#941 - 948 - 7 Plants and a Parrot
#941 - Dicksonia antarctica - Soft Tree Fern
I forgot to mention some of the plants I saw on the trip up to the Snowys - this large tree fern, for example.
Also known as the man fern, Australian tree fern, Tasmanian tree fern, hardy tree fern, and woolly tree fern, this is one of Australia’s most common tree ferns, growing up to 15 meters high and 6 wide. If I’m right on the ID, finding this high up in the Snowys is a little odd, since some of the sources I was consulting say it prefers damp gullies, and altitudes below 1000m. On the other hand, it was on the shady southern side of the ridge, and it is known to be cold-tolerant. Often grown and exported as an ornamental, although it’s so slow-growing that nearly all specimens are collected from the wild, and often from areas about to be clear-felled for timber. They do not recover well from disturbance, which is a problem given how important they are to other species.
Alpine Way, near Thredbo, in the Snowy Mountains
#942 - Rubus sp. - Blackberry
Not the best photo, by a long shot, but those thickets on the far side of the fence are impenetrable brambles of blackberry. They get rather bad in the cooler parts of Australia and New Zealand, piling up higher than a house, and completely choking paths and streams. Bad news for sheep that get their wool caught on the thorns, too.
It’s debatable which species are involved - they hybridise so wildly that the entire subgenus Rubus is referred to as the R. fruticosus aggregate.
At Paddy’s River Falls there were signs up warning visitors that the blackberries had been sprayed with herbicide, and that gives you a clue as to how they managed to spread so wide so fast - the fruit is delicious, and abundant, and a favorite with many birds and small animals, as well as people. The seeds get widely dispersed, and if that doesn’t work the long runners, stems, and roots spread all over the place, sending down more roots, or sending up suckers, at any opportunity.
photo by ragesoss
#943 - Amyema pendula - Drooping Mistletoe
A common mistletoe in the Riverina - most noteworthy for how closely it mimics the leaves of the host eucalypt.
Eucalypt leaves at the left, parasitic plant leaves on the right.
Uranquinty, NSW
#944 - Callitris endlicheri - Black Cypress
A native conifer. Apparently it’s not uncommon, but the area around The Rock is the only place I’ve seen them growing so thickly. That might be because s it prefers ridges, plateaux, hills and tablelands, and is usually found on relatively shallow stony soils, often on steep slopes. That was certainly the case here.
Black Cypress has been successfully cultivated overseas, particularly in African countries, where despite initial slow growth and vulnerability to fires it is valued for its durability and termite resistance, and has been used as fencing, flooring, panelling, furniture, charcoal and fuel-wood.
The Rock, NSW
#945 - Stypandra glauca - Nodding Blue Lily - Blind Grass
A relative of the Flax Lilies (Dianella) but with large grass-like leaves and stems, instead of the strap-like leaves of Dianella. The common name of Blind Grass comes from the fact that letting your goats eat it is a Very Bad Idea.
The Rock, NSW
#946 - Parmaliaceae Lichen Crust
The ground on the northern slope of the Rock was mostly these small rocks - and everywhere where people hadn’t been walking they were covered in a thick crust of these lichens. Interesting - I haven’t seen lichens growing so thickly before. I suspect it was the harsh summer conditions and shallow rock-filled soil that helped them thrive - few other plants would be tough enough to get a foothold. Certainly, there wasn’t much in the way of understory.
The Rock, NSW
#947 - Fumaria officinalis - Common Fumitory
One last plant IDed on the trip to Uranquinty - a common and invasive weed from the Poppy family, originally from western and central Europe. AKA drug fumitory or earth smoke. It’s poisonous, but that doesn’t stop modern herbalists prescribing it for ‘kidney cleansing’.
Uranquinty, NSW
#948 - Psephotus haematonotus - red-rumped grass parrot
A common parrot of the Riverina, and the rest of SE Australia. Does well in cleared areas, and a frequent visitor of suburban parks. That they’ll nest in hollow fence posts probably helps, too. It also leaves them vulnerable to car strike and cats, however.
This flock were feeding in the grass outside the airport building in Wagga Wagga. They were very well camouflaged, despite the bright blue-green of the males, and the brownish-green of the female.
