| Stat' | Notes | Thumbnails: 578. 66 native species listed, with 35 from Ellura |
| Plants (Plantae) - Other Small Plants | ||||||||
| Carrots Apiales | Carrot Apiaceae | Grey Hare's Ear Bupleurum semicompositum | If em | Thank you Darren Schmitke for identifying this species for us A simple thank you just isn't enough. We didn't even know where to start with this species and Darren spent many evenings investigating it. After we had given up, and Darren almost had, he found it. We were elated and disappointed at the same time. Elated the puzzle was solved, but disappointed that after all that work it turned out to be an introduced species. Here's hoping that by being on this web site it helps others know they can remove it; and Darren's work will be put to good use. It occurs primarily in disturbed locations on Ellura and may be useful to reduce erosion while natives reclaim their ground. It's heaviest where we've removed heavy investations of onion weed, but doesn't have anywhere near the destructive properties of onion weed. As such, it's weak and natives are stronger. It is classed as "Naturalised" (a term we despise) and an "Environmental Weed" (ie it doesn't impact farmers crops). The flowers are tiny; and go against the rule of thumb of small flowers being native. They are petalless (petals 0). The apparant petals are actually 5 sepals which start green and turn red with age. The flower has 5 stamen. The 5 bracts (leaf like structures) are toothed and form a cup holding up to about 8 flowers. The flower heads are on varying length stalks (0 to ~10mm). A flower head can throw 5 stalks with more flower heads; in fact it'll even throw another "branch". The plant is almost grass like, with the base of each leaf curving round the stem at least at each branch. The branches are hexegon. The structure tends to create a ceme of flowers (ie one branch is a flower head, the other goes higher until another fork or terminates in a flowerhead). The flowers are on top of the fruit, which splits in 2 when it dries; and goes a pale lilac colour. While trying to describe this plant one realises why there are so many botanical terms to describe the huge array of features a plant can exhibit; in a succinct way, unlike this novel | ||||
| Carrots Apiales | Carrot Apiaceae | Native Carrot Daucus glochidiatus | LC em |
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| Carrots Apiales | Pittosporum Pittosporaceae | Hand Flower Cheiranthera alternifolia | RA a |
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| Asparagus Asparagales | Asparagus Asparagaceae | Blue Squill Chamaescilla corymbosa | VU a | There does seem to be some colour variation with the flowers, from pale (almost white) to dark (almost purple). The smaller variations we've seen with our eyes are hard to notice with the camera. They do seem to darken with age as well. Leaves are between 30-100mm long and 10mm wide. Flowers are 25mm wide. | ||||
| Asparagus Asparagales | Asparagus Asparagaceae | Scented Mat-rush Lomandra effusa | LC em |
Funny how some specimens take your interest. We found a small group of these nearly a year ago and have been monitoring them ever since; waiting in anticipation for them to flower so we could identify them. Strangely one is left alone yet the other 4 or 5 are constantly eaten right down. The flowers have a lovely aroma, but watch your eyes if you smell them. The leaves are very stiff and sharp, nearly spines. Cream flowers with 3 petals + 3 sepals (looks like 6 petals) Leaves are long, thin, ribbed all around and a half circle in cross section. Reed like. Heavily toothed (but not easily visible; a magnifying glass helps). They dry on the tip to a 2-pronged fork. It's hard to imagine why anything would find them palatable. We surmise it can only be kangaroos as no other animal would be able to get to the top leaves without injuring itself; and we've seen kangaroos eating Westringia rigida, so it's not a stretch to see them enjoying these as well. | ||||
| Asparagus Asparagales | Asparagus Asparagaceae | Mallee Fringe-lily Thysanotus baueri | LC emr |
