Xanthorrhoea arborea

“A grass tree to 4m tall, with an aerial trunk” – NPOS p.278

Another unique and distinctive plant of the Australian bush. Grass trees have a short stout trunk that is often burned black from previous bush fires terminating with a dense tuft of long grass like leaves radiating from the crown. They are very slow growing at a rate of only 1cm per year, that makes a little 30cm tall plant almost as old as me! They make up for it in life span living up to 600 years old. Every year grass trees sprout a large ( up to 2m ) woody spike from the center of their leafy crown. The top section of the spike is densely covered in small nectar rich flowers.

Asplenium australasicum

“A spectacular epiphytic fern with long, tough, radiating leaves” – NPOS p.306

Great! I’ve found another uncommon fern. It’s hardly fair with the Bird’s nest fern though, it stands out from most other plants in the bush with it’s bright yellow-green fronds and it’s distictive rosette habit.

This one was growing on the edge of a sandstone cliff in the bush out the back.

Bird’s Nest Fern growing on sandstone. Found this when I was out the back checking on the sewer leak.

Gleichenia microphylla

“Habit and Habitat as per G. dicarpa. Uncommon” – NPOS p.314

Yet another Coral Fern! Along with the Pouched Coral Fern (Gleichenia dicarpa) and Gleichenia rupestris, the G. microphylla completes the entire set of coral ferns found in Sydney, according to NPOS anyway.

G. microphylla has features of both G. rupestris and G. dicarpa. It had very fine small fronds that are a deep green colour and convex on the top like G. dicarpa. But on the underside they are flat or just slightly concave like G. rupestris.

Doryanthus excelsa

“A colossal leafy herb with stiff flowering stem 3-4m tall bearing a dense cluster of large red flowers” – NPOS p.226

The Gymea lily is exotic looking with it’s huge sword like leaves radiating from it’s base and the towering stem with large flower on top. It’s a popular garden plant, and impressive that it’s naturally occurring in the area. I can’t remember every having seen one outside of peoples gardens though.

Doryanthes palmeri

“[The] Giant Spear Lily is a large, succulent herb which grows as a rosette. It’s hairless leaves are sword–shaped, and up to 3 m long and 20 cm wide” – Atlas of Living Australia

Gymea Lilies are spectacular, especially when they are in flower. The plant is on a colossal scale, sword shaped leaved up to 2m long radiate from a point in the ground. When flowering they grow a thick spear up to 4m long from the center of the leaves with large vivid red flowers perched at the top.

Pittosporum undulatum

“Originally a scattered inhabitant of shady, rainforest gullies, it is highly opportunistic and now aggressively colonises almost any moist, shady location..” – NPOS p.196

Like the Fishbone Fern the sweet Pittosporum is a native plant that is now often considered a weed in urban bushland. Although the Sweet Pittosporum is different in that it’s also naturally found in the Sydney area.

We have a few of these in the front and back yard. It’s a small tree, the leaves are vivid green, shiny and have wavy margins, which is where is scientific name undulatum comes from. It’s meant to have a strong sweet smell when in flower. I’ve had a blocked nose for the week though and have not noticed it. The seeds are edible and were ground for food by Aboriginies.

Crassula multicava

Another breakout that has colonized large parts of the front garden. The Pitted Crassula,  also know as Cape Province Pygmy Weed is originally from South Africa and is considered by some to be a weed over here. It’s a small ground hugging plant with light green thick succulent leaves. The leaves are covered in small pitts or divots, flowers are white to light pink and look like a 4 pronged star.

Gleichenia rupestris

NPOS p.314 

This coral fern was helpfully marked on the Mueller track in the wildflower gardens. It was growing on sandstone near the base of a small cliff. The species wasn’t indicated, but from the description in NPOS I think it’s Gleichenia rupestris. The fronds are flat on the underside and are larger and flatter than the pouched coral fern, the stalks are hairless.

Callicoma serratifolia

“A large spreading shrub ( usually about 4-5m high but can be 10-15m high ) with wattle like flowers” – NPOS p.157

Black wattle is not an Acacia so it’s not a true wattle. It got the name because it’s flowers are similar to the flowers common to wattle trees. The first wattle and daub houses in the colony of NSW were made from the branches and timber of the black wattle.