Boronia ledifolia

“The hardiest and also the earliest flowering of the local species” – NPOS p.116

Tom was the only one that had been home all Sunday, by late afternoon he had a bad case of cabin fever and demanded to go on a bushwalk, and one he’d never been on before. We took a path that joins the usual route, but past where we normally finish, then ended up doing the river loop in reverse. A few different wild flowers were in bloom, it really felt like the start of spring. I took pictures of these small purple flowers, I had a hunch they were a species of Boronia and I was right. Boronia is another one of those plants that everyone seems to be familiar with except me. This particular one is a Boronia ledifolia, commonly known as Sydney Boronia. It’s a common plant, abundant in heath and woodland and also the earliest flowering of the local Boronias. The plant itself is small only growing to 1m in height. it’s flowers are four petalled and a sticking pink in colour, approximately 4cm across. Leaves are thin with a waxy shine, deep green in colour with pots and recurved margins.

It happens every year around this time, this year it was yesterday, August 13th. They were in the Banksia out the back but had gone by the time I got the camera. They’re usually just here for a just one day per year, I’ve not been able to find any information on their migration habits, or even if they migrate at all. But where do they go for the rest of the year! Here they were last year.

Eriostemon australasius

“Easily recognized by it’s large pink flowers and thick grey green foliage” - NPOS p.118

After having come home from the boys soccer to an empty house without keys there was only one thing to do, get the boys on their bikes and head down the bush! The weather was warm with the first hints of spring, a number of flowers had started to come out too. I didn’t have my camera with me so I took these photos with my phone, I’m still so impressed at how clearly they come out with such a small lense and sensor. This plant took me a while to identify, in NPOS it looks similar to Crowea saligna or Crowea exalata, but the flowers are not quite as depicted in the book. In the end I’m pretty sure it’s a Eriostemon australasius also known as the Pink Wax Flower. Pink Wax Flowers are common in heath and woodlands on sandstone plateaus. They are a small shrub growing to about 1.5m They have leathery leaves that are narrow, 1cm, and long, 8cm or so. The flowers are numerous and striking, large and pink with 5 petals.

Lycopodium deuterodensum

“A small erect plant, resembling a miniature pine tree” – NPOS p. 304

Clubmosses are ancient plants, the oldest fossils dating from the Devonian period 395 Million years ago, 150 Million years before the dinosaurs! I came across this grove of bushy clubmoss at the flat bottom of the small gully behind our house while searching for the dog that had got away again. Bushy clubmoss is supposedly fairly common in wet sandy soil, but this is the first time I recall seeing them. NPOS lists the common name of Lycopodium deuterodensum as “Mountain Clubmoss”, but searching online “Bushy clubmoss” seems to be used more often. Bushy Clubmoss is small, usually 20-30cm tall, although they are known to  grow larger. They often have a straight central stem where branchlets covered by small scaly leaves sprout from, somewhat resembling miniature pine trees. They are thought to be structurally similar to the earliest vascular plants. They really do look like they are from another time.

Dillwynia retorta

“A small, spreading shrub to 1m high”. – NPOS p.78 While revisiting the Prickly Moses I was reminded of a plant that I’d been unable to identify at the time. After some searching I think it’s a Healthy Parrot Pea, Dillwynia retorta. I wish I’d kept notes on exactly where it was found but It’s clear it’s a pea of some sort from the non symmetrical yellow flowers. The short prickly leaves narrow it down, but it’s the twist in the leaves that is observable is some parts of the photo that make me think it’s the Healthy Parrot Pea.

I’ve already done a post on the Prickly Moses, but wanted to post a picture of one that I came across today while looking at clubmosses.

A baby Prickly Moses

Leucopogon amplexicaulis

“A small weak shrub to 1m tall with distinctive leaves” - NPOS p.108

Will had “B.O.B” the classroom mascot for the weekend so we decided to take him down to the river to throw some stones! It had been raining for pretty much the whole previous week and the ground was soggy, and being the winter solstice it was dim and cold. I spotted this small plant growing on a damp sandstone ledge near where of Allan Small creek meets Middle Harbour river. As usual I couldn’t identify it but figured the distinctive hairy leaves would give me a good chance of being able to look it up. I’m pretty confident it’s a Leucopogon amplexicaulis, commonly known as Beard-heath. Beard heath is a small plant, up to 1m in height, made up of sparse scrambling stems with leaves attached directly. The leaves are 30 – 90mm long, heart shaped and have a distinctive “beard” of white hairs around their margins. Flowing time is spring and winter, the specimen pictured was just beginning to flower. Fruiting is September to December and apparently it’s edible, I’ll be sampling some when it’s ready!

The sea level, rainfall and temperature climate pages have been updated with the latest data from the BOM. As per usual temperature and rainfall are almost up to date but sea level is more than a year behind with the latest reading from December 2013. Why is this? Always interesting to see how the most recent weather extremes stack up against the last century or so of readings. This most recent summer that felt so hot was nothing special if you look back only 15 years or so, but the longer term trend is clear for sea level and temperature. But not rainfall.

Cacomantis flabelliformis

After the big storms a few weeks ago we had another wet weekend. It didn’t stop us from getting outside though, the two boys agreed to brave the leeches for a walk down to the river to see the flood damage and see what birds we could spot. The creeks were running high but still crossable, it was clear from the debris and flow patterns how high the water had been. Bird wise it was pretty quiet, but near the river just past Murrumba waterfall a Fan-tailed cuckoo flew overhead from one tree to another. Yet again I couldn’t identify it until I got back and studied the photo, hopefully I’ll get it next time. Fan-tailed cuckoo’s are a common bird found all down the east coast of Australia, south and all the way through to southern west Australia. They are also found on other nearby Pacific islands of New Caledonia, New Guinea, Fiji, New Zealand. They are a medium sized bird with a slate grey head, wings and back, it’s breast is a lighter grey, tail is horizontally striped with black and white. A clear identifier of the Fan-tailed cuckoo is the yellow ring around its eyes.