Statistics for VicFlora (<strong>2018</strong>–<strong>19</strong> Financial Year) There were 206,081 sessions (an 81 per cent increase on the previous year) totalling 1,214,611 page views(an increase of 41 per cent from the previous total of 860,420). This was generated by 89,776 unique users (an increase of 84 per cent compared with the same time in the previous year). Science Division ISI Publications 60 First Anniversary for HortFlora The HortFlora website was launched in May <strong>2018</strong> as a current, web-based guide to the cultivated plants of south-eEastern Australia. Containing plant profiles and identification tools, along with botanical line drawings and photographs, it is a valuable resource for professional horticulturists, amateur gardeners, garden and landscape designers, arborists, botanists, farmers, foresters, students, authors, journalists, and enthusiasts of cultivated plants in Australia. Entries for all taxa featured in Dr Roger Spencer’s hardcopy, five volume Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia (<strong>19</strong>95–2005) have now been added to the database, and work to add images to all of these entries continues. Usage during its inaugural year consisted of 4,832 sessions totalling 24,098 page views, generated by 3,135 unique users. As the user interface and content of HortFlora are further refined to meet the needs of Australia’s horticulturists, it is anticipated that the value of this guide will increase significantly. 50 40 30 20 10 0 <strong>19</strong>92 <strong>19</strong>93 <strong>19</strong>94 <strong>19</strong>95 <strong>19</strong>96 <strong>19</strong>97 <strong>19</strong>98 <strong>19</strong>99 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 <strong>2018</strong> Graph 1. <strong>Royal</strong> <strong>Botanic</strong> <strong>Gardens</strong> <strong>Victoria</strong> publications recorded by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) by calendar year. The peak in 2015 is the result of <strong>19</strong> chapters in the Handbook for Road Ecology counting as separate items, while the subsequent decrease reflects the closure of the Australian Research Centre for Urban Ecology. Science Division ISI Citations 1600 1200 800 Seed orcharding work In conjunction with Linda Parker (Melbourne University), Seedbank officers have been testing the storage requirements of Tall Astelia (Astelia australiana), an Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act <strong>19</strong>99 (EPBC Act) i listed species endemic to cool temperate rainforest gullies in <strong>Victoria</strong>. Seeds of this species have been reported to lose viability under standard seedbank storage conditions at -20 °C. Following a large collection of seed gathered in March <strong>2018</strong>, the viability of seed has been tested at +4, -20 and -80 °C. The assessment revealed that after two months in storage, seeds in all storage conditions had good germination; after six months, seeds at +4 and -80 °C had good germination, while those at -20 °C did not. The reasons for this discrepancy are unclear at this time but reports that this temperature range might not be suitable for Tall Astelia will be established when the next batch of seeds is tested at the 12 month point. All of the plants germinated as part of this assessment are being grown in the nursery, with the intention of introducing them to Fern Gully as display plants. To date, the seed orcharding work of Seedbank officers has resulted in the storage of over 20,000 seeds in the <strong>Victoria</strong>n Conservation Seedbank. 400 0 <strong>19</strong>92 <strong>19</strong>93 <strong>19</strong>94 <strong>19</strong>95 <strong>19</strong>96 <strong>19</strong>97 <strong>19</strong>98 <strong>19</strong>99 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 <strong>2018</strong> Graph 2. Citations of <strong>Royal</strong> <strong>Botanic</strong> <strong>Gardens</strong> <strong>Victoria</strong> research outputs by calendar year, with 1,601 citations recorded for <strong>Royal</strong> <strong>Botanic</strong> <strong>Gardens</strong> <strong>Victoria</strong> research in <strong>2018</strong>. 36
VicFlora Usage September 2016 to December <strong>2018</strong> Seasons 700 600 <strong>2018</strong> 2017 2016 Number of sessions per day 500 400 300 200 100 0 September October November December Graph 3: Comparison of the number of VicFlora user sessions per day during the September to December peak growing season for 2016–<strong>2018</strong>. The initial spike for 2016 coincides with the launch of the revised version of VicFlora. ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS BOARD VICTORIA — ANNUAL REPORT <strong>2018</strong>–<strong>19</strong> 37
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