Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country
The purpose of this guide is to assist stakeholders involved in monitoring activities to identify high altitude wetland species that occur 700m above sea level (ASL) within the New England Tableland Bioregion of the Namoi Catchment. Acknowledgements This document would not have been possible without the generous contribution of 30 photographers whose names appear on individual images. Funding was provided by the Namoi Catchment Management Authority as part of their Upland Wetland Program through the Commonwealth Government’s Caring for Our Country Program. John T. Hunter provided comments on the draft and organised the project through Hewlett Hunter Pty Ltd. The N.C.W. Beadle Herbarium, University of New England, is thanked for access to photographs of plant specimens. The website: http:// www.yarraranges.vic.gov.au/Residents/Yarra_Ranges_Plant_ Directory highlighted the images of some of the photographers contributing to this guide and NatureShare http://natureshare.org.au/species/ is thanked for the free provision of images. Ian Telford of the N.C.W. Beadle Herbarium is thanked for advice on species identifications and nomenclature. Jon Burne provided IT support with formatting and design. Cover photographs Main front: Carex appressa Insets: Schoenoplectus mucronatus, Alisma plantago-aquatica, Cyperus sphaeroideus, Geum urbanum Main back: Carex appressa Insets: Utricularia dichotoma, Hydrocotyle tripartita, Callistemon sp. Bendemeer, Persicaria hydropiper This page: Stellaria angustifolia, Hydrocotyle tripartita, Leptospermum polygalifolium, Phragmites australis
Disclaimer The information contained in this guide is based on the author’s knowledge and understanding at the time of writing – July 2012. Users of this guide are reminded of the need to ensure that information on which they rely is up to date and to check the currency of the information with the appropriate officer of the Namoi Catchment Management Authority.
Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country Introduction Wetlands are areas that are flooded or contain water to a great depth, are waterlogged, damp or have moist soils for extended periods of time. Some wetlands are ephemeral or intermittent and retain water for anything from a few days to a few months before drying out again. Wetlands also include places at the edges of permanently flooded areas, where water is either still or flowing. They can be natural or constructed and include streams and rivers and their banks, farm dams and reservoirs, marshy or boggy areas Farm Dam and areas that become wet occasionally such as roadside drains Mahri Koch and low-lying parts of pasture, woodlands or forests. Wetlands provide habitat for a number of different animals. Tall clumps and tussocks of plants provide shelter for wallabies, nesting sites and shelter for birds while aquatic plants and their seeds are food for water birds. In deep water, aquatic plants provide habitat for fish, frogs and aquatic invertebrates, and at wetland edges, plants provide shelter for frogs and a position Creek with tea trees Darren Ryder above the water for insects such as dragonflies to hatch into their aerial life stages. Many wetland plant species are truly aquatic and for these species a degree of water depth is necessary. Aquatic species grow only in permanent or semi-permanent pools or slow-flowing deep water. These aquatic species often have distinctive growth forms such as leaves that float on the surface or grow submerged in ponds, dams or pools, leaves that are thin and flexible or highly divided; examples are Blunt Pondweed (page 40) and Ribbonweed (page 44). Other species such as Red Azolla (page 78) float on the surface of the water (free-floating). Most of the wetland species observed in the Namoi high altitude areas are however emergent plants. Emergent plants have roots in mud or sediment, grow up through the water column and emerge to flower. The largest of these are Broadleaf Cumbungi (page 43) and Common Reed (page 34); with the smallest species such as River Buttercup (page 67) and Pennywort (page 55) growing in shallow areas.
Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority PAGE 1 Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country
Wetland plants are mostly herbaceous (non-woody); these include grasses, grass-like and broad- leaved species but also include ferns and mosses. Woody plants usually grow at the waters edge rather than in wetlands in the Namoi high country but are still water-dependent. Examples are River Oak, Bottlebrushes and Tea Trees as well as Willows and other introduced (non-native) species. Some species observed in wetlands are opportunistic and are normally thought of as terrestrial plants. Examples are the pasture weeds Purple Top (page 73), Spear Thistle (page 47) and Blackberries. Other species can grow virtually anywhere from the edges of wetlands to forests. Examples of these are Native Geranium (page 50) and Common Buttercup (page 68). Four species, Carex sp. Bendemeer, Eryngium sp. Little Llangothlin NR, Leiocarpa sp. Uralla and Callistemon sp. Bendemeer do not have the usual scientific name but a phrase name. A phrase name is used for a species that has not yet been identified or formally described. These species use geographic localities as this was where each of the species was first collected. Wetland Communities There are three main wetland communities that have been identified in this region and are considered at threat from activities such as draining, impoundment (building a dam) and overgrazing. These communities are Carex Sedgelands, Montane Peatlands and Basaltic Lagoons, and are described further over the following pages. Carex Sedgelands or fens are listed as an Endangered Ecological Community (EEC) under the Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995 (NSW) under the title ‘Carex Sedgelands of the New England Tableland, Nandewar, Brigalow Belt South and NSW North Coast Bioregions’. Montane Peatlands (also called bogs or wet heath) are listed as an EEC under the Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995 (NSW) under the title ‘Montane Peatlands and Swamps of the New England Tableland’ NSW North Coast, Sydney Basin, South East Corner, South Eastern Highlands and Australian Alps Bioregions’. Basalt Plateau Lagoons (also called montane lakes) are listed as an EEC both under the Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995 (NSW) as ‘Upland Wetlands of the Drainage Divide of the New England Tableland Bioregion’ and under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Commonwealth) as ‘Upland Wetlands of the New England Tablelands and the Monaro Plateau’.
PAGE 2 Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country Wetland Carex Sedgelands Communities
Watsons Creek John T. Hunter • Swamps of broad valley floors, creek banks and drainage lines • Run-off dependent, water moving slowly through swamps or via small streams • Nutrient-rich neutral to alkaline soils, often peaty • Occur on all rock types • Dominated by tall tussocky or tufted Carex species • No shrubs, except at margins • Generally species-poor Carex Sedgelands are by far the most common of these three endangered wetland communities over the whole of the Namoi Catchment above 700m and are found on many small streams and drainage lines. They are also called fens.
Bells Swamp John T. Hunter
Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority PAGE 3 Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country Wetland Montane Peatlands Communities
Hanging Rock State Forest Jon Burne • Shrub-dominated swamps of narrow to broad valleys • Rainfall dependent, water moves slowly through peatland and drains via small shallow streams • Nutrient-poor acidic substrate of shallow to deep peat • Various rock types but predominantly coarse granites • Usually feature Sphagnum Moss • Generally species rich Montane Peatlands, or wetlands that represent an intergrade between peatlands and Carex Sedgelands, occur in the southeast of the Catchment near Hanging Rock, at the edge of the Namoi Catchment in a small area to the north of Ben Halls Gap and in Coolah Tops National Park. They are also called bogs or wet heath.
Near Bullock Creek Jon Burne
PAGE 4 Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country Wetland Basalt Plateau Lagoons Communities
Near Hanging Rock State Forest John T. Hunter
• Shallow temporary lakes on flat basaltic landscapes • Water depth when full 10cm to 2m • Water is ponded, not flowing • Nutrient-rich clay or peaty soils • Sedges, true aquatics and amphibious plants • No shrubs • Moderately species rich To date only one small Basalt Plateau Lagoon with a very shallow basin has been identified in State Forest near Hanging Rock, but other remnants of this wetland community may occur in the Llangothlin Lagoon southeast of the Namoi Catchment. They are also called montane Chris Cooper lakes.
Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority PAGE 5 Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country How to use this guide This guide contains information on wetland species found in the Namoi Catchment above 700m ASL. Emphasis is given to species of Carex Sedgelands, the most common wetland type within the high altitude areas of the Namoi Catchment. Each species page provides photographs of the general look of the plant (habit), the leaves, flowers and fruit where possible and any other distinguishing features. Both common and scientific names are given but readers are warned that the same plant can have different common names in different places. The written description avoids botanical terms where possible but to help understand some of the terms used, a glossary at the end of the guide is included (page 82). Further sources of reading on these species are also listed on page 84. As an aid for identification the plant species described in this guide have been divided into growth forms (see below). Within growth form categories, species appear in alphabetical order of scientific names. Introduced or exotic (non-native) species, some of them weedy, are highlighted with an asterisk (*) in front of their scientific names and are coded in red. Sedge Grass-like plants in the family Cyperaceae, often with 3-angled (triangular cross section) stems, leaves in three vertical rows, inconspicuous flowers, and tubular closed sheathing bases. Rush Grass-like plants in the genus Juncus (family Juncaceae). Pinrush Juncus have slender pith-filled stems and leaf sheaths at the base; others are leafy and grass‑like. Grass Plants in the family Poaceae with jointed stems, leaves often in two vertical rows, leaves with a sheath and a blade, with a membranous structure against the stem (ligule) at the junction of the leaf and the blade, inconspicuous flowers, and fruits of seed-like grains. Other Any other grass-like species that are not sedges, rushes or grasses; includes species with strap-like leaves or with broader leaves that have parallel veins. Forb Broad-leaved herbaceous (non-woody) plants other than grasses, rushes, grass‑like species or other species with parallel veins. Shrub Shrubs are woody plants, usually with several stems arising at or near the ground and usually less than 5m tall. Trees have a distinct trunk, and are generally more or Tree than 5m tall. Fern or Ferns are plants with stems, leaves (fronds), no flowers or seeds and which reproduce by spores released from sporangia (brown dots or strips on fronds). Moss Mosses are small plants with leaves, no flowers or seeds, grow in low cushions, and reproduce by spores released from stalked capsules. Woody Woody weeds are perennial plants with hard fibrous materials that form branches and trunks that do or can have the potential to cause a detrimental impact on the Weeds natural environment.
PAGE 6 Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country Sedge Carex appressa Cyperacae Tall Sedge
John T. Hunter
Nic Cobcroft
Nic Cobcroft
Tall Sedge forms dense tussocks from short underground stems (rhizomes). Flowering stems are erect and un‑branched, to about 1m tall, sharply three-angled with rough edges near the top; leaves green to yellowish-green and arching. Both stems and leaves are tough and rough to the touch (caution: can cause skin cuts) and are not readily grazed by stock. The flowerhead is narrow, to 45cm long, with crowded short ©Marilyn Bull (Gray) stalkless spikes of wind-pollinated flowers, male flowers above female flowers. Flowers yellow‑brown. Fruits are oval nuts, enclosed in a small veined egg-shaped green to brown sac, with short hairs along edges and a notched tip. Common in swampy places along creeks and drainage lines in the eastern half of NSW. Tall Sedge is the dominant species in Carex Sedgelands (fens) in the Namoi high country. It also occurs but is less common in Montane Peatlands (bogs) and in rainforest. Tussocks provide habitat for birds, frogs and invertebrates. Spaces between the largest tussocks provide grazing, shelter John T. Hunter and protection for animals such as Swamp Wallabies. Leaves were used for basket-making by Aboriginal people. Tall Sedge has been used as a biofilter in artificial wetlands to remove pollutants from stormwater.
Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority PAGE 7 Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country Sedge Carex gaudichaudiana Cyperaceae Fen Sedge
John T. Hunter
John T. Hunter
Fen Sedge is a loosely tufted perennial plant to 1m tall, sometimes forming tussocks but more usually with extensive patches of long underground stems. Flowering stems are erect, ©Marilyn Bull (Gray) shorter than leaves, 3-angled and rough to the touch. Leaves are bluish green with rough margins. Unlike Tall Sedge, the flowerheads are much shorter than the leaves, are erect, to 18cm long, with clearly separated spikes above leaf-like bracts. The upper spikes are male, the lower mostly female. Fruits are egg- shaped to elliptical nuts, enclosed in a small veined sac. Widespread in swampy places in the eastern third of the state, more on the coast and tablelands than on the slopes. However it is still a common element of Carex Sedgelands in the eastern parts of the Namoi Catchment high country where it often grows in the wetter part of the sedgelands e.g. beside small waterways. Colour separates the three Carex species of Carex Sedgelands. In the growing season, Tall Sedge is yellowish green, Fen Sedge is bluish green and Two-ranked Sedge a clear bright green. In winter, Fen Sedge becomes dark red-brown and Two-ranked Sedge shoots die back to a straw-white colour.
