Australian Plants Society Latrobe Valley Group Inc.

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1 Australian Plants Society Latrobe Valley Group Inc. No. A C November 2018 Newsletter Issue No Leader: Mike Beamish Phone: (03) Next Meeting Golden Grevillea Photo: J Stephens Subject: Button Wrinklewort Speaker: Ben Courtice Location: Federation Training Horticultural Building, Morwell. Date: 8 th November Time: 7:30 PM Ben Courtice completed a science degree majoring in botany and is finishing his honours thesis on the Button Wrinklewort (Rutidosis leptorrhynchoides), an endangered native daisy species of national significance. His research looks at how patch density of the plants attracts pollinators, and whether this affects the rate of seed set. Ben currently works in native vegetation conservation. Come along and hear about this bright and beautiful little Aussie battler. In this issue: Page 2-4 Leader s Report Mike Beamish 4 APS Latrobe Valley Group Calendar 5 Editor s Notes Col Jackson 6-7 Plants in my garden Mike Beamish 8-11 Svalbard Flora Daryl Radnell 12 Rainfall Registration Charts 12 Coming APS events pg. 1

2 Leader s Report Hello Folks, Long time no see! Things didn t really go to plan in October, did they? After the main meeting was cancelled due to our speaker Judy being waylaid by some unforeseen surgery (which was successful, by the way, and Judy is recuperating nicely), Cathy and I dropped in at the South Gippsland Flower Show in Leongatha on Sunday 14 th, expecting to see many of our Group filling their baskets with the offerings, but Rhonda was the only one there. Delma and Ray had sms d to say they were attending later in the morning. It was pretty quiet in general as well, which gave us time and space to browse at leisure and chat to the locals. Apparently, Saturday was much busier, good for their bank balance. Then Cathy and I, Brian and Judy, Colin and Mary and Daryl and Judy were all apologies for the Mt Cannibal excursion on the 20 th, so I hope the rest of you braved the weather and had a good day trotting around the Reserve. How many orchids did you find? Did anyone tackle the climb to the lookouts at the top? Before all this happened, Cathy and I had a busy 3 weeks in WA, trundling around the southwest looking for orchids and other plants. The first week in Perth was shorts and t-shirt weather, mid-20 s, a shock to the system after the cold of Victoria. But then we worked our way south to Albany and the further south we went, the colder, wetter and windier it got, just like home. On our last day, we left Albany a partially overcast 17⁰C, still showering and wondered why we were getting hot 400km later as we descended down the Darling Scarp onto the coastal plain twas 27⁰C there. Then back to Melbourne, where it was pouring rain, blowing a gale and 13⁰C. Don t you just love coming home? Still, it was a good trip and we managed to find some species that we hadn t seen before. Our friends in Perth are mad keen orchid people and facebookers to boot, so they were able to gain the locations for some rare plants and trusted us with the information. The following photos are of some rare and endangered orchids that we were lucky enough to see. The first is of Caladenia granitora, the Southern Granite Spider Orchid, from Cheyne s Beach; this is restricted to a tiny area and is declared rare flora as a threatened species (DRF-T), previously Priority 2 (which means poorlyknown species that exist in less than 5 locations, but are in conservation reserves). We found 15 plants, 12 of which were in flower, 2 in bud yet to open and 1 pg. 2

