Wild-flower Watch

Some of you might remember that about eleven months ago I did a post which I called “Killers in the Cemetery”

Well as I said yesterday with spring in the air I have wildflowers on the mind. It is a bit early really, but over the next month or so the wildflowers will really spring up.

So today I went back to The Gold Rush era Queenstown Cemetery just to see what has started flowering. Time and weather permitting I hope to get back there most weeks throughout spring to see what delights appear.

Now a warning! Anyone who gets bored with piccies of flowers should come back tomorrow!

Today there were a few flowers beginning the spring flush.

Just outside the cemetery were a couple of common garden plants that have escaped into the bush.

European Snowdrops 

And this Freesia is just coming out.

Now to the natives. Today all the babies of the bush have come out (you’ll see what I mean in a moment) 

This is a native pea, in colour they are like “showy parrot peas” but they aren’t that species.

 

And another piccie of the same plant. These flowers are tiny

A third shot in which I have included my thumbnail as a scale.

 

I have no idea what these are. Some kind of bulb is all I would hazard.

Oz has over 20,000 native plant species, even professional botanists are often not sure what they are looking at. And I am no botanist.

Once again this is a tiny flower.

 

I can be a little more sure with these.

This is one of the “Bearded Heaths” a Leucopogon species, which species I do not know.

You can see why the common name is “bearded” these are hairier than I am!

As you can see I stuck my thumb in again to give a scale. The heath flowers are minute!

 

My favourites are the sundews. Of course these aren’t flowering yet, they are fresh seedlings just a few days old.

Sundews are of course carnivorous, each of those droplets is a sticky trap for tiny insects like ants.

When the leaves first unfold they are this gorgeous red,

 

but after a day or two in the sun they settle down to their normal green

 

Killers in the Cemetery

Back to Queenstown Cemetery tonight. I couldn’t leave it at the few flowers I posted.

Tonight a few more of the flowers. The only one I can confidently name is this Showy Parrot-Pea (Dillwynia sericea)

I photographed dozens of flowers and in this small area (probably only an acre) there were probably dozens more species.

I quite simply ran out of time.

At a glance these two look to be the same species.But if you look closely the stigma and anthers seem quite different. I would guess a botanist would say they are two varieties.

This one was one of my favorites. I “know” this flower I am sure. I have been racking my brain and just can’t recall it. More research is called for.

The only trouble is there are literally thousands of Oz flowers many only known by their scientific names.

These tiny flowers were lurking down among the grasses, to give an idea of the size each petal is about the size of a rice grainSpeaking of lurking.

Nestling down in the grasses across this site are dozens of killers.

There’s one A bit closerAnd a real close upThese fascinating little plants are Sundews
Sundews are carnivorous plants. The glistening droplets are a sticky trap. Small insects that land on them get stuck then the tendrils fold in like a sea-anemone trapping the victim which is then slowly digested.

This final piccie is one I shot a few years ago (with my old camera) if you look closely you’ll sea this little plant is busy eating a number of ants.NEXT: I rabbit on about my writing

Death and Wildflowers

A very quick post tonight.

Yesterday as is our wont Deb and I got out and about.

We stayed relatively close to home, deciding to have a late breakfast and head for an abandoned gold-rush era cemetery.

After a light shower in the morning it turned into a beautiful spring day.

You can see from this piccie what a bright sunny afternoon it became.
Welcome to the Queenstown cemetery which was in use from 1860 until 1981.

Most of the 380 recorded graves were from the gold-rush and pioneer era.

Showing the standards of the time there are believed to be a significant number of unrecorded and unmarked graves of Chinese gold miners. Evidence of most graves including the recorded ones has vanished, destroyed by a bushfire in 1962.

My intention was to make a record of the graves and cemetery (I love cemetaries).

But I was quickly distracted. Because spring means wildflowers.

There were hundreds, many of which I have never seen before. Remember I have only lived in Victoria for a few years and Oz has an incredibly regionally diverse flora.

Just two of the beauties I captured were a Spotted Sun Orchid (Thelymitra merranae)
And a close up. Isn’t it exquisite?

A white Hyacinth Orchid (I think) I’m not sure of the species, more research is in order.
Speaking of research I posted this piccie of a cute bird, but didn’t know what it was. It turns out s/he is a White-browed Scrubwren (Sericornis frontalis).

Thanks for the reminder Amanda

Next: Killer Plants