In an historic milestone that coincides with UNE’s 70th anniversary celebrations, UNE Botany and the N.C.W. Beadle Herbarium’s long legacy of research excellence has been commemorated through the planting of three new garden beds on the UNE Armidale Campus.
Thanks to researchers and students from the botany department, the T.C. Lamble Garden now contains a number of rare plant species native to the region that represent the significant contributions that UNE Botany and the Herbarium have made to science over the past 70 years.
“Most of the plants here highlight particular research projects that our students have undertaken,” said Emeritus Professor Jeremy Bruhl, who is one of the brains behind the garden and the former Director of the N.C.W. Beadle Herbarium.
“There are groups where we’ve determined what the species are, published those as new to science, and worked out what their evolutionary relationships are.”
Image: Members of the UNE Botany Department sitting next to the newly planted T.C. Lamble Garden.
The garden was designed by Dr Ian Telford, Honorary Curator N.C.W. Beadle Herbarium, who along with E/Prof. Bruhl, has described several of the species used.
By having these native plants easily accessible on campus, it’s anticipated the garden will double as a valuable resource for students at all levels of study across a range of disciplines.
“In the long-term, we can turn the whole campus into a living laboratory where students can be shown and be involved with the plants in undergraduate as well as postgraduate units—not just from botany, but from across a whole lot of interdisciplinary areas,” said E/Prof. Bruhl.
Sitting at the base of the T.C. Lamble Building in the central campus, the garden is a pilot project endorsed by UNE’s Landscape Advisory Committee to showcase how native plants can value-add to the campus landscape with a focus on sustainability.
“Historically, UNE has decorated high profile areas with potted, non-native colour to create a pleasing aesthetic, however the team from Botany put their hand up to demonstrate that attractive gardens can be achieved using regional native species,” said UNE’s Sustainability Manager, Suzannah Mitchell.
“We hope to gradually replicate this concept across the campus, in line with UNE’s Landscape Management Plan.”
Image: Members of the UNE botany team planting one of the garden beds.
E/Prof. Bruhl said this is particularly important due to the native flora and fauna that call the campus and its surrounds home.
“The remnant vegetation on campus includes threatened ecological communities. Protecting and boosting populations of these is really important for plant and animal biodiversity and it promotes habitat for species such as the koala,” said E/Prof. Bruhl.
“Our idea of eventually extending these plantings to a regional botanic garden will hopefully be the beginning of the multitasking of the gardens on campus for education, research, outreach, as well as a way to make it a wonderful place for staff and students to work and study.”
Some of the species that have been planted in the Lamble garden include:
- Xerochrysum neoanglicum, a species scientifically described in 2022 as part of a UNE PhD project by Timothy Collins;
- Boronia polygalifolia, which occurs along eastern New South Wales;
- Phebalium stellatum and Phebalium graniticola, which were scientifically named as new species by N.C.W. Beadle Herbarium botanists Ian Telford and Jeremy Bruhl, and have been studied in detail by UNE Botany PhD recent graduate Dr Sangay Dema and PhD candidate, Tareg Shaldoom.
- Chrysocephalum apiculatum sens. lat., which is being studied by UNE PhD candidate, Shelley Rowntree.
Image: PhD student Shelley Rowntree with a species she is studying that has been planted in the garden, 'Chrysocephalum apiculatum sens. lat'
To find out more about the garden and the species that have been planted, visit the N.C.W. Beadle Herbarium website.