A small single stemmed herb. Leaves are like grass and die off early. While the flowers look as though they have 6 petals, in actual fact they have 3 striped sepals (paler and thinner) and 3 striped petals. The strange petals with tassels (fimbriae - latin for fringes) are lilac in colour. The flowers ONLY LAST A FEW HOURS! So I was very popular when we saw a lot of them about 100m from the car and I said "I'll photograph those tomorrow"; because I was tired at the time. It's quite bizarre when you realise there were 20+ plants all flowering at the same time, just for that one day. Fortunately; another 5 popped up in the same area later and I was able to redeem myself | ||||
| Asparagus Asparagales | Asparagus Asparagaceae | Twining Fringe-lily Thysanotus patersonii | LC a | Similar Species: Mallee Fringe-lily Flowers look very similar to the Mallee Fringe-lily, but as you can see the plant habit is totally different. As it's common name indicates, it's a climber and wraps itself around other plant stems to gain height (~200mm or so). Also snakes around on the ground flowering. We weren't able to find any leaves. | ||||
| Asparagus Asparagales | Hypoxis Hypoxidaceae | Tiny Star Pauridia glabella var glabella | LC em |
While it looks like the flowers have 6 petals, they are 3 petals and 3 sepals. | ||||
| Asparagus Asparagales | Iris Iridaceae | Thread Iris Moraea setifolia | If em |
Invasive throughout the region. Difficult to eradicate due to their thin leaf. Wombats like the bulbs and plough the soil searching for the them. This is not natural behaviour for them and is very destructive to the soil crust and natural order of things. Competes with native grasses. Has a single pale purple flower and two grass-like leaves (often one dries early leaving only one leaf). While it looks nothing like it many people think it's nut grass. Probably because the bulbs are like nuts and the few leaves are very grass like. The flower is a dead give away it's not grass. Kangaroos eat the dried leaves in summer. Possibly because other food is more scarce; or because it's weaker & easier to chew once it's died. It's leaves are incredibly strong & thin. When trying to pull out other weeds if you accidentally grab a Thread Iris leaf as well, you'll have no chance of getting either out. The green leaf is toxic to stock. Consumption of 1kg of green leaves will kill a cow within 24 hours. Wombats don't seem to be able to digest it very easily, so fill up on it and can starve to death if native grass food sources are not available. | ||||
| Asparagus Asparagales | Iris Iridaceae | Guildford Iris Romulea rosea var australis | If a |
NB: It's an iris, not a grass, so the old common name is very misleading | ||||
| Asparagus Asparagales | Iris Iridaceae | Guildford Iris Romulea rosea var communis | If a |
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| Asparagus Asparagales | Iris Iridaceae | Guildford Iris Romulea rosea var reflexa | If a |
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| Asparagus Asparagales | Grass Tree Xanthorrhoeaceae | Onion Weed Asphodelus fistulosus | If em |
#1 Enemy: Loves 250mm/yr rainfall. We have it under control. Will decimate an area, regardless of grazing, killing saltbush, zygophylum, etc, as it goes. Vigorous; will germinate, flower and seed within 3 weeks in spring. 90%+ of seed germinates in first year. Resilient: never leave removed plants on the ground. They will flower & seed (out of the ground)! Hard to poison. Needs good wetting agent. We've written a discussion paper on this to help you control your outbreak. Click here to download (it's about 2.7mb) Updated 11 AM, 06 April 2014 | ||||
| Asparagus Asparagales | Grass Tree Xanthorrhoeaceae | Blue Grass-lily Caesia calliantha | VU a | While it looks like the flowers have 6 petals, they are 3 petals and 3 sepals. | ||||
| Asparagus Asparagales | Grass Tree Xanthorrhoeaceae | Black-anther Flax-lily Dianella revoluta | LC ema |
While it looks like the flowers have 6 petals, they are 3 petals and 3 sepals. | ||||
| Daisies Asterales | Bellflower Campanulaceae | Bluebell Wahlenbergia sp | LC ema |
These are very hard to differentiate between species. They vary greatly within species, so "keys" overlap. As such, next spring we will focus on individual specimens; photographing and taking note of more "keys" each time to hopefully identify them down to species level. | ||||
| Daisies Asterales | Goodenia Goodeniaceae | Cup Velleia Goodenia connata | EN m |