3 pollinated/finished. Next is the Hinged Dragon Orchid, Caladenia drakeoides, from near Wongan Hills, also DRF-T, but it was listed as Critically Endangered at one stage. It took us most of a morning to track these little blighters down, enduring swarms of mosquitos (they grow around the edge of saltmarshes), but we eventually located a group of plants. Next up is the Quindanning Spider Orchid, Caladenia hopperiana, which grows in a single location a few kilometres north of Quindanning and is also DRF-T, though previously listed as Critically Endangered. This one puzzles us a bit; our references list it within the White Spider group of orchids (as opposed to Wispy Spiders, King Spiders and other Spiders). However, it looks very similar to the Cossack Spider Orchid (C. dorrienii), which is listed in the Wispy Spiders group and is apparently only different because it has more rows of labellum calli. Sounds like taxonomic bs to us! Lastly (for this report I ll include more photos in subsequent newsletters) is Swart s Spider Orchid, Caladenia swartsiorum, also known as the Island Point Spider Orchid. It grows in the Island Point Reserve south of Mandurah and is similar to a number of other pale green Spider Orchids (e.g. Margaret River, Albany, Lodge s and Bussell s Spiders) in the White Spider Orchid group, but the texts don t specify why it is different from these alternatives, other than locality, thus more taxonomic bs. It is listed as Priority 2 rare flora because it is poorly known and restricted to one locality, though the locality is a conservation reserve. We had gone to the Reserve because we had information that Grand Spider Orchids (C. huegelii) were in flower and this was one of the few places they could now be reliably found. We parked at the designated entrance to the Reserve (one of 3), behind another vehicle and pg. 3

4 proceeded to walk in along the access track, completely missing all the orchids next to the gate we had just come through. We weren t finding very many orchids as we went, just the usual common species like Cowslips and Purple Enamels. We reached the edge of the woodland where it met the beginning of the freshwater estuary and marshland, when we spied some Dancing (Bee) Spider Orchids underneath a WA Christmas Tree. As Cathy took some photos, I wandered off into the scrub, when I heard Cathy talking to someone walking out of the Reserve back to the cars. I wandered back out to join the conversation, to find the chap was also interested in orchids, and when we offered to show him what we had found, he admitted that he already knew heaps about the orchids in the Reserve, his name was Eric Swarts and he was surveying the rare orchids that were named after his family! Consequently, we were guided directly to the Grand Spiders, the Swart s Spiders and a couple of other species as well. Kissed on the ring or what! In return for this hospitality, we managed to find more plants of the Swart s Spider that Eric did not have recorded on his GPS, and after Eric left, we continued to find lots of orchid species right through the Reserve, including the Swart s, Carousel and Grand Spiders inside the gate next to our car. We simply must pay more attention to the 50-foot rule of orchid hunting! Planning for our end-of-year function is proceeding and we will hopefully have a booking to report to you at our next meeting. Our two options at the moment are the Morwell Bowling Club in Hazelwood Road and the Jacican Café in Mirboo North; we are currently assessing menus and costs and should have made a decision by the end of October. I hope you can all get to the November meeting, we are hosting Ben Courtice for his presentation on the endangered Button Wrinklewort and it should be an interesting evening. Hope to see you all there. Happy Aussie Planting, Mike 2018 Latrobe Valley Group Events Calendar Month Day Date Activity Time Nov Thur 8 Button Wrinklewort Ben Courtice. 7:30 pm Dec End of Year function venue/activity to be confirmed 2019 Latrobe Valley Group Events Calendar April Thur 11 Boronia Megastigma Oil Chris Long 7:30 pg. 4

5 Editor s Notes. The Jacksons have just returned from another Simpson Desert journey, this time the elusive Warburton crossing which has been flooded and closed every other time we have been travelling in the vicinity. The crossing forms the southern entry to the desert and took us through a part of the desert I have never travelled before. It is late in the season to be travelling there but before we left home Alice Springs temperatures seemed to sitting around 34 degrees which we felt would be acceptable. Unfortunately, when we were there we had temperatures of up to 45 degrees which made for some rather uncomfortable travelling, especially in the old un-airconditioned Troopy. Our trip took us right across the desert and out the north to a place called Jervois, covering about 800km without seeing any other vehicles or people. This desert run took us through a lot of Gidgee woodland which is one of my favorite arid area plants. These gnarly old trees are the old growth forest of this area, even though they are only about four metres high. Their ancient-looking, twisted trunks support foliage which seems to have sneakily soaked up the blue of the sky, fitting them perfectly into their environment. Our original plan had been to also complete a west to east crossing of the Simpson but with the high temperatures, we decided that wouldn t be wise. An alternative route was devised through the West MacDonnell Range and past Gosse Bluff (see photo at right of the Desert Grass Tree, Xanthorrhoea thorntonii outlined against Gosse Bluff. From there we proceeded to Palm Valley then down the Finke River through Boggy Hole before finally doing the run for home. Shown at left are photos of the Red Cabbage Palm (Livistona mariae) (normally has straight trunks, I was just intrigued by the kinky ones) and a Cycad (Macrozamia macdonnellii), hanging on to their respective niches in the shady side of the gorge of Palm Valley. We finally returned home to a magnificent looking spring flowering garden with just a few weeds to spoil the view. Read on also for Daryl s great article on the plants of the Svalbard Peninsula, an environment very different from that I have just described. Cheers for now and hope to see you all at the next meeting, Col Jackson. pg. 5