I forgot to mention some of the plants I saw on the trip up to the Snowys - this large tree fern, for example.
Also known as the man fern, Australian tree fern, Tasmanian tree fern, hardy tree fern, and woolly tree fern, this is one of Australia’s most common tree ferns, growing up to 15 meters high and 6 wide. If I’m right on the ID, finding this high up in the Snowys is a little odd, since some of the sources I was consulting say it prefers damp gullies, and altitudes below 1000m. On the other hand, it was on the shady southern side of the ridge, and it is known to be cold-tolerant. Often grown and exported as an ornamental, although it’s so slow-growing that nearly all specimens are collected from the wild, and often from areas about to be clear-felled for timber. They do not recover well from disturbance, which is a problem given how important they are to other species.
Alpine Way, near Thredbo, in the Snowy Mountains
#942 - Rubus sp. - Blackberry
Not the best photo, by a long shot, but those thickets on the far side of the fence are impenetrable brambles of blackberry. They get rather bad in the cooler parts of Australia and New Zealand, piling up higher than a house, and completely choking paths and streams. Bad news for sheep that get their wool caught on the thorns, too.
It’s debatable which species are involved - they hybridise so wildly that the entire subgenus Rubus is referred to as the R. fruticosus aggregate.
At Paddy’s River Falls there were signs up warning visitors that the blackberries had been sprayed with herbicide, and that gives you a clue as to how they managed to spread so wide so fast - the fruit is delicious, and abundant, and a favorite with many birds and small animals, as well as people. The seeds get widely dispersed, and if that doesn’t work the long runners, stems, and roots spread all over the place, sending down more roots, or sending up suckers, at any opportunity.
photo by ragesoss
#943 - Amyema pendula - Drooping Mistletoe
A common mistletoe in the Riverina - most noteworthy for how closely it mimics the leaves of the host eucalypt.
Eucalypt leaves at the left, parasitic plant leaves on the right.
Uranquinty, NSW
#944 - Callitris endlicheri - Black Cypress
A native conifer. Apparently it’s not uncommon, but the area around The Rock is the only place I’ve seen them growing so thickly. That might be because s it prefers ridges, plateaux, hills and tablelands, and is usually found on relatively shallow stony soils, often on steep slopes. That was certainly the case here.
Black Cypress has been successfully cultivated overseas, particularly in African countries, where despite initial slow growth and vulnerability to fires it is valued for its durability and termite resistance, and has been used as fencing, flooring, panelling, furniture, charcoal and fuel-wood.
The Rock, NSW
#945 - Stypandra glauca - Nodding Blue Lily - Blind Grass
A relative of the Flax Lilies (Dianella) but with large grass-like leaves and stems, instead of the strap-like leaves of Dianella. The common name of Blind Grass comes from the fact that letting your goats eat it is a Very Bad Idea.
The Rock, NSW
#946 - Parmaliaceae Lichen Crust
The ground on the northern slope of the Rock was mostly these small rocks - and everywhere where people hadn’t been walking they were covered in a thick crust of these lichens. Interesting - I haven’t seen lichens growing so thickly before. I suspect it was the harsh summer conditions and shallow rock-filled soil that helped them thrive - few other plants would be tough enough to get a foothold. Certainly, there wasn’t much in the way of understory.
The Rock, NSW
#947 - Fumaria officinalis - Common Fumitory
One last plant IDed on the trip to Uranquinty - a common and invasive weed from the Poppy family, originally from western and central Europe. AKA drug fumitory or earth smoke. It’s poisonous, but that doesn’t stop modern herbalists prescribing it for ‘kidney cleansing’.
Uranquinty, NSW
#948 - Psephotus haematonotus - red-rumped grass parrot
A common parrot of the Riverina, and the rest of SE Australia. Does well in cleared areas, and a frequent visitor of suburban parks. That they’ll nest in hollow fence posts probably helps, too. It also leaves them vulnerable to car strike and cats, however.
This flock were feeding in the grass outside the airport building in Wagga Wagga. They were very well camouflaged, despite the bright blue-green of the males, and the brownish-green of the female.