Botany picture #257: Gentianella aspera

Has it been that long since I posted the last botany picture? With my mind still on the mountains, here is a European gentian, Gentianella aspera (Gentianaceae), European Alps, 2004. Although sometimes split off into their own genus, the Australian gentians are phylogenetically also Gentianella.

One thing that I found strange about the Australian ones, by the way, is that they are generally white, because the European gentians are rather famously blue, violet, or very rarely yellow. There is even an obnoxious German Schlager song making that point, with the first line of the chorus translating as "blue, blue, blue blooms the gentian".

WARNING: follow that link at your own risk.

Botany picture #256: Solenostemon presumably

In spring we bought three types of Sempervivum (Crassulaceae) and planted them in a large bowl. Two little seedlings spontaneously came up in the succulent soil and, recognising them as members of my other favourite plant family Lamiaceae, I transferred them to a different pot where they would get more water.

I was curious to see what they would grow into - perhaps a useful aromatic herb? Well, they grew and grew and grew, but they did not flower until just now. Although it had become clear to me some time ago that they must be some kind of Solenostemon or relative and are presumably cultivated as ornamentals rather than as kitchen herbs I was hoping that they would at least have nice flowers. The reality, alas, is a bit of a let-down. Not terrible but not exactly stunning either. It is unlikely that they will survive winter anyway, as they are probably tropical plants.

In other news, Canberra was covered by dust blown in from western New South Wales today. The sky was of an otherworldly grey and only returned to its customary blue colour late in the afternoon.

Botany picture #255: Exocarpos nanus

Currently we are back in Kosciusko National Park for field work, and for the first time I have consciously seen Exocarpos nanus (Santalaceae), although it is so tiny that I may have previously stepped onto it without noticing. Like its larger congeners it is a hemiparasite.

Cell phone with macro lens

Happy new year, everybody! Time to get back to blogging.

Lately I have been playing around with a macrolens that I bought for my smartphone. The idea was to be able to take pictures of small structures, in particular fruits or seeds, even when I do not have my proper camera with me. So far the results are mixed.

Here we have the fruit of Hypochaeris radicata (Asteraceae), one of the larger propagules I have tried so far. Not too bad, all in all, but I do not care about the shadow, and obviously the depth of field is an issue.

The above is a mericarp of Malva neglecta (Malvaceae). The surface structure looks nice, but again light conditions and shadows are problematic. I will have to do something about light and the texture of the background.

It works reasonably well for flowers in sunlight, however. Here a tomato flower. As this will likely be the use case for most people I guess one cannot complain. It would be a fair deal given that the lens package cost me only $20 (including wide angle and fish-eye lenses, which I don't really use).

Fieldwork in Kosciusko National Park, part two

Today was the final day of field work. Because I was in the mountains earlier than in past years I saw a number of plants flowering for the first time.

Chief among them is probably Psychrophila introloba (formerly Caltha introloba, Ranunculaceae). It famously sometimes starts flowering while still covered by snow, and indeed I had not noticed them until a student asked me rather poetically, "do you know what those white stars under the snow are?"

Another Ranunculaceae I saw for the first time is Ranunculus millanii, the smallest buttercup in the area.

Even smaller: Plantago glacialis (Plantaginaceae) in all its glory.

A spore plant for a change, Huperzia australiana. This is a lycopod that carries the sporangia in the axils of normal vegetative leaves. The other species in the area, Lycopodium fastigiatum, has spikes of differentiated sporophylls.

This species, Pimelea ligustrina (Thymelaeaceae) is apparently called the Kosciusko Rose, although it does not, of course, have anything to do with roses. But it is very attractive nonetheless.

I believe I had a picture of this species on the blog before, but now somebody told me what they are called: tortoise beetles.

Field work in Kosciusko National Park

This week I am doing field work in Kosciusko National Park. Not sure if I have ever seen that much snow this late in the season up at Charlotte Pass, but the weather the past few days was nice and warm.

