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.

Friday 2 November 2012

Spring Wildflowers (6)

This will be the last in this series, mostly because I'm heading off to Ecuador next week, and won't be back until early summer. For posting number 5 see here; further links to earlier ones can be found there. The main orchid season is winding down around Canberra, though there are still some nice ones around (and some still to come).

Mountain Beard Orchid, Calochilus montanus, Black Mountain.
A striking and and uncommon orchid which may also be found in the ranges, up to about 1000 metres above sea level.
A much commoner one is the Slender Sun Orchid; last time I featured a rare pink version, but here's the 'standard' form.
Thelymitra pauciflora, Black Mountain.
Another uncommon one locally is a widespread shrub, Kangaroo Apple; the flowers tell us immediately that it is closely related to tomatoes, potatoes etc in the family Solanaceae.
Solanum linearifolium, Black Mountain.
The rest of today's feature plants are all yellow, starting with two species of Guinea Flower.
Hibbertia calycina above, and H. obtusifolia below.
The flowers are almost identical, but the leaves are very different.
The genus was named for George Hibbert, a London merchant and anti-slavery MP who lived from 1757 to 1837.
He had a private botanic garden at Chelsea, where he was one of the first to grow Australian plants, though his chief passion was for South Africa where he maintained his own private collector for five years.
Henry Charles Andrews, who named the genus in 1800, described him as "one whose knowledge and fervour in botanical pursuits, as well as liberality in his endeavours to enrich our collections, from every quarter of the globe .... has not been exceeded by any".
Other sources suggest that this might contain a modicum of hyperbole.


Finally Ivy Goodenia is an attractive little ground cover which can be found from local forests to the high mountains. The person it was named for - the Reverend Samuel Goodenough, Bishop of Carlisle - warrants his own story, and I shall oblige in due course.
Goodenia hederacea, Black Mountain.



2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Mountain Beard Orchid is so lovely. We have lots of Hibbertias and Goodenias out around southern NSW too, but it has got a bit dry for the orchids and there are not many about.

Ian Fraser said...

Thanks Madoqua. As I may have mentioned before, the beard orchids are a sort of totem of mine - sadly I find it more necessary to look for Grey Beard Orchids these days...