Unknown]]> Unknown]]> Unknown]]> Unknown]]> The Forest Flora of New Zealand. It was given to her by her sister Rose, and then gifted to the Botany Department at the University of Otago in 1964. The instantly recognisable plant featured is a species of kowhai or Sophora. A member of the legume family, the kowhai’s naked branches flower from August to October and are said to herald the coming of spring. The flowers are a favourite food of the tui and bellbird and are considered by some to be the national flower of New Zealand. Indeed, Botany has adopted the kowhai as their Department motif.]]> Thomas Kirk]]> Unknown]]> Complete Trees and Shrubs is the culmination of over fifty years work. Eagle began painting plant specimens she had collected in 1954. Her first illustrated volume, containing 228 paintings, was published in 1975. A second volume appeared in 1982. In 2006 the definitive edition appeared, containing drawings of all the trees and shrubs native to New Zealand, including those from the previous two volumes. Eagle’s work, which totals some 800 botanical paintings, has won several awards, including the 2007 Montana Medal for Non-Fiction. Weighing in at six kilograms, and described as a ‘surrogate herbarium’, this is truly a monumental work.]]> Audrey Eagle]]> Complete Trees and Shrubs are drawn from life and appear life-size, with some parts enlarged. A brief description of each plant’s appearance and habitat is given, alongside the Latin names (family, genus and species), common name, and, where applicable, its Māori nomenclature. Solanum aviculare is a member of the Nightshade family and is commonly known as poroporo or New Zealand nightshade. The leaves contain a steroid, solasodine, which can be used as a contraceptive. The leaves can also be boiled and made into a salve, relieving skin conditions such as eczema and psoriasis. The berries are toxic when green but edible when they ripen to orange.]]> Audrey Eagle]]> Unknown]]> Lichens is a revised and updated version of his 1985 publication. The two volumes contain descriptions of 354 genera of lichens, covering some 75 to 80 percent of the lichens of New Zealand.]]> David Galloway]]> New Zealand Alpine Plants (1973; 1986; 1995). There are thousands of species of seaweed growing in the seas and oceans around the world. Adams’s Seaweeds of New Zealand, which won the Montana Book of the Year Award in 1995, describes 600 New Zealand varieties, with illustrations of 441. Red seaweeds, of which the genus Gigartina is one, are known to contain sulphated polysaccharides or carrageenans ‘which exhibit many beneficial biological activities such as anticoagulant, antiviral, antioxidative, anticancer and immunomodulating activities’ (Wijesekar et al, 2011).]]> Nancy Adams]]> Martin Holdsworth]]> Unknown]]> Stilbocarpa, Hebe, Pleurophyllum hookeri, Pleurophyllum criniferum and Pleurophyllum speciosum (which flowered before they left), Bulbinella rossii, and Anisotome. Here are Lynne, Lorna, Janice and Vickey outside the wharf sheds.]]> Vickey Tomlinson]]> Vickey Tomlinson]]> David John Burritt]]> botane) meaning ‘pasture’, ‘grass’ or ‘fodder’, is the scientific study of plant life. Being one of the oldest sciences, it once involved identifying and cultivating edible, medicinal and poisonous plants; picture the village herbalist, and physic gardens, often attached to monasteries and later, universities. As scientific knowledge and technologies advanced so did botanical studies. Today’s student of botany is faced with a subject that is now multidisciplinary, and increasingly studied at different scales from the gene to the ecosystem. No matter what the approach is, this 2014 brochure states a truism: ‘knowledge about plants is fundamental to our survival.’]]> Botany Department]]> Botany Department]]> Botany Department]]> Ranunculus ficaria, Splachnidium rugosum (Deadman’s fingers), lichens, and ‘Swiss chards’, which are not only nutritious, but range in colour from white to yellow to red. Descriptive text accompanies these images.]]> Botany Department]]> Above the Treeline (2012), reflects both his passion and scholasticism. And like many of his colleagues, he enjoys field-work.]]> Alan F. Mark]]> Introduction to Physiological Plant Ecology was published in 1979, the year he was appointed Professor and Head of Botany Department at Otago University. He held the latter position until 2003. Bannister (1939-2008) was active in research, penning numerous articles on various aspects of plant eco-physiology and ecology.]]> Peter Bannister]]> Avicennia resinifera (now Avicennia marina subsp. Australasia). In 1936, a scholarship enabled Baylis to attend London Imperial College where he gained his PhD on fungal damage to germinating peas. In 1946, he was appointed Lecturer-in-Charge of Botany at Otago, taking over from the Rev. Dr J. E. Holloway. He became first Professor of Botany (1952) and was Head of the Department for 34 years, retiring in 1978.]]> Geoff Baylis]]> Broma Studio, Nelson]]> Anne Thwaites]]>