Wildflowers

[nananut]

Thought I start a wildflowers thread since it's spring. Took the long way back home to Kalgoorlie and did a few detours following a couple of tracks running parallel to highway from Burracoppin to Karalee Rock, stopping along some of the POIs on the Golden Pipeline Trail which follows the water pipeline from Mundaring to Kalgoorlie.

These were taken under cloudy conditions so it was hard to brighten them up much so I brought the colours of the flowers out instead.

 

[nananut]

 

[Spooner]

Great idea for a photo thread .
Jean takes a few when we are out looking for fungi .
Here's a Wattle blossom at Marysville , taken with her iPhone 5SE ,with camera plus app set to macro.

 

[Spooner]

View attachment 41487

Beautiful Grevillea Reggie , I wonder what strain it is ?

 

[nananut]

Beautiful Grevillea Reggie , I wonder what strain it is ?

Thanks but don't ask me anything about flowers or birds. I just take the photos. lol.

 

[greysrigging]

Iconic wildflowers of the Pilbara.....purple Mulla Mulla and Sturts Desert Rose

 

[ULost2]

You cannot beat WA for wild flowers. My camera is over there ATM; while I'm stuck here. When driving to the wa north each week I can clearly remember watching how the line of wild flowers moved further south each week. And it was a rather distinct line ; sort of there are flowers then there are none
These are oldies
wild growing pretty weed [broken hill]

1210--20 by Ian Browne, on Flickr
another weed ............ not sure now; maybe a native that can kill live stock [broken hill]

1209--16 by Ian Browne, on Flickr
no need to say [broken hill

1110--60-2 by Ian Browne, on Flickr
sturt desert pea [broken hill] Apparently to get these to grow from seed you need heat the seed as per a bush fire

1110--50-2 by Ian Browne, on Flickr

Better have a look locally for some new and better pics. Been wet enough to get plenty of flowers although we missed all the big rain of the last few weeks though

 

[Aaron Schubert]

Great pics! They are saying its WA's best wildflower season in about 10 years; so will have to get out and check them out!

Aaron

 

[greysrigging]

Still amazes me the diversity and beauty of Pilbara wildflowers. How do the bloody things grow in in this gravel >

 

[oldlux]

Yeah the flora diversity up there is amazing I reckon, when I did the CSR there were these little trees, only about a foot or so high and I kept meaning to get a photo of them but alas I moved out of their range before doing so. They were like bonsai trees and I have no clue what species they were, any clues?

 

[tadpole]

Driving from Perth to Leinster a few weeks ago there were everlastings as far as the eye could see from just north of Wubin, up to Paynes Find and then most of the way across to Sandstone. Pretty impressive.

 

[Spooner]

sturt desert pea [broken hill] Apparently to get these to grow from seed you need heat the seed as per a bush fire

Thats a magnificent photo Ian

 

[nananut]

Went out today with someone from interstate to show her the local area a bit. Found more flowers

Interesting to note that there hasn't been a bush fire in this area in over 8 years that I've been in town so no idea how the Sturt Desert Peas are doing well just by the road side.

 

[greysrigging]

I've noticed that Sturts Desert Pea thrives on disturbed ground ie roadside verges etc. Almost impossible to cultivate in the home garden but looks a million dollars on an iron ore tailings dump for some reason.....

The Mulla Mulla is the same, if the hand of man disturbes the soil, the Mulla Mulla takes full advantage.

Dunno what this one is called, but the flowers look similar to bush tomato.

 

[greysrigging]

Sometimes what we think are wildflowers are in fact noxious weeds
This one is called Ruby Dock, photographed at Alice Springs in 2010. It thrives in arid regions and is a declared weed in WA and the NT

And this evil bastard is called Harrisia Cactus....pretty flower that infests the countryside west of Towoomba.

 

[Spooner]

With nothing much going on in the way of Fungi at the moment , Jean took some shots of fauna up near the top of Mt Terrible track today.
Dunno if the 1st photo is a weed or not.

 

[BIGCOL]

I meant to get back to you on the names of these plants Rick, I'm a bit of an amateur botany nut as well as other things. The first is indeed native Tetratheca Ciliata, I think its common name is Pink Bells. You can see it as close to Melbourne as Warrandyte. The second pic is of Victoria's floral emblem Epacaris Impressa commonly called the Common or Pink Heath, yours is the white form and the last pic is I think Acacia Dealbata, the Silver Wattle. There is a Black Wattle that is similar but you have to look closely at the leaves to tell them apart.
Lovely pics Jean.

Col.

PS Flora not Fauna Ha!

 

[Spooner]

Lovely pics Jean.

Thank you for the names of the plants. I like to know what I am looking at, but didn't know where to start. The Common Heath I knew and am amazed at the wide variety of colours that we see of the Pink Heath, from pale pink, to almost magenta (around Walhalla). Is the Black Wattle the one that is from the Blackwood tree? or am I on the wrong track!
I will be looking for more flowers now that the fungi are disappearing back to where they came from. I made up some photo books and had fun researching the names of the fungi. I love taking photo's and really enjoy your beautiful photographs and excellent, detailed trip reports.
Jean (Mrs Spooner)

 

[BIGCOL]

Thanks Jean,
A bit of a mutual admiration thing we have going here with you and Rick, it's great to communicate with others who appreciate the same things. The Common heath as you have said comes in many colours, the deep red is one of my favourites. The Blackwood is Acacia Melannoxylon, it is found in damper areas, along creeks etc. It is the largest of all our wattles (grows the tallest), it has a number of common names hence the need to try and remember the latin or botanical name as that never changes Ha! Plus it may impress others !!!!
What is known as the Black Wattle is Acacia Mearnsii, that and the Silver Wattle are fairly similar and one of those is what your third pic is, they can be found on ridges etc like where you took your photo. Hope that is not too confusing but it is good to have a little bit of knowledge, you get so much more enjoyment out of each excursion and discovery.
Regards from Col.

 

[Spooner]

Thank You again, I did google the Black Wattle - Blackwood tree and it is the Blackwood tree. I spent time in Tasmania and did the Furniture design course at Tas Uni, so I am interested in the timber species as well.
Looks like this is another excuse to add to my book collection - Wildflowers of Victoria. More research.
Regards Jean.