Thank you Andrew Thornhill for confirming the id of this species for us | ||||
| Daisies Asterales | Goodenia Goodeniaceae | Cut-leaf Goodenia Goodenia pinnatifida | LC em |
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| Daisies Asterales | Goodenia Goodeniaceae | Small-flower Goodenia Goodenia pusilliflora | LC em | |||||
| Daisies Asterales | Goodenia Goodeniaceae | Sticky Goodenia Goodenia varia | LC em | |||||
| Daisies Asterales | Goodenia Goodeniaceae | Silver Goodenia Goodenia willisiana | LC em |
Similar Species: Silverleaf Nightshade Would never have guessed this was a Goodenia until we finally saw it flower. They are perennial (live longer than 2 years) but ours get eaten &/or dry up, leaving only the root stock in the ground over summer. This makes them seem like annuals. Plants are up to about 60mm in diameter and very variable; from silver to pale green. The flowers are short lived, but typical Goodenia flowers, yellow with 5 petals. They last about a week (hence missed them last spring, and still don't have many bud photos!) and are small, not at all obvious like Velleia, etc. But the leaves are so different, we thought it was some sort of Nightshade (Solanaceae). With our specimens, the pale green leaves are basal (only come from the ground / root) with a fine woolly texture that makes them look silver; which varies with age. There is a bit more wool on the back than the face of the leaves. They also look as though they have thorns on the leaf edges, but in fact they are entire (plain, smooth edged); the woolly hairs tuft up looking like spines. Apprantly they can be toothed. Leaves start out rolled & linear and then open out; some even become spatulate (like a spoon / spatula) Our flowering specimens are in a sparse patch of about 20 on the south west side of a mallee tree. We lost our other patch which was in the open and seemed greener (the new camera has GPS, so that'll never happen again) | ||||
| Daisies Asterales | Goodenia Goodeniaceae | Toothed Velleia Velleia arguta | LC em |
A very unusual looking yellow flower, with 5 petals, on the end of long stems. 3 of the petals lay out flat, with 2 curved upwards. The petals have frilled edges. | ||||
| Brassicales | Mustard Brassicaceae or Cruciferae | Flax-leaf Alyssum Alyssum linifolia | If em | Thank you Renate & Glenys for identifying this species for us A very strange plant with brown, circular, flat, disk fruits. These discs dry to a paper thin shell, then drop the two seeds contained within. Also has strange tufted short hairs growing from it's leaves & stem. | ||||
| Brassicales | Mustard Brassicaceae or Cruciferae | Wild Turnip Brassica tournefortii | If em |
Not a major problem at Ellura. Removed when found. One of the few plants than can grow under Mallee. Small yellow flower, long green seed pods. Tall, straggly, hairy stems with lobed leaves staying near the ground. | ||||
| Brassicales | Mustard Brassicaceae or Cruciferae | Wards Weed Carrichtera annua | If em | Invasive throughout the region. Difficult to eradicate as it's in such hugh numbers. The areas we have weeded have shown a big return of native forbs. Seedlings are purple before turning luscious green. Grazed by wombats & roos. Replaces native grass. | ||||
| Brassicales | Mustard Brassicaceae or Cruciferae | Sweet Alyssum Lobularia maritima | If a | |||||
| Brassicales | Mustard Brassicaceae or Cruciferae | Smooth Mustard Sisymbrium erysimoides | If em |
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| Brassicales | Mustard Brassicaceae or Cruciferae | Narrow Thread-petal Stenopetalum lineare | LC em | A very difficult plant to spot. Has 4 chocolate brown to dull yellow petals. The flowers are tiny, with the petals only 1mm or so long. We only found single stemmed, short (up to 200mm) plants. They can branch out and be up to 500mm high. | ||||
| Brassicales | Mignonette Resedaceae | Cut-leaf Mignonette Reseda luteola | If m |
Forms a large round rosette, then shoots tall seed heads. Very deep roots which easily break near the rosette to later recover. Manual removal requires as much root as possible to be removed. We remove at least 100mm. | ||||
| Betalains Caryophyllales | Ice Plant Aizoaceae | Lens Pigface Carpobrotus sp | RA em |