PAGE 8 Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country Sedge Carex inversa Cyperaceae Knob Sedge
Harry Rose
Lachlan Copeland
Harry Rose Knob Sedge is a small loosely tufted plant, spreading from long underground stems. Leaves are bright green and grass-like to 2mm wide, and are shorter than flowering stems. Flowering stems are erect to 50cm tall. Flowerheads have several 1cm long spikelets, one per node, above much longer leafy bracts. Both male and female flowers occur together in spikelets. Fruits are broadly oval nuts, slightly flattened and enclosed in a small veined sac, egg-shaped to elliptical with a long notched tip. John T. Hunter Knob Sedge is widespread in the eastern two thirds of the state in drier sites such as grassland and open forest as well as in moister areas at the edges of swamps, streams and dams. In the Namoi high country Knob Sedge also commonly grows at the edges of Carex Sedgelands and Basalt Plateau Lagoons.
Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority PAGE 9 Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country Sedge Carex sp. Bendemeer Cyperaceae Two-ranked Sedge
John Nevin
Jon Burne Two-ranked Sedge, at present considered by experts to be an introduced possibly weedy species, was first collected in the
Bendemeer area in 2008. It was the first collection for this species John Nevin in Australia. Shoots grow from unbranched underground stems and are leafy, to about 90cm tall, with leaves in two rows on either side of the stem. The stem itself is formed from the long sheathing bases of the leaves. Shoots die back in winter. Flowerheads, only occasionally seen in this area, form at shoot tips on a 3-angled stem and are small and relatively compact. Flowers are either male or female and wind-pollinated. Fruits are nuts encased in a small veined elliptical sac with a long notched tip.
This species has been tentatively identified as Carex disticha, John Nevin native to northern and western Europe and introduced to southern Canada, where it grows in damp places, fens, marshes and wet meadows. This species is at present restricted to Carex Sedgelands in the area between Bendemeer and Niangala. Two-ranked Sedge appears to be cultivated in Australia and features on two gardening websites.
PAGE 10 Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country Sedge Cyperus eragrostis Cyperaceae Drain Flatsedge
Harry Rose
John Tann
Harry Rose Drain Flatsedge is an introduced tufted perennial plant, often short-lived, green at first becoming yellowish with age, with a very short underground stem. Stems are 3-angled, to 90cm tall; leaves are shorter or about the same height and to 8 mm wide. Flowerheads have up to 12 short branches above several long leaf‑like bracts. Flowers are stalkless, enclosed in small folded bracts, and crowded onto short stems with the whole spikelet flattened. Fruits are small nuts, dark brown to grey. Drain Flatsedge is widespread in NSW and occurs in ephemerally wet, open, disturbed places. In the Namoi high country this species occurs spasmodically, in table drains and disturbed wet places.
Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority PAGE 11 Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country Sedge Cyperus sphaeroideus Cyperaceae Scented Sedge
Bertram Lobert
Lachlan Copeland Bertram Lobert Scented Sedge is a slender perennial plant to 50cm tall spreading from a long slender underground stem. Stems are 3-angled, hairless and about 1mm wide. Leaves are shorter than stems, to 3cm wide and folded. Crushed leaves have a sweet scent. Flowerheads are spherical, solitary, to 7mm wide above 2–4 leaf-like bracts much longer than the flowerhead. Spikelets are stalkless, crowded into a head, with the bracts encasing flowers yellow to pale brown. Fruits are egg-shaped Henry Rose nuts to 1.3mm long. Scented Sedge grows in undisturbed moist places in woodland or near wetlands in the eastern third of the state. In the Namoi high country this species occurs at the edges of Carex Sedgelands and Basalt Plateau Lagoons and other damp places.
PAGE 12 Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country Sedge Eleocharis acuta Cyperaceae Common Spikerush
Adam Gosling
Nic Cobcroft
Common Spikerush is a perennial herbaceous plant spreading from a long branching underground stem. Shoots are usually tufted and 10–90cm tall. Stems are un-branched, mid-green, cylindrical, faintly striped, often somewhat 3-angled at the tip and 1–3mm wide. Leaves are reduced to a cylindrical sheath at stem bases. Sheaths are straight across at the top but with a small point to one side. All the spikerushes (or spike-sedges) © Marilyn Bull (Gray) have a compact flowerhead, egg-shaped to cylindrical, at the tip of an un-branched flowering stem. The flowerhead of Common Spikerush is 5–30mm long and flowers are brown and wind‑pollinated. Fruits are small broadly egg-shaped nuts about 1.5mm in diameter, flattened and shiny brown and surrounded by several long bristles that aid dispersal. Common Spikerush is widespread in NSW in moist situations, in swamps, Basalt Plateau Lagoons and within and beside streams. In the Namoi high country Common Spikerush occurs in wetter parts of Carex Sedgelands and beside streams.
Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority PAGE 13 Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country Sedge Eleocharis dietrichiana Cyperaceae Dietrich’s Spikerush
John Tann John Tann Dietrich’s Spikerush, shorter than Common Spikerush, is a perennial grass-like plant, about 30cm tall. Stems are un‑branched, tufted, green to yellowish-green, usually distinctly striped vertically, to 1.5mm wide and arising from short thick branching underground stems. Leaf sheaths are flat at the top with a short point. Flowerheads are egg-shaped to oblong and at 9mm long shorter than those of Common Spikerush. Fruits are roughly 3-sided, egg-shaped, golden- to dark-brown nuts with shorter bristles than those of Common Spikerush. Dietrich’s Spikerush is restricted to the northern and central parts of eastern NSW on the coast and tablelands. This species occurs occasionally in moist situations in the Namoi high country in Basalt Plateau Lagoons and at the edges of Carex Sedgelands.
PAGE 14 Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country Sedge Eleocharis pusilla Cyperaceae Small Spikerush
© Marilyn Bull (Gray)
©Marilyn Bull (Gray)
Small Spikerush is smaller still than either Common Spikerush or Dietrich’s Spikerush, and is between 2 to 20cm tall. Tufts of fine striped grass-like unbranched stems, green to yellowish-green and about 0.5mm wide arise from a long thin branching underground stem. Flowerheads are egg-shaped, to 7mm long. Flowers are tiny and wind-pollinated. Fruits (nuts) are tiny but distinctive, about 1mm long, straw-coloured, ribbed longitudinally with fine transverse ridges between the main ribs, and with very short bristles. Small Spikerush is widespread in moist to wet places in the eastern two-thirds of NSW. In the Namoi high country this species grows at the edges of Basalt Plateau Lagoons and Carex Sedgelands. Unlike the other spikerushes, Small Spikerush can survive for many months completely submerged, flowering when the wetland dries and the water recedes. This species can also rapidly colonize damp mud, forming extensive low mats.
Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority PAGE 15 Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country Sedge Eleocharis sphacelata Cyperaceae Tall Spikerush
Nic Cobcroft
Nic Cobcroft
Tall Spikerush is the most robust of the spikerushes with a short, stout, starchy underground stem (rhizome). Shoots are tufted or form large clumps, from 30cm tall on damp mud to 2m tall in deep water. Stems are un-branched, mid to John Tann dark green, cylindrical and hollow with complete transverse partitions, and to 12mm wide. Flowerheads are cylindrical, to 5cm long. Fruits are larger, flattened, egg-shaped to rounded, to 2.7mm long, dark brown, surrounded by long bristles. Tall Spikerush is widespread on the coast, tablelands and slopes of NSW, growing in shallow to deep water in slow-flowing streams, in pools within Carex Sedgelands, in the deeper Basalt Plateau Lagoons and in farm dams. Large clumps provide nesting and shelter; fruits are a food source for birds such as Purple Swamphens, Coots and Pacific Black Ducks, which disperse the seeds in their guts, or on their feathers. Tall Spikerush was used by Aboriginal people for weaving mats Kevin Thiele, © Marilyn Bull (Gray) and bags. This plant has been used as a biofilter in artificial wetlands. Occasionally becomes invasive in farm dams.
PAGE 16 Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country Sedge Gahnia sieberiana Cyperaceae Red-fruit Saw-sedge
John Burne
© Greg Steenbeeke Orkology
Lachlan Copeland
Red-fruit Saw-sedge is a tall tussocky perennial plant forming large clumps 2–3m wide from a short woody rhizome; stems are 1–2m tall and 12 mm wide. Leaves are flattish, channelled and rough with tiny serrations (Caution: can cut hands), sheathing leaf bases brown to black. Flowerheads are large, erect, branched and dense and rise up to a metre above the leaves. Flowers with enclosing bracts are yellowish brown maturing to black. Fruits (nuts), are bright red and shiny and are surrounded by long bristles. Red-fruit Saw-sedge grows on the coast and tablelands of the eastern strip of NSW on moist soils and in foothill forests. In the Namoi high country this species is scattered to common in Montane Peatlands and drainage lines in Hanging Rock State Forest. A food source for butterflies and other insects. It occurs in Australia, New Guinea and New Caledonia.
Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority PAGE 17 Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country Sedge Isolepis spp. Cyperaceae Club-sedges
Isolepis inundata Casliber/Wikipedia Commons
Isolepis hookeriana John T. Hunter Club-sedges found in the high country of the Namoi
Catchment are tiny, inconspicuous, fine-stemmed plants of Isolepis inundata wet places, bare mud and stream beds. Most are annual plants. © Marilyn Bull (Gray) The usually have slender stems, are tufted or form rosettes, and are usually no more than 15cm tall. Some, especially the species that grow in water, can form new plantlets from their flowerheads. The distinguishing feature of club-sedges is their flowerheads, clusters of small cone-shaped spikelets at the tips of long stems, above a long leaf-like bract. Fruits are tiny, 3-sided or lens-shaped nuts, smooth or ribbed, 0.6 to 1mm long. Fruit are dispersed on water or in mud on the feet of water birds. Plants often form part of a meadow of low-growing and mat‑forming species colonising mudflats, bare areas beside streams and the edges of dams.
PAGE 18 Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country Sedge Schoenoplectus mucronatus Cyperaceae Bog Bulrush
Jon Burne
Adam Gosling Jon Burne Bog Bulrush is a tufted perennial herbaceous plant that grows in dense clumps 0.5–1m tall spreading from a short, tough underground stem. Stems are erect, un-branched, sharply three- angled, green to yellowish green. Leaves appear absent but are reduced to sheaths wrapped around the base of the stems and there are no leaf blades. Flowerheads are a head-like cluster of cone-shaped spikelets at the top of the stem. Spikelets are yellow‑green to brown, above a stiff, angled bract which often looks like a continuation of the stem. Flowers are inconspicuous and wind‑pollinated. Fruits are small, rounded, widest near the top, dark brown to black, surrounded by 5 or 6 bristles. Fruits are probably dispersed on water and by birds. Birds may eat the fruit and disperse them by excreting the seeds; bristles may stick to birds’ feathers. Harry Rose Bog Bulrush grows mainly in the northeast of the state in slow‑flowing streams and near the edges of dams. This species is scattered but occasionally common. It is common in Sheba Dams near Hanging Rock.
Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority PAGE 19 Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country Sedge Schoenoplectus validus Cyperaceae River Club Rush
Harry Rose
Harry Rose
Harry Rose River Club Rush is a tall fairly robust perennial plant spreading from a tough underground stem (rhizome). Stems are cylindrical, un-branched 1–2 m tall. Leaves are reduced to sheaths at the base of stems. Flowerheads appear at stem tips and consist of clustered branches above a short bract. Spikelets are cone-shaped and stalkless, to 11 mm long, red-brown. Fruits are egg-shaped nuts wider near the tip, shining grey- brown to black surrounded by barbed bristles. River Club Rush is widespread but scattered over most of the state but mainly the eastern third. It grows in creeks, lakes and open swamps, in fresh or brackish water. In the Namoi high country, this species occurs in deep pools in streams and occasionally in farm dams. Clumps provide nesting and shelter habitat for birds.
