| Avenue Toppling | Byfield Fern | The Glorious Colchicacideae |
| Avenue toppling is the term used in the scientific literature when live trees are upended (uprooted) usually as a result of extreme weather events (e.g. storms, cyclones). | The Byfield ‘fern’ is not really a fern at all but is rather from the Family ZAMIACEAE and therefore a reasonably close relative of the cycads (Family CYCADACEAE). | The Family Colchicacideae is found mainly in tropical and south Africa and Asia but there are a few species occurring naturally in Europe, Australia and North America (but not South America). |
| Strictly Strychnos | Are there Strigolactones in your garden? | What's in a name? |
| There are only three species of Strychnos (Fam Loganiaceae) in Queensland and two of these are restricted to north Queensland while S psilosperma extends along the east coast as far south as the Clarence River. | Advances in science often result from the advent of new techniques and the convergence of diverse lines of research. One such example that has developed in the last decade involves a new class of plant hormones called Strigolactones and their relationship with mycorrhiza. | As amateur botanists we have probably all been caught out by it: the change in a scientific name that we don’t notice until some time after it comes into effect. |
