Text and photos by John Elliott Macropteranthes montana (Combretaceae) is officially classed as a rainforest species (RFK Code: 1087) but this unusual tree will only be found in a very limited range on skeletal soils in sparse open forest and woodland. One collection from the 1870’s describes the habitat as ‘desert’! Its range consists of …
Continue reading “Plant of the month 2/2022: Macropteranthes montana“
With brilliant red-orange flowers appearing intermittently throughout the warmer half of the year, Haemodorum coccineum (Haemodoraceae) is a fitting selection to represent multiple months. (Our web editor was too busy to do a new one each month, sorry!) Commonly called Bloodroot, due to the colour of its underground parts, this attractive local plant grows a …
Continue reading “Plant of the months 11/2021 – 1/2022: Haemodorum coccineum“
For much of the year, tea tree orchids Dendrobium canaliculatum (Orchidaceae) are quite inconspicious in the wild. If you notice them at all, you might chuckle at their incongruous appearance, rather like dryish bunches of small onions arranged on the branches of wetland Melaleucas (photo below) and other trees. However, from about September to November, …
Continue reading “Plant of the month 10/2021: Dendrobium canaliculatum“
The Landcare revegetation area on Castle Hill provided a nice surprise this month (Sept 2021, photo below) when flowers appeared on several small Pavetta australiensis, only 8 months after they were planted as tubestock. Pavetta australiensis (Rubiaceae) grows as an understory shrub in our drier rain forest areas, monsoon forests and vine thickets. It has …
Continue reading “Plant of the month 09/2021: Pavetta australiensis“
Dischidia nummularia (Apocynaceae) is a dainty native vine that grows as an epiphyte on paperbarks and other coastal trees in northern Queensland, sometimes in association with Myrmecodia species (ant-plants) and some native orchids. In favourable situations, these plants develop an attractive cascade of rounded succulent leaves. People have likened Dischidia nummularia foliage to strings of …
Continue reading “Plant of the month 08/2021: Dischidia nummularia“
Townsville is outside the natural range of Myrsine subsessilis subsp. cryptostemon but a single specimen is growing very well in Anderson Gardens. With masses of tiny flowers clustered along the stems, this plant made a splendid show at the time of our group’s July outing. Small blue fruits can be expected to ripen in a …
Continue reading “Plant of the month 07/2021: Myrsine subsessilis“