13th November 2021. Ballandean Qld.

For details please follow the Events link

And now it is spring, late September as I write. By all accounts it has been a bumper season for wildflowers. They appear to have peaked, however with good rain predicted for this week we could well see a second burst. I have been fortunate to go out on some field trips with the Wildflower Consortium, and spotted some rare species, notably some Boronias and the extremely rare Bertya recurvata.

I moved into this part of southern Queensland in February, 2021. I am fortunate to live within minutes of the granite hills with their profusion of wildflowers, and within a short drive of Giraween National Park and other special wild places.

I have no claims to being a good photographer, I simply use an old Galaxy phone for the job. But I do get out a lot, and I am able to identify most of the plants I come across, with help from the excellent Flora of the Granite Belt published by the Stanthorpe Rare Wildflower Consortium, of which I am now a member. This is a collection of photos of plants most of which are currently in flower (August), and it isn’t even spring (a line from a song)!

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On my way back to Queensland from the Hunter Valley in March 2021, I took an inland route which gave me the opportunity to visit the Pilliga Scrub – which has long been on my “want to do list”.

One of Australias largest inland forests, the Pilliga forest aka Pilliga scrub is a sandy region dominated by cypress pines (Callitris spp.) and ironbarks (Eucalyptus spp.) but with an incredible diversity of plant and animal life. It is also a special area for the first human inhabitants, the Gamilaroi people. One of their special places is the Dandry Gorge in Tammallallie National Park, which is now also the home of a set of Aboriginal culture inspired sculptures, which are depicted below.

In addition to the spectacular gorge scenery and above-mentioned sculptures, the site is a wildflower spectacle. While not too many of them were flowering during my March visit (apart from bluebells and a greenhood orchid), most plants were full of flower buds, an enticement for me to return in the spring to witness the full spectacle. The site is also generously provided with numerous display signs depicting many of the wildflowers present, as well as other features – my favourite being the Bibii rainbow story.

Finally, always on the lookout for plants that can be used for food or medicine, this sign appeared.

Today is wattle day all over Australia, a celebration of the Acacia genus, which I believe to be the biggest plant genus in Australia, and one which has a long history of use for food, medicines and many other purposes.

History of wattle day

The first wattle day on record was held in Hobart as far back as 1838. It was held sporadically at different times in different states, and it wasn’t until 1992 that it was gazetted as a national event to be held on the 1st September. We can thank the so –called wattle lady, Maria Hitchcock of Armidale NSW, who campaigned to get wattle day gazetted, following her success in having the golden wattle (Acacia pycnantha) gazetted as the Australian floral emblem in 1988.  Her book, “A Celebration of Wattle”, (Rosenberg Publishing, 2012) tells the story of the history of wattle day, whilst also containing botanical and horticultural tips along with an anthology of wattle poems, songs and plays.

It is the day for wearing a sprig of wattle, and celebrating the beginning of Spring in Australia. For more on wattle day, and events that are held round the country, check out the Wattle Day Association at  http://www.wattleday.asn.au/

At the Queensland Herbarium, wattle day was celebrated on the 29th August, which is also volunteers day. As with most Herbaria, volunteers play a crucial role in helping with the mounting and labeling of plant specimens. Sprigs of wattle and a lavish spread for morning tea marked the occasion.

Finally, check out these books on edible and other uses for Acacia, particularly relevant to South Australia and the inland regions of Australia

Today I learned that my friend and mentor, Dr. Arthur Tucker, just passed away following a sudden illness. Art was an economic botanist with a wide range of interests. His main passion was aromatic plants, and he is regarded as a world authority on aromatic chemistry, having managed an analytical laboratory where he performed GC-MS analysis for both academic and economic pursuits. Art lived in Dover, Delaware (USA) and he was a research professor at DE State University, where he established and for many years curated the Claude E. Phillips Herbarium, where I was a frequent visitor.

Only last year we lost another mutual friend, Dr. James Duke. I probably learned more plant knowledge from these two intellectual giants than from all other sources combined. Here they are together at a garden luncheon I arranged several years ago, at the Maryland University of Integrative Health.

Among his many activities, Art was a designed consultant to the famous Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania. Here we are with Arts other half, Sharon, another biologist.

Art was a prolific writer of scientific papers, and he also managed to produce one of the best herbal references around. He also had a great sense of humour, and loved to dress up!

I’ll always miss you Art, may you rest in peace.

Wild food (and chiggers) aplenty in winter

I recently moved from the Hunter Valley NSW up to Brisbane, to start a new position at the Queensland Herbarium. It took nearly 2 weeks to get here, as we headed off with the “cub” camper trailer, and enjoed several nights camping along the NSW coastline.

The most memorable place we stopped at was Minnie Water, at the Yuraygir National Park south of Grafton. There are spacious campsites aplenty with fireplaces and picnic tables laid on. Within a few minutes walk there is also a selection of plant edibles, even during July. In the fruit department, there were two species of lilly pillys along with some sweet and juice native raspberries (Rubus rosifolius).

While the common lilli pilly (Acmena smithii) was seen fruiting heavily, the taster blue fruit from Syzygium oleosum was more to our liking, crunchy like an apple and moderately sweet.

Other fruiting species were sighted , though not flowering at the time. These include 2 species of geebung (Persoonia spp.) and the succulent midginberry (Austromyrtus dulcis). However I’m told that man can’t live on fruit alone, and that green vegetables are a necessity for a healthy diet. Fortunately we had no shortage, the variously named Warrigal greens, Botany Bay greens or New Zealand spinach (Tetragonia tetragonoides) were growing along the paths to the beach. This species is common in the eastern states, especially on the coastline, and is found outside Australia also, including New Zealand as one of the names suggests. I remove the hard little fruits before cooking them lightly, stems and all. They do shrink upon cooking, so use a generous serving.

