Wallabia bicolor

I’m still amazed that there can be wallabies in backyards this close to the city. Growing up around here I never saw a wallaby in the bush, or even heard of anyone seeing one. I wonder what’s brought them back.

They seem to hang about near the house much more during winter and spring, they’re often here in the morning having breakfast, and sometimes stay for the day lounging in the sun.

Astrotricha floccosa

After some more searching I think this is a Tobacco Bush. The leaves are narrower than some other photos out there, everything else seems to match though. Julia’s comment I also think this is a Flannel leaf! When searching through Google images I still think tobacco bush (Solanum mauritianum), and the native flannel leaf (Austrotricha floccosa) are remarkably similar looking but the Flannel leafs description of a shrub 2 - 4m tall matches more closely with what I saw.

Gleichenia dicarpa

“A scrambling fern forming dense entanglements in sunny sites - NPOS p.313

The pouched coral fern has small delicate fronds on branchlets that sprout from a central stalk. On some plants the colour of the fronds lightens as they move further along the branchlets. I’m not sure why this is, could it be new growth?

On the underside of the fronds are tiny pouches that contain the spores. The pouches are a diagnostic feature that set the it apart from other coral ferns, and of course the origin of the common name. The pouches really are small, I had to look at them through a hand lens the first time properly visualize them. Now I know what to look for they seem visible to the naked eye.

Hibbertia scandens

“A vigorous scrambler with dense foliage” - NPOS p.332

There are beds of this outside the office building where I work, I’ve not seen it in the wild.

from Friends of Lane Cove National Park:

Hibbertia scandens is a vigorous climber commonly found on sandy coastal areas through to inland forests. It prefers sunny positions on good soil. It has thick fleshy stems trailing 3m up tree trunks or along the ground, often twining around each other. The name “scandens” refers to its climbing habit.

Lomandra obliqua

A small, stiff, sprawling herb with 2-ranked leaves. Common in heath and woodland - NPOS p.277

The number of plant species is overwhelming, sometimes I step out side and I just don’t know where to start, almost everything I look at is new or unknown. A lot of the plants I’m identifying at first are novel or unusual, Fish Bones I think falls into that category.

Amperea xiphoclada

A wiry shrub to 60cm high, apparently leafless, with several strongly ridged stems arising from a woody rootstock - NPOS p.165

I found this one just out the back of the house. In the close up picture you can just see the tiny tiny leaves. They’re barely noticeable, growing straight out of the stems, on some you can see serrated margins.