Thank you Ralph Foster for identifying this species for us Large triangular, green to purple, succulent, vertical leaves. Brilliant purple flower with white centre. Sprawling habit that can completely cover square metres of ground. We thought this was C. modestus, but recently found an SA factsheet that indicates that the size of flower for C. modestus <= 20mm (ours are >35mm) and that C. modestus has 20-80 stamen (ours have 100-600) are diagnostic. This factsheet points to Carpobrotus rossii; so we renamed our species as this. Ralph then highlighted to us that the inland specimens of C. rossii are probably going to all be renamed; currently an undescribed species labelled Carpobrotus sp. Short calyx. Research is still ongoing to described them and provide morphological differences to separate out the two species. | ||||
| Betalains Caryophyllales | Ice Plant Aizoaceae | Desert Spinach Tetragonia eremaea | LC em | The flowers are tiny at only ~4mm tip to tip. As they are the same colour as the stem & leaf they are very hard to see. There are 2 flowers per leaf axis. | ||||
| Betalains Caryophyllales | Carnation Caryophyllaceae | Mouse-ear Chickweed Cerastium glomeratum | If ema | A hairy leaved weed. A white flower that has 5 petals which are deeply lobed and can look like 10 petals. On Ellura it is more prostrate than in the Adelaide Hills. | ||||
| Betalains Caryophyllales | Carnation Caryophyllaceae | Mallee Catchfly Silene apetala | If em |
Tall straggly weed with tiny flowers. | ||||
| Betalains Caryophyllales | Sundew Droseraceae | Tall Sundew Drosera auriculata | VU a | A very strange, dainty, carnivorous plant. When the plant dies, it goes completely black, as though poisoned. What I used to call the "mouths" are actually it's leaves! | ||||
| Betalains Caryophyllales | Sundew Droseraceae | Hooker's Sundew Drosera hookeri? | Na a | Thank you Dr Miguel de Salas for confirming the id and Ralph Foster & Thilo Krueger for helping with the id of this species for us A small sundew with white flowers. It has basal leaves which are different shape to the stem leaves. At maturity it stands at under 100mm tall & 30mm wide. The flowers are about 10mm across. The leaves are a shield shape, which is diagnostic. It's easier to see their shape from the back. As with other sundews, the front of the leaf is covered with stems tipped in sticky sap that attracts insects. When one of these stems is moved by an insect the other stems move towards it to ensnare the insect, and then contract to the middle of the leaf to absorb the insect juices. Hooker's Sundew (Drosera hookeri) has recently been split into multiple species. It's possible that some of these photo's are Drosera gunniana, a new species with an old name. Miguel de Salas, who did the recent work on splitting out D. gunniana said "D. hookeri: top-branching, compound inflorescence with leaves and flowers, flower buds and fruit football-shaped with shorter, almost silky hairs." "I would expect a single stem, with perhaps a couple of simple, racemose inflorescences coming from the uppermost nodes, and a fuzzy-hairy, globular bud/fruit for D. gunniana." Further he said "... in Tasmania mixed populations of D. gunniana and D. hookeri are not uncommon. They have a slightly different habitat preference, but on grasslands and grassy woodlands it's not uncommon to find both. The fact that they often grow together and remain distinct is partly what prompted me to separate them." As our young plants (shown here) don't have enough diagnostic features, and it's possible D. gunniana and D. hookeri may be mixed, we have put the question mark on the id. Miguel did id one of our mature plants in this location, from photo's, to D. hookeri. We have labelled the photo's S1-8 (sightings 1-8), some of which are the same plants, but we didn't record which. | ||||
| Betalains Caryophyllales | Purslane Portulacaceae | Pink Purslane Calandrinia calyptrata | LC em |
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| Betalains Caryophyllales | Purslane Portulacaceae | Dryland Purslane Calandrinia eremaea | LC emr |
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| Betalains Caryophyllales | Purslane Portulacaceae | Pygmy Purslane Calandrinia granulifera | LC m | ~11mm wide, white/translucent flowers. Fresh anthers appear pink and go burgandy as they age. The stigma is pale/translucent. The leaves look split in two, but are basically buds. The flower pops out the middle of the two leaf halves!!!! | ||||