PAGE 20 Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country Sedge Schoenus apogon Cyperaceae Common Bog-rush
John Nevin
© Marilyn Bull (Gray)
Russell Best http://creativecommons
Common Bog-rush is an inconspicuous tufted annual or short-lived perennial plant to about 25cm tall. Stems are erect or drooping, leaves fine, in-rolled, to 15cm long; leaf bases are often red to dark red-brown. Flowerheads are irregularly branched with red-brown to blackish clusters of spikelets, one at the tip, 1 to 4 below, above long leaf-like bracts. Fruits are Russell Best egg-shaped to rounded nuts, shiny, with a whitish porcelain- http://creativecommons like texture and shorter bristles beneath. Common Bog-rush is widespread in the eastern half of the state and grows in a variety of damp to wet situations including the edges of Basalt Plateau Lagoons, Montane Peatlands, Carex Sedgelands, on stream banks and the edges of dams. This is a variable plant and may include more than one species.
Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority PAGE 21 WetlandWetland Plants Plants of theof the Namoi Namoi High High Country Country Sedge Scirpus polystachyus Cyperaceae Large-headed Club-rush
John T. Hunter
Lachlan Copeland
Large-headed Club-rush is a robust tufted perennial with a short, thick underground stem (rhizome). Stems are erect, John T. Hunter smooth and cylindrical 0.5 to 2m tall. Leaves are much shorter, bright to dark green, to 7mm wide and folded; sheaths at the base are green to brown and persist as fibrous fragments. Flowerheads are large and spreading with slender drooping branches. Spikelets are to 9mm long, with the enclosing bracts dark green-grey maturing to brown. Flowers are inconspicuous and wind pollinated. Fruits are elliptic to rounded nuts, glistening and pale yellow-brown. Large-headed Club-rush is restricted to tablelands and coastal areas. This species grows in slow flowing water in creeks, in swampy places and occasionally on the edges of dams. Large‑headed Club-rush can be one of the dominant plants in Carex Sedgelands especially in higher rainfall areas, e.g. at Ponderosa Ponds near Hanging Rock. © Marilyn Bull (Gray)
PAGE 22 Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country Rush Juncus alexandri subsp. melanobasis Juncaceae Black-stemmed Rush
John Nevin
Jon Burne Black-stemmed Rush is one of the group of rushes (Juncus) commonly called pinrushes. Pinrushes appear leafless since their leaves are reduced to sheathing bases. Black-stemmed Rush is a tall perennial plant to 1.5m growing in large clumps Jon Burne from short tough underground stems (rhizomes). This species is distinguished by its very dark, red-brown to black leaf bases. Stems are cylindrical, un-branched, to 4mm wide and filled with pith. The branched flowerhead is loosely spreading above a stem-like bract longer than the flowerhead; the inconspicuous wind-pollinated flowers are clustered or solitary. Flowers are small, to 2.5mm long. Fruit is a dry capsule, golden to red- brown, which opens along three splits to release numerous tiny seeds. Black-stemmed Rush grows on the northern and central tablelands and adjacent coastal areas in moist forests and Montane Peatlands on fertile soils. In the Namoi high country this species occurs in peatlands and peaty drainage lines in Hanging Rock State Forest.
Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority PAGE 23 WetlandWetland Plants Plants of theof the Namoi Namoi High High Country Country Rush Juncus australis Juncaceae Austral Rush
John Tann
John Tann
Austral Rush is a pinrush, a loosely tufted perennial plant forming clumps from short tough underground stems. Stems are cylindrical, un-branched, to 1m tall, and about 3mm wide, blue‑green to grey-green, hard and with large air spaces in John T. Hunter the inner pith. Leaves are reduced to a series of sheaths at the plant base; sheaths are dark yellow-brown to red-brown. Flowerheads are loosely branched or head-like above a stem‑like bract much longer than the flowerhead. Flowers are small, straw-brown to red‑brown, to 2.5mm long, numerous and densely or loosely clustered. Fruits are dry capsules a little shorter than the flower parts and golden brown, splitting into three to release numerous tiny seeds.
Provides habitat for frogs and aquatic invertebrates such as John Tann dragonflies.
PAGE 24 Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country Rush Juncus fockei Juncaceae Slender Joint-leaf Rush
Juncus fockei John Tann
Juncus prismatocarpus Jon Burne
Adam Gosling Slender Joint-leaf Rush, one of the leafy rushes, is a small tufted perennial plant with short underground stems, or with shoots growing from the base. Stems are erect; leaves are hollow, compressed or cylindrical, with blunt ear-like lobes at the tips of leaf sheaths. Flowerheads are branching, with flowers clustered at tips of branches, 5–20 per cluster, the main leaf-like bract shorter or longer than flowerhead. Flowers are straw-brown to red-brown and are wind‑pollinated. Fruit Juncus prismatocarpus capsules are very narrow and egg-shaped, tapering to a long John Tann point much longer than flower parts, and golden brown. Slender Joint-leaf Rush grows in the eastern third of the state in damp places along streams and on the edges of dams and swamps. This species is widespread but not common in the Namoi high country. Similar species: Juncus prismatocarpus has a much more spreading flowerhead. Flattened stems are hollow but with inner partitions, blades of leaves are much wider; capsules have shorter points.
Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority PAGE 25 WetlandWetland Plants Plants of theof the Namoi Namoi High High Country Country Rush Juncus usitatus Juncaceae Common Rush
Adam Gosling
John Tann John Tann
Common Rush is a densely tufted perennial plant with a short tough underground stem (rhizome). Stems are cylindrical, unbranched, from 0.3 to about 1m tall and to 2mm wide, rather soft, mid-green, filled with pith either dense or interrupted with small air spaces. Leaves are reduced to a series of sheaths at stem bases, and golden brown to red-brown in colour. Flowerheads are loosely branched above a stem-like bract longer than the flowerhead, with numerous small solitary straw-brown flowers. Fruit are golden brown capsules, longer than the flower parts, splitting into three to release numerous tiny seeds. Old fruits generally remain on the stems all year round. Widespread in the eastern half of the state and common, occurs in periodically wet sites, especially close to the water’s edge along stream banks and disturbed places such as table drains and in irrigation canals. Some pinrushes can be invasive in pastures. Yabbies eat the shoots and young stems. Common Rush has been used in artificial wetlands.
PAGE 26 Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country Grass Cenchrus alopecuroides Poaceae Swamp Foxtail
John T. Hunter
John T. Hunter
Lachlan Copeland Swamp Foxtail is a tufted perennial grass. Leaf blades are erect, narrow, to 6mm wide and rough to the touch with sharp hairs on the veins, and a ligule of short dense hairs at the junction of the sheath and the blade. The narrow flowerhead is dense and cylindrical to 20cm long with spikelets on short branches held close to the stem, each spikelet is surrounded by much longer purplish bristles; bristles shed with the spikelet. Older flowerheads are yellow to white in colour. The plant is Adam Gosling rarely grazed and older leaves are coarse and unpalatable. Swamp Foxtail is widespread in the eastern third of the state and grows in damp soils on stream flats, seepage areas and especially on the upper edges of Carex Sedgelands. This species was previously called Pennisetum alopecuroides.
Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority PAGE 27 WetlandWetlandWetland Plants Plants Plants of the ofof the theNamoi Namoi Namoi High High High Country Country Country Grass Hemarthria uncinata var. uncinata Poaceae Matgrass
Harry Rose
Harry Rose
Harry Rose
Matgrass is a creeping perennial grass, often forming mats to 1m tall in wet areas. Leaf blades are narrow, green or reddish. Flowering stems are unusual, un-branched and rigidly erect to slightly curved, with a single long narrow flowerhead at the tip. Spikelets are paired, one with, one without a stalk, flattened, and recessed into the flowering stalk. Flowerheads break apart into segments at the nodes when mature. The plant is often reddish especially in winter. Matgrass occurs in eastern parts of the state at the edges of swamps and in damp places. In the Namoi high country Matgrass occurs at the damp margins of Carex Sedgelands, Basalt Plateau Lagoons, in damp grasslands and in roadside Harry Rose drains.
PAGE 28 Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country Grass *Holcus Ianatus Poaceae Yorkshire Fog
Adam Gosling
Harry Rose
John T. Hunter
Yorkshire Fog is a perennial grass, introduced from Europe, tufted, to 1m tall, and softly covered in velvety hairs (lanatus means ‘woolly’), forming new shoots from a blanket of underground stems; leaf blades to 10mm wide with a short membranous ligule. Flowerheads are branched, loosely spreading Harry Rose or contracted and narrow, to 17cm long, pale pink or green, maturing to white. Spikelets are 4–5mm long, with two florets, the uppermost with a short awn. Yorkshire Fog is widespread in the eastern third of the state where it is common in wet places, sometimes invasive. In the Namoi high country this species ocurs in Carex Sedgelands especially where soil is disturbed and when seasons are Harry Rose especially wet. It produces a large seed bank. It is a food source for butterflies; and seeds are eaten by Stubble Quail.
Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority PAGE 29 WetlandWetland Plants Plants of theof the Namoi Namoi High High Country Country Grass Isachne globosa Poaceae Swamp Millet
Harry Rose
Harry Rose Harry Rose Swamp Millet is an aquatic or semi-aquatic perennial grass to about 70cm tall that spreads by long leafy horizontal stems. Stems form roots at the nodes and scramble extensively over other plants. Leaf blades are long, lance-shaped to 8mm wide and slightly rough. There is a ligule of short rim hairs at the junction of the sheath and the blade. The flowerhead is at first narrow then spreads with stiff branches. Spikelets occur towards the ends of branchlets. Spikelets are distinctly shaped, globular with rounded bracts, to 2.5mm long. Flowers when open have Harry Rose colourful feathery purple stigmas for trapping windborne pollen. Swamp Millet occurs in the eastern third of the state, and usually grows in or beside fresh water or in swamps. Swamp Millet can be one of the common plants in Carex Sedgelands especially in higher rainfall areas and in wet years. Stems and leaves die over winter. The dense canopy is habitat for insects and frogs.
PAGE 30 Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country Grass Lachnagrostis filiformis Poaceae Common Blown-grass
Adam Gosling
Harry Rose Lachlan Copeland
Common Blown-grass is a tufted annual or biennial grass. Flowering stems are slender, erect, arching or bent, or occasionally grow flat to the ground. Leaf blades are narrow, flat or folded, with a long membranous ligule at the junction of the sheath and the blade. Flowerheads are finely branched, often spreading. Spikelets are abundant, to 4.5mm long, straw- coloured, florets (flowers) of spikelets with a bent bristle (awn). Flowerheads are shed whole at maturity and dispersed by wind. © Marilyn Bull (Gray) Common Blown-grass is often abundant on mudflats where it forms a deep carpet of attached and detached flowerheads. Common Blown-grass is widespread in damp and disturbed damp areas on heavy soils across most of the state. In the Namoi high country this species also grows on the edges of Carex Sedgelands and Basalt Plateau Lagoons.
Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority PAGE 31 WetlandWetland Plants Plants of theof the Namoi Namoi High High Country Country Grass *Paspalum dilatatum Poaceae Common Paspalum
Harry Rose
Harry Rose
Harry Rose
Common Paspalum is an introduced densely tufted perennial grass with a very short thick underground stem (rhizome). Shoots are erect to 1m tall or often grow in a rosette close to the ground, especially when mowed or grazed. Leaf blades are broad, to 12mm wide, with a membranous ligule at the junction of the sheath and the blade; lower leaf sheaths are hairy. Flowerheads have a slender central stalk with 3-7 short spreading branchlets crowded with flattened rounded spikelets in four rows. The spikelets are often fringed with long silky hairs. Flowers (florets) have dark purple, feathery stigmas that trap windborne pollen. Common Paspalum is a native of South America, introduced to Australia as a pasture grass and naturalized in the eastern half of the state. This grass grows on moist soils and often occurs on river and creek banks. In the Namoi high country this grass also grows on the margins of Carex Sedgelands.
