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| Mottlecah, Yandin Lookout Road, north of Perth. Above, bud cap about to drop to reveal the flower. |
About Me
- Ian Fraser
- 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'), and run tours all over Australia, and for 17 years to South and Central America. I've 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 a 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 21 October 2012
Mottlecah Opening
Mottlecah, Eucalyptus macrocarpa, is one of most dramatically-flowering of all eucalypts, though the tree itself is small and scrubby (of mallee form, multi-stemmed, growing from a subterranean lignotuber). The silvery stalkless leaves are up to 12cm long, while the magnificent red flowers are more than 10cm across! Nearly all eastern Australian eucalypts are white-flowered and are unusually generalist in their pollinators - birds, insects and bats are all involved - but many of the Western Australian species, including Mottlecah, specialise in birds, especially honeyeaters such as the Western (Little) Wattlebird.
Back tomorrow!
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