Weekend in the mountains

We just came back from a nice weekend in the Australian 'Alps', making use of what may have been the last period of nicely warm weather. Still rather cold camping during the night, it is definitely not summer anymore.

Turns out we may finally have to buy a new tent. On the plus side, the belt of the plant press served well to keep the tent pole in shape; not perfectly, but sufficiently to give us just enough structural integrity for two nights.

The main attraction this time was Yarrangobilly Caves. The last time we passed by it was too late in the day, so we were unable to visit them. This time we bought passes for two of the caves.

Although probably weird looking enough, this photo does not do reality justice - the entrance area to South Glory Cave is massive and awe-inspiring.

We camped at our favourite spot in the area, Three Mile Dam. I have posted photos of the lake before, but here is one showing the moon reflected in the water during the night.

Morning mist above the camp site penetrated by the first rays of the sun.

And to conclude, something botanical: Golden everlasting daisies (Xerochrysum subundulatum, Asteraceae) fruiting on the Old Kiandra Gold Fields.

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.

What race is a dickhead, indeed

Reading the recent news items about an Australian senator with Muslim background being abused in a pub by a bunch of racists, two thoughts occur to me. The first regards the oh so clever comeback by one of those racists after being called a racist: "what race is Muslim?"

The thing is, of course, that there are legitimate and illegitimate cases of people being called racist. If, for example, a hypothetical atheist were to say, "mainstream Islam as currently practised is problematic to me because so many of its adherents consider homophobia and sexism central to their beliefs and identity" then calling that statement racist is just wrong. Maybe that atheist is also mistaken, and maybe they are also incidentally racist, but the argument as stated would be explicitly about a belief or behaviour, regardless of what particular person holds the belief or shows the behaviour. It is not a racist statement.

This present case, however, isn't that. Somebody who says, "why don't you go back to Iran" and calls their opposite "monkey" is clearly not making an argument about theology; they are just being racist. Those statements are what is called a dead giveaway.

The second thought is the same that I always have when reading about white racism in countries like the USA or Australia: I gawk, open-mouthed in amazement, at somebody whose ancestors lived in Europe a mere two hundred years ago telling somebody else to "go back" to the country of their parents. Ye gods, one of those guys apparently called himself an "original Australian". The mind boggles. One wonders which Aboriginal tribe he identifies with, and what the other members of the tribe think about that...

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.

Spring holidays 2017, part 2

Well look at that, holiday parks have free Wifi now...

Today we arrived at the place where we planned to pitch our tent, Hawks Nest just at the south end of Myall Lakes National Park. On the way we spent a bit of time in Brisbane Water National Park, which of course is nowhere near Brisbane but instead just out of Sydney.

But first we had to get out of Sydney, and here it seems to me that the road engineers there might want to look into the concept of a city highway that moves travelers through the area with a minimum amount of fuss. Think a straight road with a turn-off every few kilometers instead of a winding nightmare leading right past houses and shops and interrupted by traffic lights every few meters.

Ah well, think of the flowers.

The first decent stop out of Sydney was at Moonie Moonie Creek, which I think actually deserves a promotion to "river" here.

And our last longer stop was at Girrakool, a resting area with several great walks. This photo above shows a place where one can get down to the pools and creeks, but there are also lookouts across the valley and longer loop walks.

Now for the plants. Myoporum acuminatum (Scrophulariaceae maybe? It changes), a shrub at the edge of a swamp near Moonie Moonie Creek.

There were lots of interesting plants on the shallower soils at Girrakool. Here what I take to be Kunzea capitata (Myrtaceae). It is not the plant's fault that it reminds me of Otto Kuntze, but unfortunately it does.

Right next to it we saw Grevillea speciosa (Proteaceae). There are of course lots of Proteaceae here, but there are few where I am as sure about the identification as with these characteristic leaves.

Finally, Mirbelia rubiifolia (Fabaceae), a very cute little pea-flowered legume.

Spring holidays 2017, part 1

Family camping trip over the spring school holidays! Having previously camped in what is parochially called the "South Coast" (in New South Wales Sydney is the navel of the world, so it does not matter that the coast is on the east of the landmass) and visited the New England area further north we decided to go for the area just north of Sydney this time.

Today, however, we only made it as far as the south of Sydney, taking it slow and seeing things on the way. The main attraction here is Royal National Park, which my wife had seen fifteen years ago but my daughter and I have now seen for the first time.

The above is the view from Bald Hill lookout, as we were coming into Royal National Park from the south, via Wollongong.

We also saw some tall sklerophyll forests, but like most of south-eastern Australia this area has seen too little rain this year, and much of the vegetation was too dry. The heath looked much better. This species is Isopogon anemonifolius (Proteaceae).

Another Proteaceae, we think it is probably Grevillea oleoides given its very long and slender flowers and likewise long and slender leaves.

Again we are not entirely sure, but this may be Lasiopetalum parvifolium (Sterculiaceae); the field guide is not entirely clear but it looks as if the other species of that genus that are in the area and have similar leaves may differ in having hairs also on the inside of the sepals. It is a small shrub that I photographed in a very dark spot using the tripod.

And this is where we got out of Royal National Park, Bungoona lookout at its northern end.

As we are going camping I will presumably not be able to post anything else until Friday at the earliest, but then I hope to be able to upload a bunch more plant and landscape photographs.