| Cucurbitales | Gourd Cucurbitaceae | Paddymelon Citrullus colocynthis | If m |
These can grow much larger than shown here. But this is a good comparision between the smooth and prickly paddymelons, as well as a mallee leaf | ||||
| Cucurbitales | Gourd Cucurbitaceae | Prickly Paddymelon Cucumis myriocarpus | If m |
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| Fabales | Legume Fabaceae or Leguminosae | Cape Broom Genista monspessulana | If a | |||||
| Fabales | Legume Fabaceae or Leguminosae | Native Liquorice Glycyrrhiza acanthocarpa | RA m |
A rambling plant easily mistaken for a weed. Pale lilac flowers with rust coloured seed pods that contrast with the rest of the plant. Summer flowering. Notice the flower sepals & stem are covered in salt. Unusual for a plant that isn't saltbush. You may think it a strange name, but the roots of it's foriegn relative, Glycyrrhiza glabra, are used to make Liquorice. Please, don't dig them up to try it, they are rare and need to flourish in the ground to spread their seed. | ||||
| Fabales | Legume Fabaceae or Leguminosae | Native Lilac Hardenbergia violacea | RA a |
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| Fabales | Legume Fabaceae or Leguminosae | Scarlet Runner Kennedia prostrata | RA a |
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| Fabales | Legume Fabaceae or Leguminosae | Burr Medic Medicago polymorpha | If em |
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| Fabales | Legume Fabaceae or Leguminosae | Small-leaf Burr Medic Medicago praecox | If em |
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| Fabales | Legume Fabaceae or Leguminosae | Bristly Bush-pea Pultenaea acerosa | RA a | |||||
| Fabales | Legume Fabaceae or Leguminosae | Subterraneum Clover Trifolium subterraneum | If a |
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| Gentianales | Gentian Gentianaceae | Red Centaury Centaurium erythraea | If a | Similar Species: Branched Centaury You can see here that Red Centaury's habit is quite different to both Branched Centaury & Spike Centaury, but the flowers look identical from above. The basal leaves stay green during flowering while the other two dry up quickly. This species is also larger and more lucious than the other two. | ||||
| Gentianales | Gentian Gentianaceae | Branched Centaury Centaurium tenuiflorum | If ema | Similar Species: Spike Centaury Can be difficult to distinguish from Spike Centaury on habit alone; particularly for small plants withonly one stem and one flower. However, the comparison of the sepals of the 3 similar plants here shows how unique Branched Centaury is from the other two with no distance between the tip of the sepals and the separation/bend of the petals. | ||||
| Gentianales | Gentian Gentianaceae | Spike Centaury Schenkia australis | LC ema |
Similar Species: Branched Centaury This is one of the more tricky plants to separate out from it's introduced cousins. We have 3 different species, on this web site, which on initial inspection all look the same. We've waited two years to be sure that we actually had the native variety at Ellura, as our single stemmed & flower specimen was not big enough to be sure. But this year (2016) the weather caused a mass germination of very healthy plants. All 3 can occur together, so it's important to identify each specimen before removing the introduced species. S. australis has a lop sided growth habit; such that one branch has a flower, and it's paired branch grows as a stem. As such, one stem and one flower cann't exhibit this habit. The other 2 both branch equally with flowers on the ends of the branches. This is a generalised habit, though, it does not show on every single pair of branches. It is said that this habit gives a "raceme" like appearance. Our experience is that, while true, there are not enough flowers to show this habit clearly. But we do find the weeds exhibit much more of a canopy type habit. The side shot of the flower also shows a gap between the ends of the sepals & the turning of the petal. This is the same as C. erythraea, but different to C. tenuiflorum. We found C. erythraea to be significanly larger than S. australis. | ||||
