History of Systematic Botany in Australasia

For all those people interested in the 1988 ASBS symposium in Melbourne, here are the proceedings. It is a very nicely presented volume, containing 36 papers on: the botanical exploration of our region; the role of horticulturalists, collectors and artists in the early documentation of the flora; the renowned (Mueller, Cunningham), and those whose contribution is sometimes overlooked (Buchanan, Wilhelmi).

The Contents, Preface and an article by J.H. Willis are available here.

Evolution of the Flora and Fauna of Arid Australia

The Contents and Preface are available here.

Ecology of the Southern Conifers

Proceedings of a symposium at the ASBS Conference in Hobart in 1993.

While pines, spruces, firs and other conifers prominent in northern hemisphere landscapes, particularly in mountain and high-altitude environments, have been the subject of much scientific study, southern conifers have been largely overlooked, even though almost one-third of all conifers - some 200 species - are found in the south and many more occur in the tropical lowland forests that straddle the equator. Some researchers have even characterised the southern conifers as relicts or living fossils, destined to be swept away by a rising tide of flowering plants.

Ecology of the Southern Conifers brings together, for the first time, information on this diverse and unique group of plants. Twenty-eight scholars from across the hemisphere examine the history and ecology of the southern conifers, and emphasise their importance in understanding the evolution and ecological dynamics of southern vegetation. Drawing together the results of research from ecosystems as varied as the South African fynbos and New Caledonian rainforests, the Argentine steppe and inland Australia, this book searches for unifying themes and seeks to relate these to modern evolutionary and ecological theory.

This large and complex plant group has not received the attention it deserves. Ecology of the Southern Conifers places these plants in their rightful position as one of the significant groups for understanding evolutionary and ecological processes in the southern hemisphere.

The Contents and Preface are available here.

Australian Systematic Botany Society Newsletter

Back issues of the Newsletter are available from Number 27 (May 1981) onwards, excluding Numbers 29 and 31. Here is the chance to complete your set. Cover prices are $3.50 (Numbers 27-59, excluding Number 53) and $5.00 (Number 53, and 60 onwards).

Postage $1.30 for regular newsletter issues and $1.75 for the Large Genera issue (#53) in Australia (elsewhere at cost).

Systematic Status of Large Flowering Plant Genera

This Newsletter issue includes the reports from the February 1986 Boden Conference on the "Systematic Status of Large Flowering Plant Genera". The reports cover: the genus concept; the role of cladistics in generic delimitation; geographic range and the genus concepts; the value of chemical characters, pollination syndromes, and breeding systems as generic determinants; and generic concepts in the Asteraceae, Chenopodiaceae, Epacridaceae, Cassia, Acacia, and Eucalyptus.