As humans increasingly explore space, we will want – and need – to bring plants with us. Plants are critical for keeping space travellers healthy on long missions: exploring deep space, on long stints on the ISS, or setting up a base on the Moon or Mars. Researchers are testing various crops and equipment to figure out how to do this without using a lot of extra hardware or power.

September is considered the start of spring by most Australians, but Tim Entwisle thinks we have it all wrong. In the south at least, we should be celebrating an ‘early spring’ in August and September—when the wattles are blooming en masse—and a ‘late spring’ in October and November. Yet most don’t acknowledge that things are different in the great southern land.

One of the challenges of resolving the biodiversity crisis is making it a part of the Victorian community’s consciousness. In a world with so many competing problems, the silent destruction of our unique plants struggles for attention. Gordon Noble offers three simple “nudges” to drive investment in protecting and restoring Victoria’s flora.

The species is aptly named, as it is found in a protected pocket close to the Victorian town of Stuart Mill, in the John Colahan Griffin reserve about halfway between Bendigo and the Grampians/Gariwerd. With its conservation status of much concern, the population of these species has dwindled due to significant habitat loss. 

Over time, wattles have been used for a wealth of purposes such as a source of fuel, medicines, perfume, feed for animals, woodcrafts and in particular, food. It is the pods of these species that contain wattleseeds, a bush food that became a staple over 6,000 years ago as part of the traditional diet for many Indigenous peoples. Mostly found growing in the arid regions of Central Australia, Acacia victoriae, is the most common edible species.