| Geraniales | Geranium Geraniaceae | Common Crowfoot Erodium cicutarium | If ema | |||||
| Lamiales | Forget-me-not Boraginaceae | Sweet Hound's-tongue Cynoglossum suaveolens | Na a | |||||
| Lamiales | Forget-me-not Boraginaceae | Purple Peril Echium plantagineum | If ema |
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| Lamiales | Forget-me-not Boraginaceae | Potato Weed Heliotropium europaeum | If em |
We recently discovered our 1st infestation of this invasive weed. The seed was probably brought in by a native animal. Fortunately it is by our entrance track, so will be able to keep an eye on the location for any further outbreaks. It flourashes in wet summers here in SA (which we've just had), but also grows in drier seasons; with the seeds geminating after warm weather & rain (eg late spring). It is a toxic plant (attacking the liver) and kills livestock (sheep & cattle), possibly taking years after grazzing on this weed for symptoms & death to occur | ||||
| Lamiales | Forget-me-not Boraginaceae | Hairy Sheepweed Neatostema apulum | If em |
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| Lamiales | Forget-me-not Boraginaceae | Burr Stickseed Omphalolappula concava | NT em | |||||
| Lamiales | Mint Lamiaceae | Horehound Marrubium vulgare | If em |
#3 Enemy: Bush with green grey foliage, very hard to spot in saltbush. Hides well. Seeds last around 10 years in the soil, so long term monitoring of an infected area is required to ensure it doesn't become re-established. | ||||
| Lamiales | Mint Lamiaceae | Wild Sage Salvia verbenaca var verbenaca | If em | We found one of these on Ellura and took forever to work it out. In SA, it is considered a synonym of Salvia verbanaca. However it's different. It's leaves are not as lobed and fatter. It doesn't smell when crushed. It has red tints throughout the stems & leaves. Unfortunately the flower stem was eaten before we could get a photo of the flowers; only managing to photo buds. It is certainly a strong relationship, and a sub-species makes sense to us. But being a synonym doesn't. In the past they have been called "Type A" & "Type B". Now they have names. This sub-species is recognised on the national ANBG web site. | ||||
| Lamiales | Mint Lamiaceae | Wild Sage Salvia verbenaca var vernalis | If em |
#2 Enemy: Called "Sage" due to its strong smell. Will decimate an area over time if allowed. Likes depressions. Currently invasive throughout Ellura. A staged approach will be used to eradicate: 1 Spray with Glyphosate on tracks (car, wombat & roo) to stop spread 2 Spray open & infested areas to stop volume seed generation 3 Manual removal from under natives (primarily saltbush) 4 Monitor infested areas for 10 years to finalise. | ||||
| Lamiales | Mint Lamiaceae | Scurfy Germander Teucrium albicaule | VU m | |||||
| Lamiales | Mint Lamiaceae | Grey Germander Teucrium racemosum | LC m | |||||
| Lamiales | Plantain Plantaginaceae | Clay Plantain Plantago cunninghamii | NT em |
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| Lamiales | Plantain Plantaginaceae | Crowned Plantain Plantago turrifera | RA emr |
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| Liliales | Colchicaceae | Short-leaf Early Nancy Wurmbea dioica ssp brevifolia | LC em |
What a happy little flowering plant this is. It's like it's got a target painted on it saying "Look at me, spring is here!" Very bold, 6 petaled (actually 3 petals + 3 sepals), white flowers rimmed with deep maroon/purple. With up to 5 or more flowers on one little stem. It has 3 leaves, one basal, two wrapped from the stem (one in the mid section, the other under the flowers). The higher leaf looks like a hand holding the flower stem. It's been 10 years since we've seen one of these flowers and were so pleased to find them on Ellura. The top leaf being truncated at the point of narrowing is diagnostic. However, you need to ensure it hasn't been eaten! In the photo "Patch of Fruiting Females" you can see all the short upper leaves (hence ssp brevifolia), which are starting to dry & yellow. | ||||
| Liliales | Colchicaceae | Long-leaf Early Nancy Wurmbea dioica ssp dioica | Na a | Notice the 3 leaves; all 3 with significant length past the point where the leaves narrow. In the "Whole" photo you can see the upper leaf is quite long compared with ssp brevifolia above. As it turns out the purple patterns are not diagnostic in that the flowers can be totally white. We've not seen this, but variations in thickness, colour and purpled edged petals are all variable within the species. | ||||
