The speaker at the next meeting of the Parramatta Hills Group of the Australian Plants Society will be Michael Battley. Dr Batley is a former Senior Lecturer in Chemistry who has pursued a passion for Australian native bees since retirement. He is a leading authority on the subject and a Research Associate of the Australian Museum in Sydney. He has published many scientific articles on the taxonomy of native bees. 

For more information, you can follow this link: https://australian.museum/blog/at-the-museum/native-bees/

 

The meeting will be held at West Pennant Hills Community Church 41-43 Eaton Road, West Pennant Hills NSW 2125

The church is on Eaton Road, close to the M2 Motorway and Pennant Hills Road. It can be reached from either end of Oakes Road.

The meeting will be followed by afternoon tea and sales of native plants suitable for suburban gardens and propagated by members.

Bees with favorite flowers.

Michael Batley

Some flowers, like Pimelia or Lambertia formosa, have evolved tubular shapes that restrict the variety of visitors and hence increase the possibilty that their pollen will get transferred to the same species. 

Which of these Eremophila species is adapted for visits by insects and which for birds?

Similarly, some female bees preferentially forage from a single flower genus or species group if doing so means they can collect more pollen in their short life span. Although bee species visit a variety of flowers, about one in ten exhibit a distinct preference. How can we tell which are specialists and what are the “various contrivances” by which they do so (to appropriate the words of Charles Darwin)? 

Three closely related species in the subgenus Leioproctus (Andrenopsis). One visits only Goodeniaceae flowers and two visit only Fabaceae.

Which is which? 

Identifying the specialist bees has been one of Dr Battley’s research projects. His talk will be illustrated with some of his outstanding photos.

Group Meeting with Speaker : James Indsto - 'Artistic Botany: Where art meets science'

Date:	Saturday 28, Novemberber 2026
Time:	2pm
Venue:	West Pennant Hills Community Church 41-43 Eaton Road, West Pennant Hills NSW 2125

The next meeting of the Parramatta Hills Group of the Australian Plants Society will be held on Saturday 28 November at 2pm.

The speaker will be one of our members, James Indsto, who is a forensic botanist. He will be giving a demonstration of techniques to create artistic images from plant material using a microscope. There will also be an opportunity for audience members to experiment with some of these techniques.

The meeting will be held at the Group’s new venue The West Pennant Hills Community Church at 41-43 Eaton Rd, West Pennant Hills.

The meeting will be followed by afternoon tea and plant sales.

All are welcome to attend.

Artistic Microscopy: Where Art Meets Science

A presentation by James Indsto

Microscopes are often to be found in laboratories and are used for serious scientific pursuits. But what happens when scientists come out to play? Microscopes can reveal the beauty of the miniature world, which can be admired as much for its aesthetic value as scientific value. Microscopy can also be a rewarding hobby.

Unstained plant material is nearly colourless with standard microscope illumination. Here a section of young olive stem has been stained with toluidine blue dye to reveal many different cell types and detailed structure.

Potato starch grains are almost invisible with normal transmitted illumination, but show a spectacular ‘Maltese Cross’ pattern under polarized light. The addition of a piece of cellophane in the light path makes an improvised ‘wave plate’, creating beautiful colours and additional detail.

Crystals can form beautiful patterns. In this case ‘BALG’, a mixture of the amino acids Beta Alanine and L-Glutamine form dreamy curves when crystallised on a microscope slide. The addition of a small piece of cellophane results in an image that explodes with colour!

Location of West Pennant Hills Community Church