with some of the Herbarium’s 1.4 million specimens, an assortment of artists, poets and botanists might afford plants a value beyond their scientific worth.

The Plant Thieves does indeed offer insights into the ways artists and scientists relate to their favourite plants. But it also describes a journey that ventures off course, as conversations with elders, artists, historians, botanists and conservators lead Gibson into unexpected territory. The result is an exploration of various themes, including the way Indigenous Australians were robbed of their horticultural connections; how scientists guard psychoactive flora from modern poachers; and why conservation efforts can turn plant thieves into plant protectors.

Along the way, Gibson shines a light on some intriguing stories, several of which are dark indeed. None more so than Herbarium director Hannah McPherson’s research into German naturalist Amalie Deitrich (1821–91), who in the mid-1800s spent nine years gathering (or perhaps looting) flora and fauna from some of Australia’s most remote and challenging regions. Gibson’s admiration for the intrepid female scientist is indelibly tainted when she learns Dietrich’s collections included eight Indigenous skeletons, and hears of a horrifying letter that recounts the European’s murderous intent towards Australia's Aboriginal peoples.

“Specimens,” she writes, “can reveal some unpleasant truths about their collectors.”

Other tales are less gruesome, but no less interesting. There are, for instance, accounts of plants that have united communities and plants that have healing qualities, such as the antiinflammatory stinging nettle that helped one herbarium manager endure the pain of a broken wrist in the middle of the wild Papua New Guinea highlands. One tale Gibson found particularly arresting was the remarkable transformation – revealed by the research of the Herbarium’s Dr Claire Brandenburger – of the beach daisy Arctotheca populifolia. Taken from its home in South Africa in the 1930s, the plant has undergone such fast evolution on Australian shores that its leaves, flowers, physical and chemical defences have all changed, leaving taxonomists to now debate whether it should be considered a new species. Humans, she notes, are generally intolerant of change, but this simple beach daisy is a dramatic reminder that nothing stays the same.

Ultimately, Gibson says, she would like The Plant Thieves to serve as a cure for “plant blindness”, the tendency for humans to see people and animals clearly but to think of plants as nothing more than background.

“I want to change the way readers think about plants. I want them to stop in the street, to pause in their gardens, to linger in the parks and wonder ‘who are you, really?’ as they gaze at the clever, growing vegetal things around them.”

David Carroll

Claudia Chambers

RRP $50 (plus postage)

Becoming a Botanist is – in the very best sense – a labour of love. This celebration of the life and achievements of the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney’s former Director, Emeritus Professor Carrick Chambers, came about through a series of conversations between Carrick and his daughter, Claudia, over a period of ten years.

Becoming a Botanist follows Carrick’s journey from Auckland to Melbourne where he took up the role of Professor of Botany at the University of Melbourne in 1967, later becoming Director of the Gardens from 1986 to 1996. It covers his involvement in the early Landcare movement, his overseeing of the discovery and propagation of the Wollemi Pine, the design of key specialist gardens and his role in the creation of the Australian Botanic Garden and the Blue Mountains Botanic Garden. Writing the book together, says Claudia, provided a special opportunity for reflection on all that Carrick had achieved in his life, in his own words. It is currently being reviewed for the ABC Science Show.

The beautifully illustrated book is a hardback limited edition, with photos generously provided by former Gardens’ photographer, Jaime Plaza, and printing costs donated by the Chambers family. All proceeds will go towards Wollemi Pine research at the Botanic Gardens. Members who would like to purchase a copy can email development@ botanicgardens.nsw.gov.au with their shipping details and phone number. Put ‘Becoming a Botanist book order’ in the email subject line.

Tony Start, Kevin Thiele

CSIRO Publishing

RRP $59.99

Viscum album, the colourful parasitic shrub we know as mistletoe, grows in many regions around the world and has played leading roles in many cultural myths and customs. Mistletoe are also ecologically important, with many Australian native animals dependent on them (including the larvae of some of our most beautiful butterflies, which feed on mistletoe leaves). Using photos and distribution maps, this illustrated guide helps fans of Australian flora identify the seven genera and 42 species of mistletoes found across Western Australia (many of which also occur in the Northern Territory). In addition, it provides descriptions of their hosts and details on mistletoe biology, biogeography, conservation and evolution (including how they cope – or more accurately don’t cope – with fire). Tony Start is a Research Associate at the Western Australian Herbarium, specialising in mistletoes, while co-author Kevin Thiele, a botanical taxonomist who has worked with many groups of Australian plants, was the head of the Western Australian Herbarium for more than a decade.