| Liliales | Lily Liliaceae | Bulbine Lily Bulbine bulbosa | Na a |
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| Liliales | Lily Liliaceae | Milkmaids Burchardia umbellata | RA a | |||||
| Liliales | Lily Liliaceae | Yellow Rush-lily Tricoryne elatior | RA a |
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| Malpighiales | Spurge Euphorbiaceae | Caustic Spurge Euphorbia drummondii | LC em |
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| Malpighiales | 2 Ovule Spurge Phyllanthaceae | Small Poranthera Poranthera microphylla | RA ma | Thank you Reiner Richter for confirming the id of this species for us These range is size quite about as mature flowering plants. We've seen them from around only 30mm across to ~100mm. From prostrate to upright. This has all the haulmarks of a spurge; that fat little fruit forming in front of the flower. These have 5 white petals, flowering from Sept. | ||||
| Malvales | Mallow Malvaceae | Clustered Lawrencia Lawrencia glomerata | NT em |
Thank you Glenys & Graham Pearce for identifying this species for us A small plant that dies off in the summer heat. Seedlings look similar to Corrugated Sida. The basal leaves are much wider and have a large number of lobes/teeth compared with those on the flowering/fruiting stems; which are narrow & toothed on the tip or entire. What strange flowers these have. The flowers appear petalless, but in fact have 5 translucent petals; showing as green & sometimes yellowish depending on the background. Flowers are defined as being bisexual, but there do seem to be male only flowers; while all flowers with female style also have anthers (that we've seen). Often the anthers seem a brilliant white; rather than yellow. This seems to only occur when female parts (styles) are present. Perhaps they have no pollen, but maintain the anther structure, making them a purely female flower? The male flowers tend to stand up like tiny little trees, where as the bisexual & female flowers primarily show the styles; the anther structures tend to stay smaller & closer to the calyx. In time the styles turn purple and shrivel up, leaving a little purple tip in the middle of the anther structures. When fertilised, the sepals fold in, the petals dry and the fruit forms. | ||||
| Malvales | Mallow Malvaceae | Corrugated Sida Sida corrugata var corrugata | RA em | Generally darker green to limestone sida, but limestone sida can be as green. We differentiate them from the "hair" on the leaf and the habit. Corrugated has tufts of "hair" on an otherwise glaborous surface. Limestone is velted; very find hair covering the whole leaf. Corrugated seems to have a more wood bush like appearance. Limestone has much more of an annual, prostrate appearance. These are just our observations as it appears these plants confuse the experts as well. With the taxonomy sea sawing between different various species & sub-species. This variety is not currently recognised at a Federal level, but is at a State level. | ||||
| Malvales | Mallow Malvaceae | Limestone Sida Sida spodochroma | VU em |
A very small pale / grey green plant; almost white in bright sunlight. It gets eaten, by summer, and then re-sprouts in winter. To see our first flower we had to protect one of the larger plants from grazing by kangaroos; we placed a dead bush over it. | ||||
| Malvales | Daphne Thymelaeaceae | Small Riceflower Pimelea humilis | RA a | |||||
| Oxalidales | Sorrel Oxalidaceae | Native Sorrel Oxalis perennans | LC ema |
It is very similar to it's cousin the Soursob (Oxalis pes-caprae). However, it is smaller, has a creeping habit and does not have bulbs. | ||||
| Grasses & Sedges Poales | Small Herb Centrolepidaceae | Dwarf Aphelia Aphelia pumilio | Na a | Thank you Peri Coleman for identifying this species for us A strange little plant with petalless flowers. Not much larger than moss, the top of the flowers stand at about 10mm, with leaves around 20mm long. The flowers are a fan shape array of bracts. | ||||