PAGE 32 Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country Grass Paspalum distichum Poaceae Water Couch
Lachlan Copeland
Harry Rose Harry Rose Water Couch is a creeping perennial grass to 60cm tall with shoots arising from long branching aboveground and underground stems. Stems often form loose mats and can also scramble upwards supported by other vegetation. Leaf blades are flat, to 9mm wide, often folded when dry with short membranous ligules at the junction of the blade and the sheath. The flowerheads are V-shaped and consist of a slender erect flowering stem with twin spreading branchlets crowded with flattened elliptical spikelets in two rows. Flowers (florets) Harry Rose have dark purple, feathery stigmas that trap windborne pollen. Water Couch is native to many tropical and warm-temperate countries and is widespread in moist places in NSW. In the Namoi high country it occurs in moist pastures, at the edges of dams and Carex Sedgelands and as a weed in gardens. On the coast it is valued as a pasture grass on floodplains. Water Couch can tolerate brackish conditions.
Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority PAGE 33 WetlandWetland Plants Plants of theof the Namoi Namoi High High Country Country Grass Phragmites australis Poaceae Common Reed
Harry Rose
Harry Rose Harry Rose Common Reed is a very tall, robust perennial grass to 6m tall, found in wetlands throughout the warmer parts of the world. The hollow rigidly jointed stems shoot from tough, thick horizontal stems (rhizomes). Leaf blades are large, to 50cm long, and 2–3cm wide, with a short hairy ligule. Flowerheads are purple when young, branched and dense, with numerous spikelets which develop long silky hairs to 12mm long, giving the flowerhead a whitish grey colour. In winter, leaves and stems die back but dead stems with old flowerheads persist for many months. Harry Rose Common Reed is widespread mostly in the eastern half of the state and can form extensive stands in wetlands and streams in water to 1m deep. In the Namoi high country this grass is sometimes invasive in Carex Sedgelands. Stands provide important habitat for birds and shelter for animals such as wallabies. This species tolerates brackish conditions but does not tolerate heavy grazing by cattle. The young shoots of Common Reed were eaten by Aboriginal people, and stems were used for weaving and to make rafts. Harry Rose Common Reed is often used for wastewater treatment.
PAGE 34 Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country Other Alisma plantago-aquatica Alismataceae Water Plantain
© Marilyn Bull (Gray)
© Marilyn Bull (Gray) © Marilyn Bull (Gray) Water Plantain is an erect broad-leaved herbaceous plant to 1.5m tall. Leaf blades are egg-shaped, to oblong or elliptic, rounded to heart-shaped at the base, up to 25cm long, with obvious parallel veins and numerous connecting veins. Flowerheads are tall, rigid, branched to 60cm long and 40cm wide. Flowers are attractive but very small, to 10mm wide, and arranged singly on long stalks, with three white petals. Fruits are aggregates of small separate flattened nutlets (1-seeded fruits), which look like small flat green mandarins. Air pockets in the detached nutlets enable them to float, thus aiding dispersal. In north-eastern NSW, Water Plantain grows in shallow water on the coast, tablelands and slopes. In 2011-2012 this species was scattered but prominent along the edges of small streams in the Namoi high country. It should not be confused with the less desirable introduced weed Sagittaria (Sagittaria platyphylla) which has narrower leaves and flowerheads shorter than the leaves.
Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority PAGE 35 WetlandWetland Plants Plants of theof the Namoi Namoi High High Country Country Other Baloskion stenocoleum Restionaceae Narrow Cord-rush
John Nevin
John T. Hunter
Narrow Cord-rush has cylindrical stems to 0.5 to 1.5m tall with leaves reduced to brown sheaths that are wrapped around both the stem base and stem at nodes. Stems shoot from short tough creeping underground stems (rhizomes) and plants occur in patches or large clumps. Male and female flowers occur on separate plants. Flowers are clustered into red-brown John T. Hunter spikelets along the tops of flowering stems, with spikelets half enclosed by reddish brown sheaths. The bracts enclosing each female flower are wide and papery with long tips. Fruits are dry capsules. Narrow Cord-rush occurs on the northern tablelands and north coast. This species grows in swamps on acid soils, including Montane Peatlands, but also on the edges of other swamps such as Carex Sedgelands or even Basalt Plateau Lagoons, where the surrounding rock type is granite and soils are sandy. Narrow Cord-rush is in the family Restionaceae, a family of grass-like plants, (also called restiads) similar to but with distinct differences to sedges. The genus Baloskion, formerly called Restio, is endemic to Australia.
PAGE 36 Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country Other Hypoxis hygrometrica Hypoxidaceae Golden Weather-grass
Harry Rose
Harry Rose
Harry Rose
Golden Weather-grass is a perennial herb to 20cm tall that persists by means of a corm, a short thick underground storage stucture. The grass-like leaves are few, flattish and soft. Flowerheads are sparsely branched with few flowers, often only one opening at any time. Flowers are bright yellow and pollinated by insects. Fruits are dry capsules containing dark‑brown to black ornamented seeds. Golden Weather-grass occurs in the eastern parts of the state in moist places. In the Namoi high country this species is scattered at the margins of Carex Sedgelands, Basalt Plateau Lagoons and other moist places.
Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority PAGE 37 WetlandWetland Plants Plants of theof the Namoi Namoi High High Country Country Other Lomandra longifolia Lomandraceae Spiny-headed Mat-rush
Jon Burne
graibeard@flickr/CCB-SA 2.0 Harry Rose
Spiny-headed Mat-rush is a tough perennial tussock-forming plant with a short thick underground stem. The strap-like leaves are to 80cm long and leaf ends have 2 to 3 distinctive teeth. Flowerheads are either male or female, shorter than the leaves, up to 15cm long, branched or unbranched with flowers in tight clusters and with sharp pointed bracts beneath. Flowers are scented, yellow or cream; male flowers about 3mm, female to 4.5mm long. Fruits are dry orange globular capsules, with rounded Harry Rose seeds. Old flowerheads persist on clumps for some months. Spiny-headed Mat-rush is widespread in the eastern part of the state in a variety of habitats; often common in moist places and occasionally grazed by stock. In the Namoi high country Spiny-headed Mat-rush is particularly common in streamside Montane Peatlands in Hanging Rock State Forest. Seeds are food for birds and the nectar eaten by butterflies.
Leaf bases and nectar were eaten by Aboriginal people and the Harry Rose seeds ground into flour; leaves were used for weaving.
PAGE 38 Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country Other Philydrum lanuginosum Philydraceae Frogmouth
Graeme Pritchard
Graham Pritchard
Frogmouth is a tall perennial herbaceous plant with distinctive two-lipped yellow flowers thought to resemble a frog opening its mouth. Frogmouth forms large clumps with new shoots Fractal Myth formed on short underground stems. Stems and young leaves have a coating of long loose white hairs. Leaves are thick, flattened, to 20mm wide and 60cm long, forming a rosette or a fan shape, and spongy with internal air-spaces. Flowering stems are slightly zig-zag, to 2m tall, flowerheads spike-like or sparingly branched, the stalkless flowers partly enclosed until flowering in a large leafy bract. Fruits are dry, triangular capsules that split into three releasing numerous seeds. Frogmouth occurs in the eastern third of the state on the coast, tablelands and western slopes, in swamps and along the margins of streams and dams. In the Namoi high country Frogmouth is not common but occurs at the edges of Carex Sedgelands.
Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority PAGE 39 WetlandWetland Plants Plants of theof the Namoi Namoi High High Country Country Other Potamogeton ochreatus Potamogetonaceae Blunt Pondweed
Tony Faithfull
Graeme Pritchard
Graham Pritchard
Blunt Pondweed is a completely submerged plant, annual or perennial, with only flowerheads above the water surface, spreading from branching stems to 4m long. Leaves are narrow, to 10 cm long, stalkless, green to brownish and thin and translucent, with a blunt rounded tip and a sheath at the base enclosing the node. Flowerheads are short dense spikes to 3cm Graeme Pritchard long, of brownish wind-pollinated flowers. Fruits are rounded with a short bent point, rather spongy and remain green- brown, floating on water for dispersal. Blunt Pondweed grows in water to 5m deep and occurs in the eastern third of the state in rivers, channels, lakes and farm dams. It can form dense beds in farm dams in summer; habitat for aquatic invertebrates, food for water birds. It occurs in farm dams in the Namoi high country.
PAGE 40 Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country Other Sparganium subglobosum Sparganiaceae Floating Bur-reed
John T. Hunter
Jon Burne
Floating Bur-reed is an aquatic perennial herbaceous plant to 1m tall but usually less, with shoots arising from an underground stem. Leaves are hairless, mid-green, somewhat spongy and sometimes floating. Leaves form mostly at the plant base with a few smaller leaves along flowering stems. Flowerheads are distinctive and unusual with white flowers clustered into globular heads to 20mm in diameter along a rather zig-zag stem. The globular heads bear either male or female flowers. Fruits are yellow-green, dry, non‑splitting, hard outside but spongy inside, John T. Hunter to 7mm long, angled and with a point. Seeds accumulate in the soil allowing regeneration when water levels are low. Floating Bur-reed grows in coastal and tablelands areas in still or slow-flowing water. Uncommon on the tablelands and only seen once in a Carex Sedgeland in the southeast of the Namoi high country. Bur-reeds are closely related to Cumbungi and are sometimes included in the bulrush family (Typhaceae).
Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority PAGE 41 WetlandWetland Plants Plants of theof the Namoi Namoi High High Country Country Other Spiranthes australis Orchidaceae Ladies’ Tresses
Adam Gosling
Lachlan Copeland
Ladies’ Tresses, a ground orchid, is a slender herbaceous plant 15‑50cm tall, with fleshy roots. Leaves are few, soft and narrow, mostly at the base of the plant. Flower heads are spike-like, bearing dense spirally arranged white and bright pink/purple
flowers. The fruit is a dry capsule, opening by longitudinal slits Harry Rose and the seeds are dust-like, numerous and extremely minute. Ladies’ Tresses, a species of eastern Asia, grows on the coast and tablelands, usually on the margins of wet or boggy places. In the Namoi high country this species occurs occasionally on the wet margins of Basalt Plateau Lagoons and Carex Sedgelands.
PAGE 42 Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country Other Typha orientalis Typhaceae Broadleaf Cumbungi
Harry Rose
Russel Best/http://creativecommons
Broadleaf Cumbungi, also called Bulrush, is a tall, robust perennial aquatic plant to 4m tall, with large tough branched underground stems (rhizomes) to 20mm wide. Plants can form John Tann extensive beds. Leaves are tough, strap-like, to 2m long and to 30mm wide, with a distinct shallow ear-like projection at the top of the sheath. The distinctive cylindrical and compact flowerheads appear at the tips of flowering stalks, the male flowerhead at the top and the wider velvety-brown female flowerhead below. Flowers and 1-seeded fruits are minute; fruits have long hairs and are dispersed by wind. Broadleaf Cumbungi is widespread in the eastern half of the state, in swamps, lake and stream margins, irrigation channels and drains. In the Namoi high country this species grows in streams and farm dams where it is occasionally invasive. Large clumps are nesting habitat for birds. Young shoots of bulrushes were eaten by Aboriginal people; rhizomes were Jon Burne roasted and eaten, the remaining fibres used to make string. Young flowerheads can be steamed and eaten.
Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority PAGE 43 WetlandWetland Plants Plants of theof the Namoi Namoi High High Country Country Other Vallisneria australis Hydrocharitaceae Ribbonweed
Graeme Pritchard
Graeme Pritchard
Ribbonweed is a totally submerged perennial plant, with flowers emerging above the water surface. Plants spread from white to brown underground stems. Leaves are all at the base of the plant, strap-shaped, to 3m long and to 35mm wide, thin and nearly translucent, with 5–7 major longitudinal veins, green and usually covered with a thick layer of algae. Female flowers are narrow, to 25mm long, produced on a long stalk to 2m long that uncoils to place the tip of the flower at the water surface for pollination, then coils again to bring the fruits down to deposit seeds on the mud. Male flowerheads are produced underwater at the base of the plant, are stalked, with a large bract enclosing numerous dust-like male flowers that are then released to float to the surface where they are blown by wind to the female flowers. Graeme Pritchard Ribbonweed is widespread over most of the state, growing in still or flowing water to 7m deep in perennial streams and dams. Can be troublesome if nutrient levels are high. Occurs in large dams in the Namoi high country. Plants are eaten by water birds; the algal covering on leaves is food for snails and habitat for other tiny aquatic invertebrates.