Diplaspis nivis (Apiaceae) is a very small herb growing in wet places. It does not have a photo in my copy of the Kosciusko Alpine Flora, perhaps because most visitors will overlook it anyway.

Growing right next to it was Drosera arcturi (Droseraceae). This sundew is widespread and not exactly rare, and I had pictures of it on this blog before. But this is still a very nice photo.

Finally, one of a number of alpine heath species that we have seen, Epacris paludosa (Ericaceae). A few years ago they all kind of seemed to look the same to me, but they are actually easily distinguishable by their leaf shapes, even when sterile. The red lines are part of the grid we are using for vegetation surveys.

South Australia field work, part three

The Systematics 2017 conference in Adelaide has now started, but here are a few final pictures from field work.

On our way north from Adelaide I was very happy to find the rare salt lake ephemeral Hagiela tatei (Asteraceae). It had already finished its life cycle, but I hope that I got a few seeds for my work.

The northernmost area we went to was Mt Remarkable National Park. There, however, we did not find much because it was fairly dry.

One of the few plants flowering in the area was Solanum ellipticum (Solanaceae); identification kindly provided by Tim Collins.

I have seen more millipedes last Saturday than in the first forty years of my life. What is their deal? Somewhat disappointing then to learn that they are introduced and invasive. But seriously, the situation reminded me of this comic.

Our final site was Tothill Ranges reserve which is managed by the NGO Bushland Conservation. One of the members kindly lead us around the reserve. Pictured above a slope with lots of grasstrees, but what I was after are the small white dots on the ground: paper daisies.

A nice Acacia (Fabaceae) flowering in Tothill Ranges, unfortunately I forget the name.

And finally a paper daisy. Chrysocephalum semipapposum (Asteraceae) is, of course, common and widespread, even occurring in Canberra. But it is also extremely polymorphic, and the plants in this population here are much smaller than the ones growing back home.

South Australia field work, part two

A few more pictures from field work; not sure if I will have internet again before Sunday.

The above picture shows the lookout over Scott Cove in the north-western corner of Kangaroo Island taken yesterday.

At that very place were two species of mint bush. This one is the aptly named Prostanthera spinosa (Lamiaceae). I do not yet know the name of the other one.

The last Kangaroo Island photo is this tiny sundew (Drosera, Droseraceae), but I don't know its species name either.

Today, however, we have worked in the Fleurieu Peninsula. This is the coast as seen from the cliff-tops of the Newland Head Conservation Park.

A little birdie wondering what those weird humans are doing in its habitat. Apparently a rosella, but a different species than the ones I know from Canberra.

Also found in the heath of Newland Head: Chrysocephalum apiculatum (Asteraceae).

Finally, Hindmarsh Falls, south of Adelaide. The area here south and south-east of Adelaide is much more lush and green than I expected from South Australia and reminds me rather more of Tasmania...

South Australia field work, part one

Currently I am doing field work in South Australia with Tim Collins of UNE. The past three days Bev Overton very kindly guided us around Kangaroo Island, where we collected plants for Tim's research.

Kangaroo Island has a beautiful coastline, but of course so has much of Australia.

Close to this spot we ran into an angry hive of feral bees but got away relatively lucky.

Above a ball of seagrass. I read about these in one of my daughter's nature books, but this is the first time I saw them with my own eyes.

Coming to the flowering plants, this is Olearia ciliata (Asteraceae). Fairly small for a daisy bush, which is why I could not at first believe that it is indeed an Olearia.

I was very happy to find Leiocarpa supina (Asteraceae) as it was on my 'shopping list'. It is not exactly rare, I ultimately saw it in several coastal locations. I assume the orange lichen in the background would have to be the same species as the one in Tasmania, that of the Bay of Fires.

Finally a particularly rare species. We learned that Stilidium tepperianum (Stylidiaceae) is a Kangaroo Island endemic, and we were fairly lucky to see it.