Like most of coastal NSW, the invasive bitou bush (Chrysanthemoides monolifera) is a constant threat to the indigenous flora, despite ongoing control programmes. I pulled out my share of the bush and liberated some of the coastal flora, for the time being at least. Once away from the beach and main sand dunes the bitou bush disappears, and the indigenous species grow unthreatened. I enjoyed walking through some Banksia woodland, dominated by the wallum Banksia (B. aemula), which creates a really thick mulch layer, soft to walk on. Coastal cypress pine (Callitris columellaris) are common here, which is the southern limit for their distribution . The trunks are typically covered in mosses, lichens and young staghorn ferns, making a pretty sight in amongst the gnarled Banksia trunks. The ground in places was covered by orchids of the Acianthus genus, many in flower. As with most of our coastline Melaleuca quinquenervia is abundant, source of nerolidol, one of my favourite essential oils.

Ambling through the bush like this is most enjoyable, however it can come at a cost. Whilst I’m quite aware of the danger of ticks, it turned out that a tick-relative was my downfall on this occasion. Following my years of living in the USA, I came back to Australia being grateful for at least one thing (well apart from good coffee and cricket), that at least we have no chiggers. The microscopic mites managed to get under my skin, (figuratively and almost literally) on a few excursions on Atlantic Coastal areas, and left me covered in itchy lesions which could last for weeks. So the night after my Banksia woodland walk I noticed these itchy lesions springing up around my body, by the next day I knew they could only be chiggers – or a close Aussie relative.

So I did what anyone would do and googled Wikipedia, and sure enough:

Trombiculid mites are found throughout the world. … In the British Isles, the species Trombicula autumnalis is called harvest mites, in North America the species Trombicula alfreddugesi, and the species Trombicula (eutrombicula) hirsti, which are found in Australia and are commonly called the scrub-itch mite. Read more about the here:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/chiggers

Over a week later I still have some lesions, but they are not bothering me. I had far fewer lesions than during my American experiences, and the itch does start to ease after a few days, so perhaps our species is less numerous and a little more benign. But Aussies be warned, there are hidden dangers in the bush that most of us are unaware of.

The festival was held during the first week of May at Woodford, Queensland, the site of the famous folk festival. I have been an occasional visitor to the festival since it began in the 1980s, originally at nearby Maleny. The 500 acre site, once a dairy farm, is owned by the folk festival organization, and fans such as ourselves can become citizens of Woodfordia for a small fee. In addition, there is a planting program that has so far seen over 100,000 native trees in the ground, many of them now having attained a good size. Most were planted by the volunteer “Treehuggers”, who meet there each month.

Woodfordia comes with a philosophy which I quote

“live as if we will die tomorrow and plan as if we would live forever”.

For more information on Woodfordia and the festival check out the website:
https://theplantingfestival.com/

After setting up camp alongside thousands of others, in fields well-shaded with tree specimens, we made our way up to the festival site in time to witness the festival opening, a fire ceremony featuring Aboriginal dancers – can you make them out?

The following day it was time to get active, and what better way than to plant trees. I found myself in a group led by botanist Robert Price, we were tasked to plant some rare and endangered rainforest species along a creek bed. Here is the first tree I planted at Woodford, a previously unknown species for me, listed as rare and vulnerable, it grows in a narrow belt between the Tweed Valley and SE Queensland.

On another occasion I joined the Treehuggers, taking care of some trees from previous plantings, weeding and mulching them, and replacing any that were dead.

Some other trees of interest in the camping grounds come arboretum :

The candelnut tree below (Aleurites molucanna) is a striking tree that has medicinal properties, and the nuts are delicious but they must be cooked. It grows in many tropical countries, including India and Hawaii (ok, not a country). It is in the spurge (Euphorbiaceae) family. For more info: 

http://www.nuez-dela-india.com/candlenut-weight-loss/ 

I don’t know if this one has any medicinal uses, but it has really spectacular flowers appearing in Autumn, when there is very little flowering in Queensland. It is Xanthostemon (meaning, appropriately, yellow stamens) chrysanthus, or yellow penda. This would be an outstanding specimen tree for sub-tropical gardens.

The festival isn’t all about trees, there are various other biological and non-biological activities to get involved in. The DiscoveryLab, open for the duration, is the home of numerous citizen science projects including fungi, mosses and lichens, spiders, butterflies and other insects. My favourite are the butterflies, there is a walk featuring trees that are host to different butterflies, enticing onlookers to plant these species for the sake of attracting butterflies. In the photo below, the tree is Alphitona excelsa, a significant tree with medicinal properties.

There is native orchid group and a cycad group, anyone can join in.

Fungi is of major interest, I’ll let the posters speak for themselves

As you see, this isn’t exactly an amateur group conducting these projects, leading scientists in each of the fields are involved, however as with the tree planting, all are welcome to contribute. For those who don’t know where to start, or have little experience in field biology, there is an app available called QuestaGame, once again it speaks for itself.

Herbies reading this might be wondering whether herbal medicine fits into the scene. It turns out the local herbalist Dominique Livkamal, a one-time student, hosts the Medicine Room herb dispensary and provides medicine-making classes during the festival.

The festival is also about fun, entertainment, excellent food and beverages and a happy, kid-friendly environment. A highlight for me was the rainbow that signaled the end of the rain we received on day one. The photo doesn’t capture the drama of it, but it helps to set the atmosphere, though unusually, there are not many people about.