PAGE 44 Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country Forb *Callitriche stagnalis Callitrichaceae Common Starwort
Jon Burne
Nic Cobcroft
Common Starwort is an introduced aquatic plant that spreads and forms large mats on or under the water surface or on damp mud at the edges of streams. Stems can form roots at nodes. This Harry Rose species has tiny, shining green, round to spoon-shaped leaves to 25mm long and to 6mm wide, in pairs opposite each other on slender creeping stems. Flowers are minute, located at the bases of leaves on tiny stalks and are either male or female. The male flower consists of a single tiny stamen. Fruits are green becoming brown as the plant ages, rounded and flattened to 2mm wide, breaking up into 4 segments when mature. A large mat of Common Starwort can produce hundreds of seeds spread by water or in mud on water birds’ feet. The species is also spread by small fragments becoming detached by flowing water; these are stranded on mud downstream, grow roots and become established. Common Starwort is native to Europe but naturalised in other continents and is widespread in NSW; occurs in the high country of the Namoi in roadside drains and minor waterways. It provides habitat for fish and aquatic invertebrates; seeds and leaves are possibly eaten by ducks.
Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority PAGE 45 WetlandWetland Plants Plants of theof the Namoi Namoi High High Country Country Forb Centella asiatica Apiaceae Indian Pennywort
Harry Rose
Harry Rose
Harry Rose
Indian Pennywort is a small perennial plant in the carrot family. Leafy shoots 10 to 20cm tall form on creeping horizontal stems; stems form roots at the nodes. Leaves are on long leaf stalks to 20cm, are hairless, heart-shaped or circular with smooth or scalloped margins. Two to three flowers appear on tiny umbrella-like flowerheads; flowerheads are flat-topped or rounded clusters where flower stalks all of roughly equal length arise at the same point. Fruits are dry and split into two ribbed segments. In the north of the state Indian Pennywort grows in damp Harry Rose places on the coast, tablelands and the edges of the western slopes. Native to Asia as well as Australia, Indian pennywort is eaten as a vegetable in India, Vietnam and Thailand and has many uses in traditional medicine.
PAGE 46 Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country Forb *Cirsium vulgare Asteraceae Spear Thistle
John Tann
Harry Rose Spear Thistle is a tall biennial or short-lived introduced thistle Harry Rose native to Europe, western Asia and northwestern Africa. From a rosette of leaves and a deep tap root, a flowering stem to 1.5m tall forms in the second year of growth. Stems have numerous spine-tipped wings. Leaves are spiny, grey-green and deeply lobed; leaf lobes are spear-shaped (thus the common name). The flowerhead is a bell-shaped head of numerous tiny purple flowers packed together with spiny bracts beneath, all on the widened tip of the flowering branchlets. The tiny dry fruits are topped with long feathery hairs and are dispersed by wind and on water. John Tann Spear Thistle is a widespread weed of cultivation, disturbed areas and waste ground. It also grows in areas beside rivers. Spear Thistle often appears in dry Basalt Plateau lagoon-beds from blown-in seeds and is present but not common in Carex Sedgelands. The flowers are a source of nectar for bees and other insects; seeds are eaten by birds.
Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority PAGE 47 WetlandWetland Plants Plants of theof the Namoi Namoi High High Country Country Forb Epilobium billardierianum subsp. hydrophilum Onagraceae Robust Willow-herb
Adam Gosling
Adam Gosling
Robust Willow-herb is an erect perennial herbaceous plant, to 1m tall, with stems that branch and form roots at the nodes. Leaves are lance-shaped to narrow egg-shaped with small regular teeth on each side. Leaves become reddish when old. Flowers are attractive, purplish-pink, occasionally white, somewhat variable in size, but usually to 15mm wide. Fruits are slender cylindrical capsules which split into two long sections, releasing the numerous seeds embedded in soft white silky fluff John T. Hunter for dispersal by wind. Robust Willow-herb is mostly known from the north-eastern part of the state and grows in damp sites such as creek banks and dam edges on the tablelands and higher areas of the coast above 200m. This species, common or scattered, is often a distinctive feature of Carex Sedgelands and the edges of Basalt Plateau Lagoons. It may be a food source for insect larvae.
Similar species: Epilobium billardierianum subsp. cinereum, a John T. Hunter much more widespread plant of dampish to drier areas. Flowers smaller, white or pink, leaves smaller and narrower, often hairy.
PAGE 48 Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country Forb Eryngium sp. Little Llangothlin NR Apiaceae Swamp Blue Devil
John T. Hunter
Lachlan Copeland
Swamp Blue Devil is a perennial herbaceous plant, with shoots arranged in rosettes along long creeping prostrate or underground stems. When growing on damp to dry soil, leaves Adam Gosling are sharply toothed and prickly to 15cm long. In water, leaves have a different form, strictly cylindrical and hollow with no teeth or spines. Flowerheads are rounded with numerous spiny bracts, on stems shorter than the leaves. Flowers are blue. Fruit are covered in tiny bladdery scales. Swamp Blue Devil has a scattered distribution, a few plants occurring on the margins of a handful of Basalt Plateau Lagoons on the tablelands, including a small remnant lagoon near Hanging Rock, and occasionally in Carex Sedgelands near the eastern edge of the Namoi Catchment. The scientific name of this Eryngium species has not yet been published. The name Eryngium sp. Little Llangothlin NR is a
phrase name, used for a species that has not yet been formally John T. Hunter described. This name uses the geographic locality Little Llangothlin Nature Reserve since this is where the species was first collected.
Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority PAGE 49 WetlandWetland Plants Plants of theof the Namoi Namoi High High Country Country Forb Geranium solanderi var. solanderi Geraniaceae Native Geranium
John T. Hunter
John T. Hunter
Native Geranium is a perennial herbaceous plant with coarse stiff longish hairs on stems to 50cm long. Stems spread horizontally then grow upwards; the taproot is swollen and turnip-like. Plants grow low to the ground or upwards through Kevin Thiele other vegetation. Leaves are in opposite pairs on stems, rounded to kidney-shaped, slit almost to the centre into narrow lobes, with hairs flattened against the leaf surface. Flowers are small, simple in shape, petals white to pink, 5–8mm long, and are usually in pairs on a longish stalk. The long narrow fruits split into five segments; seeds are then held outwards on long stalks for release. Native Geranium is widespread across most of the state in moist to drier woodlands and forests and is common but not abundant in Carex Sedgelands. The taproots were eaten roasted by Aboriginal people. The subspecies Geranium solanderi var. grande has bigger flowers with petals 10–12mm long and is generally larger Harry Rose overall; occurring at higher altitudes in Montane Peatlands and occasionally in Carex Sedgelands.
PAGE 50 Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country Forb Geum urbanum Rosaceae Herb Bennet
John T. Hunter
John T. Hunter
Herb Bennet, also known as Wood Avens, is an erect perennial herbaceous plant in the rose family, 0.5–1m tall, hairless or Phil Sellens covered in long soft hairs. The 15–30cm long basal leaves are divided into several segments, each segment with irregular lobes, with segments becoming smaller towards the apex of the leaf. Flowers are simple in shape, yellow, petals to 8mm long, with a few flowers at the tip of flowering stems. Fruits consist of many individual ‘seeds’ clustered into a head, each with a hooked purple bristle, the whole seed head forming a burr to aid dispersal. Apparently widespread but uncommon on the coast and Peter O’Connor tablelands. Encountered only twice in Carex Sedgelands on the upper parts of the Namoi Catchment, with only a few plants seen. Native of Australia, Europe and North America. In folklore it was credited with protection against evil spirits and rabid dogs. Modern herbalists use this plant for many ailments including diarrhoea and heart disease.
Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority PAGE 51 WetlandWetland Plants Plants of theof the Namoi Namoi High High Country Country Forb Gonocarpus micranthus Haloragaceae Creeping Raspwort
subsp. micranthus Sarah Hill
subsp. micranthus Lachlan Copeland subsp. ramosissimus Creeping Raspwort is a small herbaceous perennial plant, Adam Gosling branching and usually hairless. Stems form roots at the nodes. Leaves are in opposite pairs at right angles to those above or below on the stems, egg-shaped or circular, to 11mm wide with a rounded or heart-shaped base, the margins thickened with small teeth. Flowerheads are erect or arching, the flowers tiny, red and nodding. Pollen-bearing stamens are prominent. Fruits are egg-shaped, reddish to grey, hairless. Creeping Raspwort grows in moist places in open forests, Montane Peatlands and the margins of Basalt Plateau Lagoons and Carex Sedgelands where the soil is acidic. Creeping Raspwort has two subspecies: subsp. micranthus has narrow flowering stems with no or few branches; plants are usually prostrate to 10cm tall; subsp. ramosissimus has more branched loose inflorescences to 60cm tall. Both subspecies grow on the coast, tablelands and parts of the slopes.
PAGE 52 Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country Forb Gratiola peruviana Scrophulariaceae Austral Brooklime
Lachlan Copeland
John T. Hunter
Austral Brooklime is a perennial herbaceous plant from 30 to 50cm tall. The branching stems sucker at the nodes and lie on the ground with the tips growing upwards or are erect, especially when growing in water. Leaves are in opposite pairs, oval to elliptic to 4.5cm long and about 2cm wide, with toothed edges, stalkless, with the base clasping the stem. Flowers appear singly in leaf angles, on stalks to 12mm long. Flowers are trumpet-like, tubular with five spreading lobes at the top, white to pink with red-purple stripes, the inside of the tube is covered in short hairs. Fruits are dry oval capsules that open along 4 splits releasing numerous seeds. Austral Brooklime is native to Australasia and South America and grows on mudflats in swamps, on stream banks and in water to 50cm deep, surviving on dry ground when water recedes. This species occurs in the eastern parts of the state. In the Namoi high country Austral Brooklime grows mostly in wetter parts of Carex Sedgelands.
Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority PAGE 53 WetlandWetland Plants Plants of theof the Namoi Namoi High High Country Country Forb Haloragis heterophylla Haloragaceae Rough Raspwort
Harry Rose
Harry Rose
Rough Raspwort is a slender erect perennial herbaceous plant to 50cm tall, with rough hooked hairs on four-angled stems, and spreading by underground stems. The leaves are variable (heterophylla means different leaves) and rough, to 3cm long, in opposite pairs at the base and scattered above, narrow with three long lobes or further divided into several long segments. Flowerheads are erect, spike-like with 1–3 red tiny flowers on short stalks at each node. Fruits are small, dry and pear-shaped. Rough Raspwort is widespread in the eastern half of the state and grows in moist areas in a variety of habitats. In the Namoi high country this species grows along creeks, in drainage lines © Marilyn Bull (Gray) and roadside drains and is often common at the upper edges of Carex Sedgelands.
PAGE 54 Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country Forb Hydrocotyle tripartita Apiaceae Pennywort
Harry Rose
Hydrocotyle peduncularis Harry Rose Harry Rose Pennywort is a slender perennial herbaceous plant in the carrot family. This species is prostrate and spreading, rooting at stem nodes and often forms low mats 2–10cm tall. Leaves are circular to kidney-shaped, divided to the base into segments about 10mm long. Segments are lobed, pointed, often with teeth at the edges, and scattered with long straight stiff hairs. Flowerheads are small tight clusters of a few inconspicuous Hydrocotyle peduncularis yellow to red stalkless flowers. Fruits are tiny, to 1mm long, dry, Sarah Hill and split into two parts for dispersal. Pennywort occurs in the eastern third of the state and grows in damp places in forests near streams and on the edges of swamps. In the Namoi high country, Pennywort is commonly seen at the edges of Carex Sedgelands and in the Basalt Plateau Lagoon. Pennywort is one of the species of low meadow vegetation at swamp edges and forms habitat for small aquatic insects and frogs. Hydrocotyle peduncularis is a similar species of forests, with leaves not divided to the base. Occasionally seen at the edges of Carex Sedgelands.
Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority PAGE 55 WetlandWetland Plants Plants of theof the Namoi Namoi High High Country Country Forb Isotoma fluviatilis subsp. borealis Lobeliaceae Swamp Isotome
Graeme Pritchard
Graeme Pritchard
Graeme Pritchard
Swamp Isotome is a prostrate perennial herbaceous plant, often forming dense mats, rooting at the nodes. Leaves are small, alternate on stems, 4–12mm long, oblong or elliptic, usually with a short stalk, edges with small teeth or scalloped. The flowers, solitary in leaf angles on stalks to 4cm long, are white or pale blue, tubular, the tube split down one side, with two upper and three lower lobes. Fruits are dry capsules, narrow, to 6mm long, splitting to release numerous tiny seeds. This subspecies of Swamp Isotome grows in wet places at higher altitudes towards the north of the state. In the Namoi high country this subspecies occurs in Basaltic Lagoons, Montane Peatlands and at the edges of Carex Sedgelands.
PAGE 56 Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country Forb Leiocarpa sp. Uralla Asteraceae Swamp Billy-buttons
Lachlan Copeland
John T. Hunter John T. Hunter
Swamp Billy-buttons is a perennial herbaceous plant in the daisy family. Plants are grey with a covering of dense intertwined hairs. Stems are arching to erect. Hemispherical flowerheads to 15mm wide form on the top of erect stems to 50cm tall, with the typical daisy arrangement of many tightly packed, tiny, bright yellow flowers surrounded by numerous narrow bracts that are grey-green, leaf-like and overlapping. Each flower matures into a tiny narrow ‘seed’ with an umbrella-like pappus of hairs at the top to aid dispersal. This Leiocarpa species is yet to be named and formally described. Known from the Northern Tablelands where it is often abundant in scattered clumps on the margins of wet areas especially but not always of Basalt Plateau Lagoons. Plants can tolerate growing underwater for weeks to months. In the Namoi high country, this species may occur on the edges of Carex Sedgelands.
Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority PAGE 57 WetlandWetland Plants Plants of theof the Namoi Namoi High High Country Country Forb Lycopus australis Lamiaceae Native Gipsywort
John T. Hunter
John T. Hunter
Native Gipsywort, in the mint family, is a perennial herbaceous plant to 1.5m tall. Stems are rigid, grooved and four-sided, strongly erect, rarely branched, arising from creeping but un‑branched underground stems. Aboveground shoots die in winter. Pairs of leaves are arranged in opposite pairs on stems, lance-shaped, edged with regular coarse teeth, and aromatic with glands on undersurfaces. Flowers consist of petals fused Jon Burne into a long tube with four irregular spreading lobes at the top, white, with mauve dots at base of lobes, and with stamens protruding from the tubes. Flowers are in tight stalkless clusters in the angles of upper leaves. Fruits are dry and split into four, one-seeded segments. In winter, the rough-textured remains of flowers persist on dead stems. Native Gipsywort occurs in wet areas on tablelands and slopes, along drainage lines, creek banks, and the edges of dams, often in Carex Sedgelands. It is especially abundant and rather weedy in wet years and where moist areas are disturbed. Stems and shoots of associated species form habitat for frogs and invertebrates, and flowers provide nectar for insects.
PAGE 58 Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country Forb Lysimachia vulgaris var. davurica Myrsinaceae Yellow Loosestrife
John T. Hunter
Jon Burne
Yellow Loosestrife, is an erect perennial herbaceous plant shooting from underground stems and with bright yellow flowers. Yellow Loosestrife is listed as Endangered under the © Hans Hillewaert Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995 (NSW). Stems and leaves are softly hairy; leaves are in pairs or in whorls of 3 or 4 at the same level on the stem, elliptic to spear-shaped, to 9cm long and to 22mm wide. Branched flowerheads develop at the top of stems. Flowers often have minute orange to reddish lines or dots. Fruits are dry capsules splitting from the top into 5 sections with many seeds. Yellow Loosestrife was collected from a Carex Sedgeland in the east of the Namoi high country in 2008. The last recorded occurrence in the north of the state was at Timbarra east of Tenterfield in 1898, with later NSW collections from the Central and Southern Tablelands and near Bega. Yellow Loosestrife is almost certainly dispersed by migratory birds such as Latham’s Snipe, the species establishing briefly but not persisting.
Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority PAGE 59 WetlandWetland Plants Plants of theof the Namoi Namoi High High Country Country Forb Lythrum salicaria Lythraceae Purple Loosestrife
John T. Hunter
Adam Gosling
Adam Gosling
Purple Loosestrife, a perennial herbaceous plant, has erect four-angled stems to 1m tall, and horizontal underground stems. Leaves are narrowly egg-shaped to lance-shaped, leaf bases stem-clasping or rounded, arranged in opposite pairs or in threes. Flowerheads have clusters of 3–5 deep-pink to purple tubular flowers with 5 or 6 spreading lobes in the angles of reduced leaves. Dry capsules split into two parts to release numerous tiny seeds. In winter, the remains of flowers persist on dead stems. Widespread in swampy places or near water, scattered to occasionally common in Carex Sedgelands on tablelands and slopes. Purple Loosestrife, native to Eurasia but introduced to North America and New Zealand, has become a troublesome invasive weed in these countries.
PAGE 60 Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country Forb *Mentha x piperita Lamiaceae Peppermint
John T. Hunter John T. Hunter Peppermint is a hybrid mint, a cross between watermint (Mentha aquatica) and spearmint (Mentha spicata); an introduced perennial plant to 80cm tall spreading along above – or belowground stems. Shoots are erect, often tinged purple and the whole plant is aromatic. Leaves are egg-shaped or narrow egg-shaped with toothed edges and in opposite pairs on the four-angled stems. Leaves and stems are hairless or with a few scattered hairs. Flowerheads develop at the top of stems with dense clusters of small lilac to pink flowers to 8mm long in the angles of reduced leaves. Flowers are tubular with four spreading lobes. As a hybrid, Peppermint produces no seeds and is presumably dispersed by stem fragments. Peppermint is native to Europe and is now widespread in cultivation throughout the world. The species is considered invasive in Australia and naturalised in moist places in eastern NSW. In the Namoi high country, Peppermint occurs occasionally in Carex Sedgelands. Cultivated Peppermint is used widely in the herbal industry for tea and for flavouring foods.
Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority PAGE 61 WetlandWetlandWetland Plants Plants Plants of the ofof the theNamoi Namoi Namoi High High High Country Country Country Forb *Mimulus moschatus Scrophulariaceae Musk Monkey-flower
Jason Hollinger
John Sullivan
Musk Monkey-flower is an introduced perennial herbaceous plant to 30cm tall, spreading by long above – or underground stems. The plant is covered in long soft sticky hairs and said to have a musky scent. Leaves are arranged in opposite pairs, are broadly oval, to 6cm long and 30mm wide, with three veins, pointed tips, a rounded to heart-shaped base and toothed edges. Usually only one flower appears in leaf angles on a stalk to 2cm long. Flowers are yellow, trumpet shaped to 25mm long with fine red lines on the tube and coarse hairs and brown blotches inside the inner parts of the 5 rounded lobes. Fruits are dry oval capsules to 6mm long, splitting to release numerous seeds. Musk Monkey-flower is native to Western North America and has become naturalized in Chile, parts of Europe and in Australia, growing in moist sites in swamps and along streams on the Northern Tablelands. In the Namoi high country this species was seen once in the wetter parts of a Carex Sedgeland.
PAGE 62 Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country Forb Myriophyllum variifolium Haloragaceae Water-milfoil
Adam Gosling
Harry Rose
Water-milfoil is a perennial aquatic herbaceous plant; leaves are arranged in whorls of five, with two distinct leaf forms. Emergent (above the water) leaves are narrow and elongated to 1mm wide and to 15mm long, with smooth margins. Submerged leaves are feathery, much wider than emergent leaves, with each leaf divided into many thin branched and elongated segments. Flowering shoots form above the water surface and wind-pollinated flowers, male or female, occur on the same shoot with a single tiny stalkless flower in each leaf angle. Male flowers are yellow to red with large pollen- Adam Gosling producing anthers; female flowers, no petals, with white, fringed stigmas for trapping pollen. The tiny dry fruits split into four long cylindrical segments. Water-milfoil can survive and flower on damp to drying mud. In deep water, stems are a metre or more long and often form a thick floating mat at the surface. Stems can form roots at the nodes. Widespread and common in the eastern third of the state in a variety of wet places from farm dams to swamps, Basalt Plateau Lagoons, fens and bogs. It can become dominant in high nutrient situations. Provides habitat and food for fish and aquatic invertebrates. Has a large persistent seed bank; Harry Rose seeds are dispersed in mud on the feet of birds.
Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority PAGE 63 WetlandWetland Plants Plants of theof the Namoi Namoi High High Country Country Forb Persicaria decipiens Polygonaceae Slender Knotweed
Lachlan Copeland
Harry Rose
Slender Knotweed is an annual or perennial herbaceous plant, stems erect or sometimes lax to 30cm tall. Leaves are narrow elliptic to lance-shaped to 12cm long, often with a purplish blotch near the middle of leaves, occasionally with scattered dots on the lower surface. Long skin-like sheaths with comb- like bristles wrap around and completely enclose each leaf base Harry Rose and the adjoining stem. Flowerheads are sparsely branched, 2–6cm long, with small clustered stalkless flowers about 2.5mm long. Flowers are pink. The fruits are dry, flattish, lens-shaped, dark brown to black and enclosed in the papery remains of the petals. Slender Knotweed grows in or on the edge of rivers and creeks in the eastern half of the state. Seeds can be an important food source for finches and other birds. Plants were reportedly used as fish poison by Aboriginal people. Similar species: Persicaria lapathifolia (Pale Knotweed) is generally a much more robust plant to 1.8m tall, possibly introduced, with shorter, crowded pink flowerheads and sheaths with no bristles.
PAGE 64 Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country Forb Persicaria hydropiper Polygonaceae Water Pepper
Nic Cobcroft
© Marilyn Bull (Gray)
Lachlan Copeland
Water Pepper is an annual or perennial herbaceous plant to 1.2m tall, stems erect or sometimes drooping. Leaves are narrow egg-shaped, with minute dots, hairy on veins and edges. Long skin-like sheaths wrap around and completely enclose each leaf base and the adjoining stem, comb-like bristles along sheath tops. Flowers are green to white, to 3.5mm long, and scattered along the flowerheads. The fruits are dry, flattish, lens-shaped, dark brown to black and enclosed in the papery remains of the petals. Water Pepper is scattered to common in moist to wet places in the eastern half of the state especially where receding water has exposed bare mud, on the edges of creeks and other wetlands, and on riverine gravel beds. Seeds can be an important food source for finches and other birds. © Marilyn Bull (Gray)
Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority PAGE 65 WetlandWetland Plants Plants of theof the Namoi Namoi High High Country Country Forb *Prunella vulgaris Lamiaceae Self-heal
John Tann
Russell Best http://creativecommons
Self-heal is a small introduced herbaceous plant, a member of the mint family. Branches are horizontal, rooting at the nodes with tips that grow erect. Leaves are oval to 6cm long and 2.5cm wide on short stalks and arranged in opposite pairs. Flowerheads of crowded flowers and small leafy bracts appear at the tip of the erect stems. Flowers are deep purple-blue, tubular, to 12mm long, lobes two-lipped, the lower lip longer than the upper and spoon-shaped. The pollen-bearing stamens protrude to the tip of the lower lip. Self-heal is a native of Europe and temperate Asia and is naturalised and widespread in the eastern parts of the state. This species is usually seen in damp disturbed areas such as roadside drains. In the Namoi high country it also grows at the margins of Carex Sedgelands.
PAGE 66 Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country Forb Ranunculus inundatus Ranunculaceae River Buttercup
John T. Hunter
Nic Cobcroft Nic Cobcroft
River Buttercup is a perennial herbaceous plant, stems erect in water or creeping on mud, rooting at the nodes. Leaves are round in outline, with numerous narrow segments cut almost to the centre. On damp soil leaves are smaller; in water larger with longer thinner segments and float on the water surface. Flowering stems are from 7–30cm tall. Flowers are small to 15mm wide, held above leaves, with 5–7 narrow shining yellow petals. Fruits from a single flower are aggregates of numerous small dry fruits, each with a short narrow bent beak. River Buttercup is an amphibious plant, ie it can grow on the margins of wetlands or in water and like Water-milfoil, is much smaller and more compact on drying mud. This plant occurs
on the coast and tablelands and is common in Basalt Plateau Harry Rose Lagoons but also occasionally seen on the edges of Carex Sedgelands, in dams and in shallow streams.
Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority PAGE 67 WetlandWetland Plants Plants of theof the Namoi Namoi High High Country Country Forb Ranunculus Iappaceus Ranunculaceae Common Buttercup
Ian Sutton
Ian Sutton
Nuytsia@Tas (flickr) © Marilyn Bull (Gray) Common Buttercup is a perennial herbaceous plant to 60cm tall with hairy leaves and stems. Leaves are mostly at the base of the plant with smaller leaves on flower stems. Leaves are triangular to ovate in outline, to 8cm long, and divided or lobed into toothed segments. Flowering stems are erect, usually sparingly branched. Flowers are bright yellow with five petals and to 40mm wide. Each petal has a nectar-secreting structure at its base. Fruits from a single flower are aggregates of many tiny dry hooked fruits. Common Buttercup is widespread in grasslands and forests to 1500m, in the eastern half of the state, growing in damp to dry sites. In the Namoi high country, Common Buttercup often grows in moist soil at the margins of wetlands such as Basalt Plateau Lagoons and Carex Sedgelands. Flowers are pollinated by insects.
PAGE 68 Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country Forb Rumex brownii Polygonaceae Swamp Dock
Giorgia de Nola
David Francis
Swamp Dock, in the dock and sorrel family, is a perennial herbaceous plant to 80cm tall with slender erect elongated stems and a thick, often twisted, taproot. Stems are reddish green, sparingly branched. Plants live for up to five years and often die David Francis down in late summer, forming new leaves the following spring. Leaves form a rosette at soil level, are variable in shape, oblong, spear-shaped or fiddle-shaped, to 12cm long and 4cm wide with a heart-shaped or wedge-shaped base. Smaller leaves are present on lower parts of flowering stems. Flowerheads are open, loosely branched with distant clusters of 5–8 flowers at the same level on the stem. Flowers are inconspicuous and green. Fruits are green maturing to rusty-brown, to 4mm long on a stalk, and consist of seeds encased in flower parts that enlarge and thicken into valves with hooked teeth on each side. Fruits are dispersed Russell Best by adhesion to animal fur. http://creativecommons Swamp Dock is widespread but never common in the eastern two-thirds of the state. It occurs in moist situations, in pastures and beside streams. In the Namoi high country this species grows on stream banks and at the edges of Carex Sedgelands and in damp spots in grassland.
Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority PAGE 69 WetlandWetland Plants Plants of theof the Namoi Namoi High High Country Country Forb *Rumex crispus Polygonaceae Curled Dock
John T. Hunter
John T. Hunter John T. Hunter
Curled Dock, in the dock and sorrel family, is a robust, introduced, erect perennial plant to 1.5m tall, hairless, green when young and reddish-brown when mature with a long tap root. Leaves are smooth with distinctive waved or curled edges, in a basal rosette with much smaller leaves among the flowers. Flowerheads have a few erect branches and are crowded with flowers and fruits. Flowers are small and green to red in colour. Fruits are shiny red-brown and consist of seeds encased in flower Nic Cobcroft parts that enlarge and thicken into large flared valves that float on water. Curled Dock is native to Europe and SW Asia but in places is extremely invasive. In Australia, it is a widespread weed of cultivation, common at wetland edges especially following soil disturbance. Seeds are dispersed on animal fur and on water.
PAGE 70 Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country Forb Stellaria angustifolia Caryophyllaceae Swap Starwort
Adam Gosling
Jon Burne John T. Hunter
Swamp Starwort is a fragile-looking weakly trailing perennial herb, with smooth four-angled stems. Leaves are long and narrow, about 1mm wide, stalkless and attached in pairs opposite each other at the same stem level. Flowering stems have flowers singly or three together on long stalks. Flowers are small, star- shaped and white, to 10mm wide, with five petals split in two to near the base and thus appearing to have 10 petals. Fruits are egg-shaped capsules containing numerous seeds. Swamp Starwort is widespread in NSW and grows in swamps and moist sites, in shallow water or on moist soil with stems scrambling over or intwined with other species. In the upper parts of the Namoi Catchment this species occurs in the small Basalt Plateau Lagoon near Hanging Rock and along creeks and edges of dams. Swamp Starwort is one of the distinctive and key species of Carex Sedgelands.
Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority PAGE 71 WetlandWetland Plants Plants of theof the Namoi Namoi High High Country Country Forb Utricularia dichotoma Lentibulariaceae Fairy Aprons
Nuytasia@Tas (flickr)
Adam Gosling
Fairy Aprons is a slender herbaceous carnivorous plant spreading Dorothy Bell from thread-like creeping underground or underwater stems. Leaves are a clear yellow-green, at first spoon-shaped then long and narrow from 2mm long, and form a rosette at the base, are often overlooked, difficult to see or absent in older plants. Horizontal stems bear tiny (to 2mm wide) oval or rounded bladder-like traps with long hairs; tiny aquatic invertebrates touching the hairs trigger the opening of the trap and are sucked inside under pressure. Flowering stems are erect and un-branched, to 30cm tall, with the relatively large stalked flowers usually in pairs or whorls of three together. Flowers are to 22mm long, two-lipped, the upper lip small, lower lip much larger, dark-violet to purple and kite-shaped with two or three central yellow ridges and a long spur beneath containing nectar. Fruits are dry rounded capsules splitting to release numerous ornamented seeds. Fairy Aprons is widespread in damp places in the eastern third of the state. In the Namoi high country this species grows occasionally at the damp edges of Carex Sedgelands.
PAGE 72 Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country Forb *Verbena bonariensis Verbenaceae Purple Top
Jon Burne
Harry Rose
Purple Top is a tall introduced herbaceous plant, sometimes slightly woody at the base. Stems are four-angled and slightly rough, with side branches, and to 2m tall. Leaves are stalkless, John Tann in opposite pairs at right angles to the pairs below and above, oblong-oval in shape, rough and slightly hairy with a nearly heart-shaped base. Leaf edges have saw-shaped teeth. The large complex flowerheads appear at the tips of long branches. Each flowerhead terminates in cylindrical spikes of reddish, stalkless flowers with purple open flowers at the tips; tips all held at about the same level. Individual flowers are small, tubular with five spreading lobes. Fruit are dry, separating when mature into four one-seeded segments. Purple Top is native to tropical South America, cultivated in gardens elsewhere and introduced to Australia. This species is naturalised and often weedy in the eastern half of the state in pastures, cultivated areas, and roadsides. In the Namoi high country Purple Top is usually a component, if minor, of Carex Sedgelands and appears to tolerate some degree of flooding.
Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority PAGE 73 WetlandWetland Plants Plants of theof the Namoi Namoi High High Country Country Shrub or Tree Callistemon sp. Bendemeer Myrtaceae Bendemeer Bottlebrush
Jon Burne
Lachlan Copeland Lachlan Copeland
Bendemeer Bottlebrush, a newly discovered species known only from a small area about 10km north of Bendemeer, is a neatly rounded shrub to 3m. As with other species in Myrtaceae, the eucalypt family, leaves contain small oil dots and are aromatic when crushed. The narrow lance-shaped leaves are stalked, about 2cm long and 3mm wide, with silky hairs above and beneath with a distinct single midvein and a sharp point at the tip. Flowerheads are the typical broad- cylindrical bottlebrush shape, to 6cm long and 3cm wide, crowded spikes of attractive bright red flowers with long conspicuous protruding stamens. Fruits are dry and woody, rounded, to 3.5mm wide and clustered tightly on the stem; seeds are tiny and chaff-like. Bendemeer Bottlebrush occurs at the edges of a Carex Sedgeland and beside a small stream, possibly both on the same watercourse.
PAGE 74 Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country Shrub or Tree Casuarina cunninghamiana Casuarinaceae River Oak
Ian Sutton
Ian Sutton
River Oak is a tree 15–35m tall with fissured bark, and fine greyish needle-like branchlets either drooping or erect. Leaves are reduced to a ring of tiny scales at the nodes of cylindrical Bidgee ridged branchlets. Flowers are tiny and wind-pollinated; trees are either male or female. Female flowerheads are globular to 1mm wide; female flowers have showy red stigmas. Male flowerheads are long narrow spikes with orange-brown anthers. Female flowerheads develop into a woody ‘cone’, to 10mm wide; seeds are dark and winged for dispersal by wind. River Oak occurs along permanent streams and rivers in the eastern third of the state. Common along the Macdonald River at Bendemeer and in other high country streams. Important for stabilising river banks; seedlings are palatable to stock and often germinate on riverine gravel beds.
Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority PAGE 75 WetlandWetland Plants Plants of theof the Namoi Namoi High High Country Country Shrub or Tree Hakea microcarpa Proteaceae Small-fruit Hakea
John T. Hunter
Lachlan Copeland Adam Gosling Small-fruit Hakea is an untidy small shrub with spreading or upright branches to 2m tall. Leaves are hard and tough, grey‑green, cylindrical to narrowly flat with a prominent midvein, to 5mm wide and to 11cm long. Flowers are clustered, 10–40 together on short stalks in leaf angles, irregular in shape, white to cream, tubular, bent to one side near the tip. Fruits are woody, with a smooth surface, to 17cm long and 8cm wide. Fruits remain on the plant until branches die or are killed by fire then split into two halves and release the twin winged seeds. Small-fruit Hakea growing in swamps is not killed by fire but resprouts from the surviving plant base. Small-fruit Hakea occurs mainly in the tablelands in NSW mostly at higher altitudes and grows in Montane Peatlands, alongside streams, in wet areas in woodlands or even beside roads. In the Namoi Catchment, Small-fruit Hakea grows in peatlands in Nundle State Forest. It is a nectar source for birds and nesting habitat.
PAGE 76 Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country Shrub or Tree Leptospermum polygalifolium Myrtaceae Tantoon
John T. Hunter
Jon Burne
Lachlan Copeland Tantoon, one of the tea-trees, is a shrub or tree usually to 3m tall in the Namoi high country, with firm, soft bark and hairy young stems. Leaves are narrowly elliptic, sometimes aromatic with tiny oil dots, 5–20mm long and 1–5mm wide often with a pointed tip. Flowers are solitary to 15mm wide with greenish white to pink petals held at the top edge of a thick glistening nectar-secreting cup. Fruits are woody, similar to gumnuts, and John T. Hunter split at the top to release numerous chaffy seeds. Tantoon grows in the eastern third of the state on the coast, tablelands and slopes on sandy or basalt derived soils in damp places and along watercourses. In the Namoi high country this species grows along drainage lines and creeks and at the edges of Montane Peatlands and Carex Sedgelands.
Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority PAGE 77 WetlandWetland Plants Plants of theof the Namoi Namoi High High Country Country Fern or Moss Azolla filiculoides Salviniaceae Red Azolla
Red Azolla on a farm dam Jon Burne
Adam Gosling Red Azolla is a small, aquatic, free-floating fern of still or slow-flowing waters. Plants have a short creeping stem, and Azolla pinnata beneath are long fine roots without side branches; individual © Marilyn Bull (Gray) plants are roughly circular in outline, to 2cm wide, and branch freely, breaking into smaller sections as they grow. The tiny fronds (leaves) are in two rows, green or reddish. Colonies of microscopic blue-green algae live in cavities in the leaves, and fix nitrogen from the atmosphere for use by the plant. Red Azolla survives by submerged buds but also produces spores that sink and are retained in the sediment. Red Azolla occurs over most of the eastern part of the state. It has become naturalised in other countries and continents and is sometimes considered invasive. Red Azolla can expand to cover water bodies in only a few months, in winter often covering farm dams with a red ferny floating carpet. This species is not harmful to stock nor does it have a harmful effect on domestic water. Red Azolla is a food source for water birds, fish, snails and insects. Similar species: Azolla pinnata has more regular branches and is triangular in outline; roots have fine side branches.
