Flora Seen on Your Last Walk?

[Lamont]

Looked better before I shrunk it.

[peregrinator]

Still looks pretty good, but would be better if you hadn't put it the washing machine.

[GregG]

[quote="Lamont"]Looked better before I shrunk it.[/quote]
As the bishop said .....

[Lamont]

111

[Lamont]

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[Tyreless]

Dunphys Pass, Blue Mountains NP. Can anyone identify it for me?

[north-north-west]

Blandfordia, aka Christmas Bells. Didn't know you got them on the northern island.
Different species to our endemic Tozzie beasts.

[Neo]

Also different to what I've seen mid north coast NSW. Lighter colours and less flowers in the cluster up there.

[johnw]

Blandfordia, aka Christmas Bells. Didn't know you got them on the northern island.
Different species to our endemic Tozzie beasts.

Also different to what I've seen mid north coast NSW. Lighter colours and less flowers in the cluster up there.

There are actually three species of Christmas Bells on the northern island:
Blandfordia nobilis endemic in coastal regions south of Sydney to around Bega.
Blandfordia grandiflora from Sydney to Fraser Island including occurrences in lower to mid Blue Mountains.
Blandfordia cunninghamii (rare) restricted to a narrow range of habitats in the Blue Mountains and the Illawarra areas of eastern NSW.
I suspect Tyreless' example could be the latter. I took this photo at Curra Moors in coastal Royal NP, assumed to be Blandfordia nobilis.

Blandfordia nobilis, Curra Moors, Royal NP via Waterfall NSW

[johnw]

The Tassie species of Christmas Bells is Blandfordia punicea. I took this on Twelvetrees Range in the southwest. I've seen them also up on The Sentinel Range:

Blandfordia punicea, Twelvetrees Range, Southwest NP via Maydena Tasmania

[rowdy]

Mid North Coast NSW Christmas Bells

Christmas Bells.jpg (191.68 KiB) Viewed 31685 times

[GregG]

Ii

[michael_p]

I have recently made a couple of trips to check out how many of my local patch of Hyacinth Orchids have flowered this year. They are again out in numbers and some of the early ones have just started to unfurl their flowers.

Well it has happened again. I did a quick visit early today and someone has nicked one of the plants. I cannot believe it. There is no way it will survive in a pot. Just makes me so angry. So we can add one Hyacinth to the two Donkey Orchids stolen from the local area.

The aftermath of the theft.

Early blooms just starting to flower.

[Neo]

I've spotted some in the Wingello Tallong area. Purple skinny asparagus spear-like things.

[johnw]

I have recently made a couple of trips to check out how many of my local patch of Hyacinth Orchids have flowered this year. They are again out in numbers and some of the early ones have just started to unfurl their flowers.

Well it has happened again. I did a quick visit early today and someone has nicked one of the plants. I cannot believe it. There is no way it will survive in a pot. Just makes me so angry. So we can add one Hyacinth to the two Donkey Orchids stolen from the local area.

Very disappointing Michael, I'll never understand the mentality of such people.
Was this in one of the council reserves or our local NP?
p.s. You were keen to be out anywhere yesterday, even early on.

[michael_p]

I've spotted some in the Wingello Tallong area. Purple skinny asparagus spear-like things.

Yep, they do look like purple/red asparagus.

Very disappointing Michael, I'll never understand the mentality of such people.
Was this in one of the council reserves or our local NP?
p.s. You were keen to be out anywhere yesterday, even early on.

It was OK early but it did warm up by the time I got home. This is the patch I PM'ed you the location of some time back. Give it a another week or two and lots should be out. That area is producing of surprising number and variety of Orchids this year.

Michael.

[johnw]

It was OK early but it did warm up by the time I got home. This is the patch I PM'ed you the location of some time back. Give it a another week or two and lots should be out. That area is producing of surprising number and variety of Orchids this year.

Michael.

Ah, those ones! Thanks, yes that was around Christmas time last year. I'll wait a week or more and go and have a look again on a cooler day.
I wonder if the increased rainfall since the bushfires has influenced the number and variety.
Many of the small terrestrial orchids are quite delicate, sometimes you need to be rigorously attentive to spot them.

[michael_p]

I'll wait a week or more and go and have a look again on a cooler day.

I just thought I would warn you that some idiot has gone and cut off the flower heads from nearly all the Orchids in that area.
If you have a scout around there are a few still left.

Via a friend, I have been put in contact with someone from council and have reported the shenanigans to them. Not sure if much can be done but it is better than nothing.

Michael.