6 Plants in my Garden 148 By Mike Beamish Species: Hakea eriantha Family: Proteaceae Derivation: Hakea; Named after Baron Christian Ludwig von Hake (pronounced hark), ( ), a German patron of botany. eriantha; From the Greek erion, meaning wool, and anthos, meaning flower, thus woolly flowers. Name: Tree Hakea (this is considered inappropriate, why not Woolly Hakea? Even more inappropriate is the name Geoff Cooke used to call it, based on the capsule shape Dog Turd Hakea). Distribution: Mostly in high altitude, wet forest areas of the Great Dividing Range, generally east from Maffra through to south-eastern NSW, missing from the NSW Central Coast, but appearing again from northern NSW into south-east Queensland. Description: A tall shrub/small tree to 8 metres in height with leathery, linear to elliptic leaves that are dark shiny green on the upper surface and paler green beneath. They are up to 17cm long and 20mm wide, with a form in the upper Genoa River catchment up to 30mm pg. 6

7 wide. Cream, white or pink woolly flowers up to 15mm long occur in the leaf axils in spring and then form smooth, sigmoidally-ovoid, woody capsules to 30mm long, with a short, hooked beak. Seed is retained until death or fire opens the capsules to release the seed. Opinion: My specimen is planted on the Limonite Road nature strip, originally lawn, but converted into a mulched garden bed last spring. Seed was obtained from plants growing on the hillsides above Lake Tali Karng, in the high country north of Licola, before the Alpine National Park was declared in that area, but I didn t get around to sowing it for years, so I d guess the plant is about 20 years old now. Despite its age, it is still only less than a metre tall, a bit lanky and very woody with all capsules hanging on from previous year s flowering. I should take a few off and see if the seed is viable, it would all be self-pollinated as I doubt there is another specimen within coo-ee. Or maybe I d get a cross with another of the Hakeas in my garden; pretty rare with Hakeas apparently, there aren t many hybrids. But really, it s only a plant for Hakea buffs, there are plenty of prettier plants to choose from out there. Sources: Sharr WA Plant Names and their Meanings. Elliot & Jones Encyclopaedia of Australian Plants, Volume 5. Wrigley & Fagg Banksias, Waratahs & Grevilleas, etc. Holliday Hakeas: A Field and Garden Guide. Costermans Trees & Shrubs of South-eastern Australia. Online Flora of Victoria. pg. 7

8 SVALBARD FLORA By Daryl Radnell. Spitsbergen, the largest island of the Svalbard Archipelago, sits about midway between continental Norway and the North Pole, entirely within the Arctic Circle. The cosmopolitan population of 2667 people are outnumbered by approximately 5000 polar bears. It is not uncommon to see the locals carrying rifles around the main town of Lonyearbyen for protection from the bears. Unfortunately for us none of these polar bears came within a safe camera range for us to take the photographs we desired. Whaling has given way to coal mining which in turn has given way (almost) to research and tourism. Longyearbyen has a university, houses the Svalbard Global Seed Vault which holds over 20 million seeds in an abandoned underground coal mine and a transient horde of predominately Chinese tourists. The Svalbard arctic climate supposedly has higher temperatures than other areas at the same latitude, although we never noticed it. The flora has to take advantage of this and the midnight sun as it only has a growing season of six to ten weeks. Plants have to grow, flower and set seed in the course of this short period and it is noticeable that they do not have a lot of soil to do this. Around 60% of the archipelago is covered with glaciers and the islands feature many mountains and fjords. Svalbard has permafrost (hence a good place for the global seed bank) and the tundra vegetation, which is low without bushes or trees, only grows in areas that defrost in summer; about 10% of the archipelago. It feels a little strange walking around a country where the tallest growing plant is a grass that only gets to about 25 cm. Arctic Cottongrass (Eriophorum scheuchzeri ssp. arcticum) in Longyearbyen pg. 8

