About Me

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Canberra-based naturalist, conservationist, educator since 1980. I’m passionate about the natural world (especially the southern hemisphere), and trying to understand it and to share such understandings. To that aim I’ve written several books (most recently 'Birds in Their Habitats' and 'Australian Bird Names; origins and meanings'), run tours all over Australia, and for the last decade to South America, done a lot of ABC radio work, chaired a government environmental advisory committee and taught many adult education classes – and of course presented this blog, since 2012. I am the recipient of the Australian Natural History Medallion, the Australian Plants Award and most recently a Medal of the Order of Australia for ‘services to conservation and the environment’. I live happily in suburban Duffy with my partner Louise surrounded by a dense native garden and lots of birds.

Sunday 14 October 2012

Spring Wildflowers (4)

This morning we paid another too-quick visit to Black Mountain - part of Canberra Nature Park, dry eucalypt forest, overlooking the centre of the national capital - and October is living up to its reputation as the peak flowering month here, although recent late frosts have dampened the enthusiasm of the herbs, including orchids. Here is a sample of what's on offer now; see postings 1, 2 and 3 for earlier samplings, and I don't repeat ones I reported earlier. I'll leave my favourite pic of the day until last!
Silver Tea-tree, Leptospermum multicaule, a low sprawling shrub which produces
a superb massed flowering - it's just beginning.

Slender Oxalis, Oxalis exilis; there has been debate about whether this is a
native species, but the current feeling is that it is.

a Bush Pea, Pultenea procumbens.

Candles, Stackhousia monogyna; John Stackhouse was an early 19th century
Cornish seaweed specialist! (Please don't ask me the connection...)
Trigger Plant, Stylidium graminifolium; the bent-back columns will whip over
when an insect touches the sensitive triggers on the flower tube, delivering or
collecting pollen. Full story another day - it's a beauty!
Black Mountain Donkey Orchid, Diuris nigromontana; believed to be endemic to the Australian Capital Territory,
and just to a few hills near the city, though here it is abundant. nigromontana is of course Latin for Black Mountain!

Musky Caps Stegostyla moschata, one of several superficially very similar
white finger-orchids (also called Caladenia).
Waxlip Orchid (also known as Parson-in-the-Pulpit) Glossodia major; a favourite of mine,which can form huge
colonies, but I do like the Salticid (Jumping Spider) lurking on the petal waiting for an unwary pollinator.
There will certainly be at least a couple more in this series.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am not in a position to view this web site properly on firefox I think there's a problem.

Ian Fraser said...

Hi and thanks for the feedback (for some reason your comment was consigned to Spam and I've only just seen it). No-one else has mentioned this problem, and I use Firefox myself; I'm no computer whizz, but perhaps you have an older version of Firefox? Sorry I can't help beyond that.