| Grasses & Sedges Poales | Grass Poaceae | Feather Spear-grass Austrostipa elegantissima | LC emr | Thank you Darren Schmitke for confirming the id of this species for us | ||||
| Grasses & Sedges Poales | Grass Poaceae | Echidna Grass Triodia scariosa | LC mr |
Thank you Darren Schmitke for identifying this species for us | ||||
| Saxifragales | Orpine Crassulaceae | Dense Stonecrop Crassula colorata | LC em |
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| Saxifragales | Orpine Crassulaceae | Spreading Stonecrop Crassula decumbens | LC a | |||||
| Saxifragales | Orpine Crassulaceae | Australian Stonecrop Crassula tetramera | LC em |
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| Saxifragales | Raspworts Haloragaceae | Broad-leaf Raspwort Gonocarpus mezianus | RA a | |||||
| Saxifragales | Raspworts Haloragaceae | Smooth Raspwort Haloragis acutangula | RA m | Thank you Denzel Murfet for identifying, Andrew Thornhill for confirming the id and Darren Schmitke & Ralph Foster & Daniel Duval for helping with the id of this species for us We thought this was the endangered species, Haloragis odontocarpa forma pterocarpa. It's still a rare plant, in abundance after 2 years of fire recovery in the area it was found. | ||||
| Solanales | Bindweed Convolvulaceae | Australian Bindweed Convolvulus angustissimus ssp angustissimus | RA em |
Pretty little pink flower (about the size of a finger-nail) with green leaves and runners that can climb. The flower has a unique way of opening by "unfolding"; as it is a single petal. The fold lines are plainly visible. It gives it the appearance of an origami (paper) flower. | ||||
| Solanales | Bindweed Convolvulaceae | Grassland Bindweed Convolvulus angustissimus ssp peninsularum | RA em | |||||
| Solanales | Bindweed Convolvulaceae | Grassy Bindweed Convolvulus remotus | LC em | |||||
| Solanales | Nightshade Solanaceae | Small-flowered Tobacco Nicotiana goodspeedii | LC em | |||||
| Solanales | Nightshade Solanaceae | Silverleaf Nightshade Solanum elaeagnifolium | If m |
Similar Species: Silver Goodenia Thank you Andrew Allanson for identifying this species for us | ||||
| Solanales | Nightshade Solanaceae | Kangaroo Apple Solanum simile | LC m |
Thank you Dr Kym Nicolson for confirming the id of this species for us These can grow to 2m, so the one depicted here is quite young & small at ~0.5m high; after 2 years of fire recovery. | ||||
| Zygophyllales | Caltrop Zygophyllaceae | Pointed Twinleaf Roepera apiculata | LC emr |
Large round green leaves, split in two (hence the "twinleaf"). Flowers are rich yellow, 5 petals, with a green centre. For us, the common names are a misnomer as the Shrubby Twinleaf is far more numerous on Ellura than the common. And you can't see the points on the leaves until you get up close & personal. We refer to this one as "broad-leaved" to avoid confusion. We are in information overload, so haven't managed to learn all the scientific names yet (just can't seem to remember apiculatum .... it'll happen | ||||
| Zygophyllales | Caltrop Zygophyllaceae | Notched Twinleaf Roepera crenata | LC m |
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| Zygophyllales | Caltrop Zygophyllaceae | Violet Twinleaf Roepera iodocarpa | LC m |
Thank you Ralph Foster for confirming the id of this species for us The fruits should have 5 wings. Notice here we happen to centre on the one that only had 4. This highlights how small they are and wasn't intentional. Not sure if this is a one off mutation, or if the number of wings varies. Also notice the petals are small & white. We didn't see the normally larger yellow petals associated with this species. When these shots were taken there had been significant rainfall recently, but the ground has already dried out, becoming dusty. Found in an area that may be an ephemeral lake. | ||||
| Zygophyllales | Caltrop Zygophyllaceae | Dwarf Twinleaf Roepera ovata | LC emr |
A very small plant with green flower & leaves with red stems. | ||||
| Zygophyllales | Caltrop Zygophyllaceae | White Twinleaf Roepera similis | LC m |
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| Plants (Plantae) - Mosses (Charophyta) - Spore Producing Plants (Equisetopsida) - Other Small Plants | ||||||
| Laurales Laurales | Laurels Lauraceae | Course Dodder-laurel Cassytha melantha | LC m | |||
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