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.