Botany picture #254: Trifolium glomeratum

Trifolium glomeratum (Fabaceae), seen today at Mount Majura Nature Reserve. Admittedly if one asked me for the prettiest clover species this one would not even make the top fifty...

Monga National Park

Monga National Park is c. one and a half hours east of Canberra along Kings Highway. It features wet sklerophyll / rainforest type habitats with many cryptogams.

We were there today in the hope of seeing Telopea mongaensis (Proteaceae) in flower. As can be seen in the above picture we were still a bit too early in the season, they are only just in bud. So far I have seen the Tasmanian species T. truncata, the New South Wales State Flower T. speciosissima, and, during a holiday in Victoria and southern New South Wales, T. oreades. The latter appears to be very similar and, I presume, most closely related to T. mongaensis.

What was in flower a lot in the same locality (the Waratah Walk from Mongarlowe River Picknick area) was Tasmannia lanceolata (Winteraceae), member of a 'basal' angiosperm clade, but of course it is far less spectacular.

This is the habitat; Telopea mongaensis is found particularly along the river.

The other attraction just a few hundred meters away is Penance Grove, which we had seen before. It is particularly known for its many tree ferns.

I am always fascinated by Dawsonia superba (Polytrichaceae), the largest moss in the world, which I believe is most easily accessed from Canberra by coming to Monga NP. I have written about it at least twice before, but I think this was the first time I saw it with young sporangia.

Spring holidays 2017, final part 5

And we are back. Today we returned to Canberra passing through, among other things, the Putty Road between Wollemi and Yengo National Parks. It is a very nice, forested landscape, although it would be even better if there were one or two official lookouts in the southern part.

The above gives an impression of the road as seen from a little resting area along the way, in this case still very much towards the northern end.

About 40% or so of the way towards the south there is a locality called half-way house that was apparently once a cafe and petrol station. Now there is only a stall that sells coffee, soft drinks and snacks as well as metal and wood sculptures, thus the large statue above. I got a coffee.

Slightly before that spot we saw Conospermum taxifolium (Proteaceae) along the way. Their flowers are a bit different from the 'usual' Proteaceae that people are familiar with, such as Banksia or Grevillea. In Western Australia this genus is a striking part of the landscape in the form of the smoke-bushes, but the species here in New South Wales are less conspicuous.

Because this post does not have enough plants yet I am returning to one we saw at the beginning of the trip. It is among numerous photos that I did not upload because I was uncertain about the identification, but now I am reasonably optimistic that this is Darwinia procera (Myrtaceae), a rare and very localised species.

Spring holidays 2017, part 4

Yesterday and today we continued to explore Myall Lakes National Park and its surroundings.

The village of Hawks Nest is very touristic, and so it is perhaps not a surprise that it has a spring flower walk that is recommended to tourists. And indeed there are masses of flannel flowers, but also other interesting plants.

At the other end of the National Park we today visited the lighthouse at Sugarloaf Point. Shown here is the view towards Seal Rocks, which unfortunately wrecked many ships even after the lighthouse was built, apparently due to prevailing wind conditions during one part of the year.

Botanically today's topic is climbers. Our first one is Kennedia rubicunda (Fabaceae), with surprisingly large red flowers.

I am reasonably certain that this would have to be Geitonoplesium cymosum (Smilaceae), a climbing monocot. The field guide calls it 'scrambling lily'.

Finally, the native passionflower Passiflora herbertiana (Passifloraceae) had been teasing us for a few days now, always there but never in flower. Today we finally found it in bloom, and that made my day!

Oops. Upon examination of the Flora of NSW key to Passiflora it turns out that this is introduced Passiflora subpeltata from Brazil, as it has large, leafy stipules. Also the Flora says that native P. herbertiana is red, which is really interesting because Fairley & Moore's Native Plants of the Sydney Region, which serves as my quick reference in the field during this trip, shows it as white.

Either way the one we saw is not native. Still, passionflowers are just something else, and they remind me of past field work in the Andes.