9 Tundra Grass (Dupontia fisheri) Alpine Meadow Grass (Poa alpina) Above: Snow Bunting with Mountain Sorrell, mosses and grasses Left: View over Longyearbyen Above: Purple Saxifrage (Saxifraga oppositifolia) Left: Moss Campion (Silene acculis) pg. 9

10 All plants are at ground level. Arctic Mouse Ear (Cerastium arcticum) Purple Saxifrage and mosses growing inside an old whale bone. Plants take advantage of the nutrients leached from bones, antlers and guano. Yellow Marsh Saxifrage (Saxifraga hirculus ssp. compacta) The two little white dots on the right are polar bears. The greenery is due to the bird rookery. pg. 10

11 Svalbard Poppy (Papaver dahliamum) Yellow variant of Svalbard Poppy Svalbard Reindeer are a distinct species being shorter and stockier than other species Dwarf Willow (Salix herbaceae) is the world s smallest tree reaching a maximum height of 5cm. It is quite common in Scandinavia and is found in Norway, Sweden, Iceland and on the Faroe Islands. References : Longyearflora - En Enkel Felthandbok Longyear Flora - A Basic Field Guide Internet - Wikipedia pg. 11

12 Rainfall for 2017 (in mm) JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JLY AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC Total Wayne John Diane Mike Carolyn Brian Rainfall for 2018 (in mm) Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jly Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Total Wayne John Diane Mike Mary Brian Carolyn Coming events of interest. 27 April 2019 APS Geelong Australian Native Plant Sale at Wirrawilla, 40 Lovely Banks Road, Lovely Banks. (Mel 431 D6). From 8.30 am to 5.00 pm (sale is one day only). A BBQ, tea, coffee and refreshments, book sales, childrens activities and a great selection of native plants. Date saver: The ANPSA 2019 Conference hosted by Western Australia will be held between 30th Sept to 4 October 2019 in Albany, WA Leader: Mike Beamish mcandcjb@gmail.com Deputy-leader: Rhonda Fitch rhonda.1.fitch@aussiebroadband.com.au Secretary: Judy Heatherington heth76933@gmail.com Treasurer: Delma Hodges rj3dh2@aussiebb.com.au Newsletter Editor: Col Jackson coljackson57@hotmail.com Website: John Stephens jsst@aussiebb.com.au Librarian: Pamela Cox theroseglen@yahoo.com.au Publicity Delma Hodges rj3dh2@aussiebb.com.au HOMEGROWN NATIVE PLANTS MAYBE SOLD AT EACH MEETING.COPYRIGHT: ARTICLES OR INFORMATION ARE NEEDED FOR EVERY MONTHLY NEWSLETTER. PLEASE ACKNOWLEDGE THE SOURCE AND ORIGINAL AUTHOR. SEND YOUR ARTICLES TO THE NEWSLETTER EDITOR; note SUBMISSION DEADLINE IS THE 25 TH OF EACH MONTH. MEMBERSHIP FEES; per ANNUM: TO BE PAID BY 30 TH JUNE FOR BOTH LATROBE VALLEY GROUP Inc. AND AUSTRALIAN PLANTS SOCIETY (SGAP Victoria) Inc. Produced with the assistance of Latrobe City Council. pg. 12