Acacia (the wattles) is the largest genus of plants in Australia and its species occupy almost every habitat in the country. Hard galls on the branches, phyllodes and flower parts of wattle trees were noticed from the very early days of British colonisation, but their causes were unknown. Some insects were believed to be involved, but they were not the only cause of wattle galls. In 1889, the Italian mycologist Pier Andrea Saccardo described the rust fungus Uromyces tepperianus from the galls on Acacia salicina, and later, the Victorian government vegetable pathologist, Daniel McAlpine transferred the species tepperianus to his new genus Uromycladium which also included six new species. A total of 28 valid species of Uromycladium, most endemic to Australia, are currently described. Several species of Uromycladium were somehow introduced into South Africa and countries in southeast Asia where they cause significant losses in Acacia plantations, while others are used as biocontrol agents for invasive Acacia species. Short biographies of two of the early collectors of rust galls, the South Australian naturalist and later entomologist Johann Gottlieb Otto Tepper and the Victorian plant pathologist Charles Clifton Brittlebank are also presented.

金合欢属（金合欢属）是澳大利亚最大的植物属，其物种几乎占据了该国的每个栖息地。英国殖民初期，人们就注意到金合欢树的树枝、叶状体和花部上有硬瘿，但其原因尚不清楚。据信一些昆虫与此有关，但它们并不是造成肉垂瘿的唯一原因。1889年，意大利真菌学家皮尔·安德里亚·萨卡多（Pier Andrea Saccardo）描述了来自金合欢树瘿中的锈菌Uromyces tepperianus，后来，维多利亚州政府蔬菜病理学家丹尼尔·麦卡尔平（Daniel McAlpine）将tepperianus种转移到他的新属Uuromycladium中，该属还包括六个新种。目前共有 28 种有效的尿霉菌属物种被描述，它们是澳大利亚特有的。几种尿霉菌以某种方式被引入南非和东南亚国家，在这些国家造成金合欢种植园的重大损失，而其他物种则被用作入侵金合欢物种的生物防治剂。书中还介绍了两位早期锈瘿收集者——南澳大利亚博物学家、后来的昆虫学家约翰·戈特利布·奥托·泰珀（Johann Gottlieb Otto Tepper）和维多利亚时代的植物病理学家查尔斯·克利夫顿·布里特尔班克（Charles Clifton Brittlebank）的简短传记。