A Walkabout in the Wildflowers

It’s been some time since I saw new wildflowers. The weather has been mostly lousy for visiting the best areas we have,

Luckily, being on the Murrumbateman Landcare committee recently gave me the privilege of a walkabout in Nanima with the people most skilled at identifying all the fabulous things around us. Unlike our place, it has only intermittently been grazed by sheep and the historic flowers and grasses are much more intact.

The big drawcards were showy Gompholobiums, but there was much, much more.

With three wet years behind us, wading through the grasses was heavy going in places.

On the upper, shaly ridges, it was easier going because there was less topsoil. Many of the remnant native plants like these poorer soils, while invasive plants head for the richer lowlands.

I love the names (when I learned them) of “Speedwells” and “Lady’s fingers” and “Juniper Haircap Mosses”. Of course, I promptly forgot them and had to look them up again later on (thank you iNaturalist)

I got to see flowers of the lomandra filiformis (which I know we have around the rocks in the Cockatoo 2 area) as well as the larger lomandra longifolia which does a sterling job in wet areas holding back erosion.

I love the Trigger-flowers, with their dabbers poised to paint pollen on the backs of visiting insects.

I was also fascinated the see the seed pods from the Daviesias, which were not at all how I imagined. As usual, I don’t notice these things until they’re pointed out to me.

A huge thankyou for a lovely experience to Kylie Evans for inviting us onto her land, and also to Sue McIntyre and Jacqui Stol as a huge part of the local scientific brains trust.