[highercountry]

^^^
Think you'll find the culprit is much more likely to be a wallaby or deer, or any other browsing critter.

[michael_p]

Ahh, yes. There are Swamp Wallabies in the area so that could be it. Thank you.

[highercountry]

Likewise the dug-up orchids from a few posts back are possibly the victim of something like a bandicoot or potoroo.
These critters like truffles and other fungi. Lots of orchards grow in a symbiotic association with various fungi.

[johnw]

I'll wait a week or more and go and have a look again on a cooler day.

I just thought I would warn you that some idiot has gone and cut off the flower heads from nearly all the Orchids in that area.
If you have a scout around there are a few still left.

Via a friend, I have been put in contact with someone from council and have reported the shenanigans to them. Not sure if much can be done but it is better than nothing.

^^^
Think you'll find the likely culprit is much more likely a wallaby or deer, or any other browsing critter.

Ahh, yes. There are Swamp Wallabies in the area so that could be it. Thank you.

Let's hope it's the swampies. I might still have a look and/or pick an alternate location.
Actually it's pleasantly cool this afternoon if I can find time to go out before the forecast storm later.

[michael_p]

bandicoot or potoroo

Good suggestions. We have lots of foxes around here (I saw one this morning and their scats are everywhere). Foxes have heavily impacted the native animals in the area. That's the main reason I am still leaning toward humans as the source of the digging and Wallabies for the grazing.

Only good thing is the foxes do keep the rabbit population down (don't get me started on rabbits ).

Hyacinth Orchids are absolutely dependent on Fungi. This is the reason they are one of my favourites as you only see them when they flower. Always a pleasure to find one poking up from the ground.

Cheers,
Michael.

[ribuck]

Last year was a good year for seeds of the Macrozamia Cycad in Central Australia. There were plenty of them around. This photo is from near where Ellery Creek crosses the Chewings Range. But how do they spread? Specifically, how can they ever go anywhere but downhill?

The seeds are each about 6cm, which I think is too big to be eaten by a dingo or any marsupial. And it's too big for the seeds to be blown around much. So how can they ever germinate uphill of where they are dropped? It seems to me they can only roll downhill to grow there, but that makes no sense since the plants are found high and low.

It's probably a stupid question with an obvious answer, but enquiring minds would like to know.

[Baeng72]

Found this on Mt Bogong summit plateau. I don't know if it's a fern, cycad or something else completely.

[Heremeahappy1]

Looks like mountain celery, Aciphylla glacial. Usually in flower this time of year, small white (greenish) flowers.

[madpom]

Ha - beat me to it. I was thinking - 'At last, at last - one I recognise' ...

Though as it turns out the aussie variant is actually a different species to the alike-looking ones we get in the NZ mountains (A. divisa and A. dissecta).

[johnw]

Looks like mountain celery, Aciphylla glacial. Usually in flower this time of year, small white (greenish) flowers.

Ha - beat me to it. I was thinking - 'At last, at last - one I recognise' ...

Though as it turns out the aussie variant is actually a different species to the alike-looking ones we get in the NZ mountains (A. divisa and A. dissecta).

Agreed, Aciphylla glacialis, seen lots of them over the years. The one below is on the Main Range in Kosciuskzo NP somewhere between Carruthers Peak and Mt Lee.
Pretty sure I've seen the NZ species on the south island. Maybe all are divergent from the breaking up of Gondwana?

Mountain Celery (Aciphylla glacialis), Main Range, Kosciuskzo NP NSW

[michael_p]

Pretty sure this is a Snake Orchid. Will keep an eye on it and see what the flowers look like to be sure.

[Hughmac]

Last year was a good year for seeds of the Macrozamia Cycad in Central Australia. There were plenty of them around. This photo is from near where Ellery Creek crosses the Chewings Range. But how do they spread? Specifically, how can they ever go anywhere but downhill?

The seeds are each about 6cm, which I think is too big to be eaten by a dingo or any marsupial. And it's too big for the seeds to be blown around much. So how can they ever germinate uphill of where they are dropped? It seems to me they can only roll downhill to grow there, but that makes no sense since the plants are found high and low.

It's probably a stupid question with an obvious answer, but enquiring minds would like to know.

Interesting observation, and a very good question to my mind. Given that cycads are some of the most primitive extant plants on the planet, it would be reasonable to assume that the animals that originally dispersed their seeds are long since extinct. The size of the seed suggests they would have been fairly large animals - our megafauna may have filled the role until their demise. The plants growing at higher elevations are almost certainly the descendants of plants that used to grow at the same elevation.