88 Addison Ave, Athelstone 5067 Number 118 April May June 2008 In this Edition: Are you enjoying our ‘new look’ newsletter? Committee. The laser printer that is used to print it was The mysterious blue flowering plant. purchased from funds donated by January in Black Hill Conservation Park Woolworths Athelstone. Campbelltown Proud Day The Lake Senior Ranger – Volunteer Support Signs around Campbelltown Council OH&S and more! Diary Dates Committee The Friends of Black Hill and Morialta Inc. has a strong committee dedicated to supporting the work of the Friends. We invite you to join us at our business meetings, on the third Tuesday of the month at 7:30pm, 88 Addison Ave, Athelstone. There are opportunities to contribute to the group by serving on the committee. The mysterious blue flowering plant. I was delighted to have a couple of contacts from Friends members about the blue flowering plant seen in Black Hill Conservation Park around the Christmas-New Year period. This plant is one of the listed native plants that grow in the Parks, and is very conspicuous when the bright blue flowers are displayed in all their splendour. You will find a photo of them on our website. However, the plants only grow up to about 30cm high, frequently less, and the flowers only 10 to 15mm long at the largest point. These tiny plants flower in summer, and are known as the False Orchid or the Tall Lobelia (Lobelia gibbosa). Australia has about 20 indigenous species of Lobelia. Only 3 of these species grow in the Adelaide Region. Lobelia gibbosa, like many of our Australian plants, depend on mycorrhiza in the soil. Mycorrhiza are organisms that live in a beneficial relationship between the roots of the plant that enable the plant to draw nutrients from the surrounding soil that it would not otherwise be able to do. Many of our native plants have these special relationships with the environment. Apart from the protected status of plants in our parks, this is another reason to ensure plants are left undisturbed. Any attempts to move the plants to another location will surely result in them dying. The Encyclopaedia of Australian Plants says this Lobelia has never been successfully grown in cultivation. I encourage you to think about the special relationships our native plants have with their surrounding environment, and how important it is to protect our remnant vegetation from further destruction and invasion by species that could upset the balance. You are always welcome to contact me about the Parks by email or phone, or to catch up at one of our committee meetings or working bees. John Fleming - President January in Black Hill Conservation Park I wasn’t expecting too much when I went for a walk in the Park on 21 January 2008. We have once again had a very dry year. But I needed to check the work being done on the Erica sp on the ridge in the Ambers Gully project site. The first thing I noticed was the work the Department and Environment and Heritage had been doing following the floods a couple of years ago. We have had to wait a long time for the work to be completed, but by looking at the results, I am sure you will agree that the planning and hard work that has gone into the restorative works has been worth the wait. The fire tracks have been significantly upgraded, Ghost Tree Gully track, previously with a much better surface. Passing points have washed away by landslip been included at strategic locations to ensure the safety of workers in the Park. Points at which the fire track crosses the creek have been restored too, and the area where the landslip occurred has been the subject of very special treatment. The Black Hill Ridge Track has been reinforced with a wall of stone in cages. Below the slip, the track has been reconstructed using a lot of stone secured in mesh, to ensure adequate drainage is maintained, and water can move through without washing the track away. For the first time, I saw a possum in the park. With all my walking in the park, I have come across many plants, and animals, but have never New surface on the Sugar Loaves Track seen a possum, although we have had them at home. This one was in some she-oaks (Allocasuarina verticillata). It kept a close eye on me as I took some photos, while being careful not to disturb it. Where the earth works had occurred, the pioneering plants had moved in. A nice display of the Adelaide Hills Daisy (Ixodea achillaeodes) greeted me. A little further up the path was a great example of plants that can easily be confused. These too are pioneering plants – the kind that are first to populate areas of disturbance. It seems that the disturbance of soil causes the waiting seed to germinate. The two plants I was looking at side by side were also in the Compositae family, just like the Ixodia. You might be able to guess, that Compositae refers to the composite flowers Possum watches from a she-oak as I pass by. members of the daisy family have. Friends of Black Hill and Morialta Inc. Number 118 April May June 2008 Page 2 The Compositae family is referred to as the Asteraceae family in some reference material. This is a very large family with over 13,000 species divided into around 900 genera. Australia alone has about 800 species in 100 genera. The two that were growing next to each other were the pale groundsel (Senecio hypoleucus) and the African Daisy (Senecio pterophorus). While both of these are in the genus Senecio, one is a native to Australia and belongs in the park, and the other a native to South Africa, and does not belong in a Conservation Park in the Adelaide Hills. The plants look so similar; the native plant could in some situations be mistaken for the weed. Seeing the plants growing side by side gave a great example of how careful attention needs to be paid when undertaking weed control work. When I reached the Erica site, I saw another example of plants that could be mistaken for one another. The Erica looks a bit like the Twiggy daisy bush (Olearia ramulosa). The plants can be about the same size and have similar sized leaves. The Erica is a brighter green colour that the Twiggy daisy bush, while the flowers and seed capsules are also quite different. Another example of the care that needs to be taken when doing bush-care work. I was visiting the Erica site to look at the progress of weed control. You may not have realised that Erica is a weed which occurs in parts of the Park. There is a significant population at the top of the ridge at the edge of the Ambers Gully project site. For several years, the Friends have been tackling the Erica using both volunteer labour and grant money to employ contractors who are skilled at weed control. The Erica is a tenacious plant and takes some time to succumb to the poison sprayed on it. We are making progress, and look forward to significant control of The introduced plant is on the left, the this pest plant with the work in this location. I native species on the right suspect we will have many years of follow up work to control the germination of seed already dropped by mature plants. We are never short of things to do in the Parks! Near the Erica site, there are some large stands of Acacia, Hakea and Banksia. Noises in the stand of Hakea carinata caught my attention. These plants are particularly large at this site. With camera in hand I carefully positioned myself to see what the noises were. But before I realised what I was looking at, a pair of Yellow-tailed black cockatoos shrieked a warning, and flew off, out of sight. I was upset that I had disturbed them, but noted that they seemed to be enjoying eating the Hakea seeds. What strong beaks they must have to open those woody shells. I do need to report on an unintended consequence of the earthworks. Caltrop has been found growing near the Tetragona Trail. So keep an eye out for this unwelcome interloper, and let the Friends know if you see it in the Parks. Work in Morialta Conservation Park is progressing, and although there has been some disruption to Park users, we understand things are pretty much on target. Disruptions have included delays in the manufacture of the bridges, and a break down of the water truck, which has been used to reduce the dust nuisance. John Fleming – President Friends of Black Hill and Morialta Inc. Number 118 April May June 2008 Page 3 Campbelltown Proud Day. Once again, the Friends were well represented at the Campbelltown Proud Day. The weather was very hot, already 34 degrees at 10:00am and hovered around 39 degrees from 1:00pm, fortunately, a light breeze made the conditions bearable. While the crowd was nowhere near as large as last year, interest from the public was quite good, with most people visiting our stand engaging in good conversation. We also met and spoke with local members, Lindsay Simmons, Grace Portolesi, the Mayor, Simon Brewer, and several councillors. There is nothing to report on the land acquisition at Morialta at this stage: the negotiations are continuing, and the details remain confidential at this stage. The theme for our display this year was garden escapees: garden plants which have the potential to become bushland weeds.