Lauren Camilleri and Sophia Kaplan, Smith Street Books, RRP $55

This well-structured guide to creating a flower-filled environment in a variety of spaces – including balconies – opens with some simple tips on the selection, styling, arrangement and care of angiosperms. But the real attraction is the publication’s colour-filled profiles of more than 60 flowering plants, organised into the four seasons. Each profile offers practical information on how to best nurture each species and is accompanied by beautifully presented photographs by Becca Crawford. The profiles are also interspersed by interviews with a selection of “plant-lovers” such as artist Samantha McIntyre, florist Petrina Burrill and horticulturist Jane Rose-Lloyd. Authors Lauren Camilleri and Sophia Kaplan are the founders of Sydney-based interior design nursery and online plant delivery service, Leaf Supply.

Jac Semmler

Thames & Hudson Australia

RRP $90.00

Billing itself as “a reinvention of the flower and gardening encyclopaedia,” this impressive tomb (weighing in at 528 pages) offers profiles of 75 flowering plants (arranged alphabetically) – from Achillea (yarrow) to Zinnia. Each profile includes care and growing notes, a list of potential 'planting partners', and an abundance of high-quality illustrations and photographs. Author Jac Semmler also covers what she calls the “fundamentals”, providing expert guidance on such things as where to source plants, how to save seeds, must-have tools, and the harvesting, conditioning and arranging of cut flowers. In addition, she explores plant biology and soil ecology, while profiling some prominent gardeners, among them Nature Festival curator Jill Woodlands, landscape designer Emma Sadie Thomson and wildflower farmer Marilyn Sprague. Until 2021, Semmler was the head of ornamental gardening and range at the Diggers Club. Today she is Director of Super Bloom, a plant practice that aims to bring “dynamic living beauty and diversity and plant specialists to projects, people and places”.

YOUR CHANCE TO WIN A BOOK

Gary Backhouse

CSIRO Publishing

RRP $49.99

When it comes to diversity of wild orchids, Australia’s second smallest state is one of the richest regions in the world. Victoria offers everything from the minute Mallacoota Midge Orchid, with flowers just 2mm across, to the impressive King Orchid, large examples of which can produce hundreds of fragrant flowers. In his Guide to Native Orchids of Victoria, Gary N. Backhouse includes brief descriptions of 447 species, highlighting key features to help with identification. The book also includes distribution maps and more than 460 photographs of wild orchids in their natural habitat (including some the author claims have never been illustrated before). Backhouse, who worked in biodiversity conservation with the Victorian Government until his retirement in 2012, has travelled the world in search of orchids and photographed more than 5,000 species in the wild. He is the author or co-author of three books on native orchids of Victoria, a book on Caladenia orchids of Australia, and a Guide to Native Orchids of NSW and ACT

Stephen Debus

CSIRO Publishing

RRP $49.99

Falcons are not just beautiful creatures, due to their position at the top of the food chain, they are also important indicators of ecosystem health. Australia has six species – two endemic to the continent and two endemic to Australasia. In Australian Falcons Dr Stephen Debus draws on a variety of sources, including his own field studies, to provide in-depth profiles of all six species, as well as the Black-shouldered Kite (a falcon-like hawk). Along with information on behaviours, ecology and biology, Debus reviews each species’ population status and threats, while outlining the actions that need to be undertaken to ensure their future. The book is designed to serve as a resource for raptor biologists but will also appeal to birdwatchers and anyone interested in wildlife conservation. An honorary research associate in zoology at the University of New England, Debus has studied Australia’s raptors for more than 40 years. He is the author of several books, including Australasian Eagles and Eagle-like Birds and Australian Birds of Prey in Flight

Foundation & Friends has a few copies to give away of the books featured on pages 9–11 (with the exception of Becoming a Botanist). To be in the running to win, just email foundation.friends@botanicgardens.nsw.gov.au or write to Letters, Foundation & Friends, Cottage 6, Mrs Macquaries Rd, Sydney NSW 2000 by Friday 16 June. Include your contact details, current membership number and which book you would like to receive.

In our last edition we gave members the chance to win Yates Top 50 Fragrant Plants (Angie Thomas), Wildlife in the Balance (Simon Mustoe) and Garden Gathered: Floral Design & Rural Life at Riverdale Farm (Helen Leighton). Congratulations to our winners: Richard Chaplin, Margaret Dyer, Bronwyn Harris, Joan Lai, Anita Mandic and Judy Pointing.