Flora

Robert Onfray. As we celebrate World Endangered Species Day on 19 May, I thought it timely this month to look closely at how species are faring in Australia, particularly in reserves authorities have established to protect them ... We don’t hear about this aspect of monitoring in our reserves because the government, bureaucrats and environmental activists don’t want the public to know just how poorly managed our reserves are.

LHIB. The southern walking tracks in the Permanent Park Preserve (PPP) were re-opened on March 31st, after a brief closure in response to the escalating risk of Myrtle rust to the critically endangered ecosystems within that section of the PPP. The entire PPP is now open in full to managed visitation.

Although it may not look much to the untrained eye, the Cambooya Grassland Reserve, nestled to the north of the town between Toowoomba Karara Road and Railway Parade contains native grassland which is becoming increasingly rare in the Darling Downs.

At the presentation of the Shire’s Wilcannia Community awards on Wednesday 22nd February, the tables were decorated with vivid yellow flowered gum branchlets, which also carried bright red gum nut caps. These attracted lots of comments ... The tree is Eucalyptus erythrocorys or Illyarrie. It was first noticed in 1851 growing along a stock route between Geraldton and Perth.

The World Wetland Day Yabby Festival was a huge success ... The Pollack Swamp is a 700ha flora and fauna nature reserve in the Koondrook-Perricoota Forest. Historically occupied by the Barapa Barapa people, the swamp has become a model of how locally driven projects can collaboratively engage community members, farmers and traditional owners to enhance environmental outcomes.

From plant structure and correct terminology to learning about the features of leaves, bark, fruit and flowers; a three-day plant identification course hosted by Cape York NRM provided new insights into the flora on Cape York Peninsula ... The main tool used was the Australian Tropical Rainforests Plants key (8th ed), developed at the Australian Tropical Herbarium by CSIRO.

Forestry Corporation of NSW has launched a program across eastern NSW to monitor native plants and animals in State forests, finding a strong recovery in spring after previous droughts, fires and floods ... “We have already detected a number of koalas, yellow-bellied gliders, parma wallabies and quolls, which are all threatened species": North Coast Senior Field Ecologist, Mark Drury.

When Ray Smith took it upon himself to grow flowers to beautify the dining room at the Uniting Caroona Yamba aged care home, he never imagined he’d be dealing with a ‘mutant’ Marigold. But in an extraordinary ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ esq case, that is exactly what happened, when a single Marigold plant grew to more than four times the size of the seedlings with which it was planted.

Narrandera Landcare’s quarterly bird survey at The Wetlands recently surprised the group, with participants finding 25 species! There were almost no waterbirds but lots and lots of woodland birds.

A public environmental review has been set for a mineral sands project proposed for about 21km east of Ledge Point and 800m south of the Moore River due to the extent of further information required, the number of preliminary key environmental factors identified and the moderate level of public interest in the project. When the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) published its decision to assess the Bidaminna project proposal it said out of the 156 submissions received 153 had called for public environmental review.

Chris Oldfield. A bright red rose named Fields of Fromelle is one of Hynam hybridist George Thomson’s most famous roses. It is the first and only Australian bred rose ever to be planted in France.

Chris Oldfield. The sweet smell of roses hangs in the air wherever you walk in the garden of internationally acclaimed hybridist George Thomson and his wife Linda. On the outskirts of Naracoorte, they live among hundreds of colourful roses – varieties which have taken decades to breed and grow.

A total of 19 species of flora and fauna have been recommended for interim protection relating to forestry operations, according to the Threatened Species and Communities Risk Assessment report. The next step will be to prepare action statements for each species based on the management needed to conserve them all.

These amazing images were taken by Allora’s Photography Group when visiting Girraween National Park. Members of the Group joined other Wildflower Walkers and were led by knowledgeable guides from the Stanthorpe Rare Wildflower Consortium.

The flowers are blooming and the birds are chirping as we experience a green (and rather wet) start to spring here in the Central Downs. With the end of September fast approaching, if you are yet to do so there is still time to see the colourful flower arrays in Laurel Bank Park, Queens Park and elsewhere in the city.

Botanists have stumbled across a new and unexplored field of carnivorous plants along with multiple new species of the animal-eating flora at the remote Charnley River-Artesian Range Wildlife Sanctuary in the Kimberley. The new site, aptly named Sundew Spring, was discovered by Curtin University PhD candidate and botanist Thilo Krueger, his academic co-supervisor Dr Andreas Fleischmann and Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC) Wildlife Ecologist Dr Tom Sayers while conducting research at the AWC managed sanctuary.  

Vincent Savolainen. Professor Vincent Savolainen has come back to Lord Howe Island to set up new research about the role that underground fungi may play in generating and maintaining plant diversity ... Our understanding of how species originate has changed considerably since Darwin's seminal work. One aspect, however, that has been totally ignored is the role that microbes can play in driving plant and animal diversity.

Holly Fern found at the Lower Road. Holly Fern Cyrtomium falcatum is an exotic introduction to LHI. It is a fast-growing fern that produces high spore load, propagates easily and loves rock face nooks and crannies. It is targeted for eradication on LHI.