PAGE 78 Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country Fern or Moss Blechnum nudum Blechnaceae Fishbone Water-fern
Jon Burne
Jon Burne Fishbone Water-fern is a tough densely tufted perennial fern, with a short creeping rhizome (underground stem), sometimes forming a short trunk in older plants. Stalks are shiny black. Sterile (non-spore-bearing) fronds are clustered, elliptic, mid‑green, to 60cm long, divided into oblong segments with wide stalkless bases. Fertile fronds are stiffly erect and segments are narrower and shorter than on sterile fronds. Spores are released from along the edges of the frond Jon Burne segments. Fishbone Water-fern only occurs on the coast and tablelands in NSW, and is abundant in ferny gullies, boggy places, rainforest and often forms large colonies on creek banks. In the Namoi high country, this species is common in streamside Montane Peatlands in Hanging Rock State Forest. It provides habitat for insects.
Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority PAGE 79 WetlandWetland Plants Plants of theof the Namoi Namoi High High Country Country Fern or Moss Sphagnum cristatum Sphagnaceae Sphagnum Moss
Graeme Pritchard
Adam Gosling Graeme Pritchard
Sphagnum Moss is a small slow-growing plant, pale to brownish-green in colour or occasionally reddish, with shoots to 30cm long that form dense mats on damp soil, at the base of other plants and even envelope other low-growing plants. Sphagnum Mosses grow in areas with high rainfall and low temperatures or where drainage is poor. Sphagnum Moss acts like a sponge, retaining water and maintaining the surrounding water in an acidic state slowing the breakdown of dead plant material. Dead moss accumulates resulting in the formation of peat, although most of the peat in peatlands in Australia is derived from sedges. Sphagnum Moss is a distinctive feature of Montane Peatlands. In the Namoi high country, Sphagnum Moss occurs in peatlands in the southeast, especially in Hanging Rock State Forest.
PAGE 80 Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country Woody Weeds
Woody Weeds
Blackberry Flower John Tann
Blackberries in a Carex Sedgeland John T. Hunter
Water-dependent woody weeds can be common along streams and in Carex Sedgelands in the Namoi high country. A variety of introduced woody trees and shrubs occur along streams in the Namoi high country and include Weeping Willow (*Salix Weeping Willow babylonica), White Willow (*Salix alba), both Large Leaved Darren Ryder Privet (*Ligustrum lucidum) and Small Leaved Privet (*Ligustrum sinense), wild plum and peach trees (*Prunus spp.). Despite control measures almost every Carex Sedgeland in the Namoi high country has at least one blackberry plant (*Rubus anglocandicans). Blackberries probably germinate and establish on drier clumps of Carex and from then on appear to tolerate wet feet. Landholders usually spray to control blackberries but the sedgeland in the main photograph was burned to kill the blackberries soon after this photograph was taken. Although burning should not kill the three Carex species, as these resprout from their protected underground stems, burning may be considered a threat for these Endangered Ecological Communities since it risks a reduction in species diversity. Not all species of Carex Sedgelands may survive fire and in fact smaller herbs such as Native Geranium and Swamp Starwort may be killed by fire.
Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority PAGE 81 Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country Glossary Annual: Plants that complete their life cycle in one season. Anther: The structure of the flower that contains the pollen. Usually held at the tip of a long stalk (filament). Awn: A bristle attached to parts of grass florets (flowers) and involved in dispersal. Base: The lowest or lower part of a leaf, leaf blade, stem or plant. Leaf bases can have a distinctive shape where they join the stalk e.g. heart-shaped or wedge-shaped. The base of a stem can be distinctive e.g. leaves may only occur at the base of a plant. Biennial: Plants that take up to two growing seasons to complete their life cycles, usually flowering in the second season. Blade: The expanded part of a leaf. In grasses, rushes, sedges and other grass-like plants, the blade is usually attached to a sheath. Bract: A modified leaf or scale, often small and often with a flower or branch in its angle. Bristle: A short stiff hair. Capsule: A dry fruit that splits in various ways to release seeds. Dots: Tiny dots on a leaf or stem surface, usually glands, often secreting substances such as the aromatic oil of bottlebrushes and eucalypts, sometimes visible to the naked eye if held up to the light. Egg-shaped: An oval shape similar to the outline of an egg usually 2–3 times longer than wide and widest near the base. Sometimes called ovate. Elliptical: Having the shape of an ellipse, similar to egg-shaped but broadest at the middle. Floret: The small flower, stalkless, of a spikelet in grasses or sedges, and wind-pollinated, with feathery stigmas and large anthers containing copious amounts of pollen. Flowerhead: The region of a branch or stem where the flowers are. Flowerheads may be crowded and globular, or flowers arranged along a single length of stem or along several branches. Also called seedhead or inflorescence. Fruit: The structure in flowering plants that contains seeds. After fertilization the ovary develops into the fruit. Can be fleshy (as in a berry) or dry. Head: A dense cluster of usually stalkless flowers, often globular or rounded. Herbaceous: Non-woody plants. Some herbaceous plants can become woody at the base. Invertebrates: Animals with backbones. Invertebrates of aquatic and moist places include insects such as dragonflies, mayflies and caddis flies, snails, spiders, earthworms and leeches. Leaflet: One of the segments of a leaf, often with a stalk.
PAGE 82 Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country Glossary Ligule: A membrane or rim of hairs on the inner surface of a grass leaf at the junction of the blade and the sheath, often useful for identification. Some sedges also have ligules. Node: The level on a stem where one or more leaves arise; sometimes call the joint, sometimes swollen or with a scar or ridge. Nuts: A fruit that is dry, contains only one seed and doesn’t split before dispersal. Opposite pairs: Refers to a pair of leaves that are held opposite each other at the same level on the stem. Ovary: That part of the flower containing the ovules which, after fertilization, develop into seeds. Pappus: Appendages such as scales, bristles or feathery hairs at the top of the fruit of plants in the daisy family; often aids dispersal by wind. Perennial: Plants that live for more than two years. Rhizome: A below ground horizontal stem, often thick and starchy. Rosette: A radiating cluster of leaves, usually close to the ground at the base of the plant. Sheath: The base of a grass or grass-like leaf; a leafy or membranous structure that surrounds the stem and to which the leaf blade is attached. In Cyperaceae the sheath is closed i.e. completely tubular. In grasses the sheath is open, i.e. the edges are folded over each other. Spike: A flowerhead where the flowers or spikelets on the flowering stem are without stalks. Spikelet: The basic unit of the flowerhead in grasses and sedges. The spikelet consists of a short stem bearing bracts most of which contain a small flower (floret). Stamen: One of the male parts of a flower, usually consisting of a pollen-filled anther at the end of a long filament. Stigma: That structure in the female part of the flower that is receptive to pollen, is sticky or feathery and generally on the end of a long style. Style: The stalk between the stigma and the ovary. Vein: A line or ridge on leaves which contain the vessels that conduct water, sugars and minerals throughout the leaf. The midvein is the vein in the centre of the leaf. Whorl: A ring of leaves or other plant parts (three or more), attached at the same level on a stem. Wind-pollinated: Refers to flowers that are usually not showy or colourful but inconspicuous with large anthers on long flexible stalks (filaments) that can be blown about on the breeze. The pollen‑gathering structure, the stigma, is feathery and sticky to pick up as many wind-borne pollen grains as possible.
Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority PAGE 83 Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country
Further Reading: Aston, H. I. (1977) Aquatic Plants of Australia. Melbourne Univ. Press. Jacobs, S. W. L., Whalley, R. D. B. & Wheeler, D. J. B. (2011) Grasses of New South Wales (4th Edition). University of New England, Armidale. PlantNET (2012) New South Wales Flora Online. Searches available at http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/search/simple.htm Sainty, G. R. & Jacobs, S. W. L. (1994) Waterplants of New South Wales. Water Resources Commission, Sydney
PAGE 84 Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country Index
Alisma plantago-aquatica 35 Creeping Raspwort 52 Austral Brooklime 53 Curled Dock 70 Austral Rush 24 *Cyperus eragrostis 11 Azolla filiculoides 78 Cyperus sphaeroideus 12 Baloskion stenocoleum 36 Dietrich’s Spikerush 14 Bendemeer Bottlebrush 74 Drain Flatsedge 11 Black-stemmed Rush 23 Eleocharis acuta 13 Blechnum nudum 79 Eleocharis dietrichiana 14 Blunt Pondweed 40 Eleocharis pusilla 15 Bog Bulrush 19 Eleocharis sphacelata 16 Broadleaf Cumbungi 43 Epilobium billardierianum 48 Callistemon sp. Bendemeer 74 subsp. hydrophilum *Callitriche stagnalis 45 Eryngium sp. Little Llangothlin NR 49 Carex appressa 7 Fairy Aprons 72 Carex gaudichaudiana 8 Fen Sedge 8 Carex inversa 9 Fishbone Water-fern 79 Carex sp. Bendemeer 10 Floating Bur-reed 41 Casuarina cunninghamiana 75 Frogmouth 39 Cenchrus alopecuroides 27 Gahnia sieberiana 17 Geranium solanderi var. Centella asiatica 46 50 solanderi *Cirsium vulgare 47 Geum urbanum 51 Club-sedges 18 Golden Weather-grass 37 Common Blown-grass 31 Gonocarpus micranthus 52 Common Bog-rush 21 Gratiola peruviana 53 Common Buttercup 68 Hakea microcarpa 76 Common Paspalum 32 Haloragis heterophylla 54 Common Reed 34 Hemarthria uncinata var. Common Rush 26 28 uncinata Common Spikerush 13 Herb Bennet 51 Common Starwort 45
Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority PAGE 85 Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country Index
*Holcus lanatus 29 Native Gipsywort 58 Hydrocotyle tripartita 55 *Paspalum dilatatum 32 Hypoxis hygrometrica 37 Paspalum distichum 33 Indian Pennywort 46 Pennywort 55 Isachne globosa 30 Peppermint 61 Isolepis spp. 18 Persicaria decipiens 64 Isotoma fluviatilis Persicaria hydropiper 65 56 subsp. borealis Philydrum lanuginosum 39 Juncus alexandri subsp. 23 Phragmites australis 34 melanobasis Potamogeton ochreatus 40 Juncus australis 24 *Prunella vulgaris 66 Juncus fockei 25 Purple Loosestrife 60 Juncus usitatus 26 Purple Top 73 Knob Sedge 9 Ranunculus inundatus 67 Lachnagrostis filiformis 31 Ranunculus lappaceus 68 Ladies’ Tresses 42 Red Azolla 78 Large-headed Clubrush 22 Red-fruit Saw-sedge 17 Leiocarpa sp. Uralla 57 Ribbonweed 44 Leptospermum polygalifolium 77 River Buttercup 67 Lomandra longifolia 38 River Club Rush 20 Lycopus australis 58 River Oak 75 Lysimachia vulgaris var. davurica 59 Robust Willow-herb 48 Lythrum salicaria 60 Rough Raspwort 54 Matgrass 28 Rumex brownii 69 *Mentha X piperita 61 *Rumex crispus 70 *Mimulus moschatus 62 Scented Sedge 12 Musk Monkey-flower 62 Schoenoplectus mucronatus 19 Myriophyllum variifolium 63 Schoenoplectus validus 20 Narrow Cord-rush 36 Schoenus apogon 21 Native Geranium 50 Scirpus polystachyus 22
PAGE 86 Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country
Self-heal 66 Swamp Millet 30 Slender Joint-leaf Rush 25 Swamp Starwort 71 Slender Knotweed 64 Tall Sedge 7 Small Spikerush 15 Tall Spikerush 16 Small-fruit Hakea 76 Tantoon 77 Sparganium subglobosum 41 Two-ranked Sedge 10 Spear Thistle 47 Typha orientalis 43 Sphagnum cristatum 80 Utricularia dichotoma 72 Sphagnum Moss 80 Vallisneria australis 44 Spiny-headed Mat-rush 38 *Verbena bonariensis 73 Spiranthes australis 42 Water Couch 33 Stellaria angustifolia 71 Water Pepper 65 Swamp Billy-buttons 57 Water Plantain 35 Swamp Blue Devil 49 Water-milfoil 63 Swamp Dock 69 Woody Weeds 81 Swamp Foxtail 27 Yellow Loosestrife 59 Swamp Isotome 56 Yorkshire Fog 29
Wetland Plants of the Namoi High Country / Namoi Catchment Management Authority PAGE 87 Namoi Catchment Management Authority Web: www.namoi.cma.nsw.gov.au
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