Society for Growing Australian Plants Cairns Branch Newsletter 149-150 May-June 2015 In this issue... EXCURSION REPORT – APRIL 2015...................................2 HERBERTON POWER LINE SPECIES LIST.................4 VALE ANN RADKE...............4 LILIAN SUZETTE GIBBS – AN EARLY ASCENT OF MT BELLENDEN KER..................5 WHAT'S HAPPENING...........8 CAIRNS BRANCH ...........8 TABLELANDS BRANCH......8 TOWNSVILLE BRANCH......8 EXCURSION REPORT – APRIL 2015 Stuart Worboys Far north Queensland is blessed with a vast diversity of habitats, with a rich and diverse flora to match. From high mountains to coastal mangroves, desert-like sand dunes to rich basaltic soils, rivers to lakes and swamps, we can boast the richest and most diverse flora in the nation. We tend to be more enamoured of our coastal and tablelands rainforests than of the habitats further inland. Only naturally – what is closest to home is also closest to our hearts. But for us coastal people, explorations just a little further inland can be extremely rewarding. The landscape to the west of Herberton has been a popular excursion site for SGAP Tablelands for many years. But sad to say, SGAP Cairns has not made the trip often enough in recent years. The rugged rolling hills between Herberton and Petford here are home to a tough but beautiful flora, including several rare and restricted species (Australia's only purple wattle, Acacia atropurpurea is one famous example). April's excursion took us to one of the highest accessible points in the hills to see what was in flower. We were well rewarded. Immediately to the west of Herberton, the hills rise to well over a thousand metres. A combination of cool upland climate, low but reliable rainfall and really crappy soils provide conditions ideal for an almost temperate zone heathland flora – with peas, lilies, ground orchids, tea-trees and guinea flowers more reminiscent of the flora of southern Australia than the tropics. It's this flora that Coralie and I down a name for this mystery many in full flower, with bees, set out to explore on a fine plant – Laxmannia gracilis. flies and wasps buzzing sunny Sunday. excitedly around the sweet Coralie parked her car where nectar rewards. the Powerlink high voltage Further along, the track took a powerlines cross the sharp right turn and headed Herberton-Petford Road, and steeply downhill. Attractively we toddled off down the rough gnarled Eucalyptus shirleyi, no gravel track that provides more than four metres high, maintenance access to the dominated the vegetation, and lines. A broad swathe of the at their bases grew the native powerline corridor is kept free pea Mirbelia speciosa subsp. of trees – a benefit for those of ringrosei showing off their us looking for weird and stunning purple flowers. At wonderful things amongst the the bottom of the gully, a tiny grasses and subshrubs of the trickle of water was still ground layer. Utricularia caerulea - a delicate running over rocks and little carnivore waterfalls. A few handsome cypress-pines (Callitris Seepages along the track intratropica) grew in the gully. provided moist homes for In moist patches on the rocks, some tiny but delicately we caught rock violets (Boea coloured bladerworts hygroscopica ) at the very end (Utricularia caerulea). Thick of their season. Our final find grass, mostly kangaroo grass for the day was a prickly little (Themeda triandra) provided shrub of the heath family, as Eye catching coral fungus shelter for the lovely ground yet unnamed: Astroloma sp. orchid, Diuris oporina, which Baal Gammon. We were greeted at the start of is known only from the the walk by some handsome woodlands on the western edge Gympie Messmates of the Wet Tropics. (Eucalyptus cloeziana). Hiding amongst the grasses, Coralie spotted a fluorescent orange coral fungus. Further on, our eyes were caught by bright patches of red around flat rocky outcrops. These turned out to be the massed tiny flowers of Gonocarpus Astroloma sp. Baal Gammon acanthocarpus, an attractive perennial herb. In poorer soils along the road grew tufts of an Our explorations over, it was insignificant grass-like plant – time to turn around and head common but far from eye back up the hill. We returned catching. One of these tufts to the car sweaty and well surprised me by having a Diuris oporina - a donkey orchid exercised, and very pleased small, almost colourless, three- with the sights of the day. petalled flower. This one Grass trees (Xanthorrhoea flower enabled me to track johnsonii) were everywhere, 3 Herberton Power GESNERIACEAE ALE NN Line Species List Boea hygroscopica V A * indicates an introduced species. RADKE Gymnosperms Mary Gandini Ann Radke from Yuruga Native CUPRESSACEAE Callitris intratropica Plant Nursery lost her battle with Monocots cancer on April 29th. Her funeral was held on Tuesday BORYACEAE May 6th at Atherton. It was a very Borya septentrionalis moving service attended by family, LAXMANNIACEAE friends and many people whose Laxmannia gracilis lives had been touched by Ann. Boea hygroscopica – Rock Violet HALORAGACEAE Gonocarpus acanthocarpus LENTIBULARIACEAE Utricularia caeurlea MYRTACEAE Corymbia citriodora Eucalyptus cloeziana Eucalyptus mediocris Eucalyptus shirleyi Lophostemon suaveolens Melaleuca borealis Melaleuca viminalis The tiny flower of Laxmannia PICRODENDRACEAE gracilis Petalostigma pubescens RHAMNACEAE Ann Radke with husband Peter. ORCHIDACEAE Cryptandra debilis Diuris oporina POACEAE The many eulogies revealed not Mnesithea rottboelioides only a loving wife, mother, Themeda triandra grandmother and friend, but also a *Urochloa mosambicensis very talented person, a first class XANTHORRHOEACEAE honours student and an excellent Xanthorrhoea johnsonii business woman- someone who Eudicots readily shared her knowledge. ASTERACEAE Ann, together with husband Peter, Coronidium newcastlianum was instrumental in forming both Xerochrysum bracteatum Tablelands and Cairns branches of CASUARINACEAE Society for Growing Australian Allocasuarina inophloia Plants. They were very active in Allocasuarina torulosa growing and promoting the use of native Australian plants and, with DILLENIACEAE Hibbertia longifolia the establishment of Yuruga Nursery, provided a source for DROSERACEAE Cryptandra debilis, a tiny subshrub gardeners to obtain desirable Drosera peltata species for home planting and STYLIDIACEAE FABACEAE revegetation. *Chamaecrista rotundifolia Stylidium graminifolium Crotalaria calycina 4 The introduction of clonal production of Eucalyptus for plantations made them well respected around the world. At a time when few knew the names and characteristics of the many plants In our region Ann produced a couple of little booklets with hand drawn illustrations, e.g. Cape Flattery, McIvor River, Irvinebank, and contributed to other publications such as an illustrated reference to many of our Proteaceae. Many plants were discovered, propagated and put into horticulture by Ann and Peter. We send our condolences to Peter and his family. Vale Ann, may you rest in peace. Queensland. I was indebted to him Thursday morning after my arrival, Last year, whilst researching the for a most interesting account of accompanied by Claude, the small work of Eric Mjöberg, I came the fine mixed forest, of which in son of the house, a very across this fascinating paper by present times the heavy rainfall enthusiastic companion, and four L.S. Gibbs. Further investigation permits the development in this natives or "blacks" as they are revealed that L.S. Gibbs was a comparatively small north eastern generally but not very correctly Miss Lilian Suzette Gibbs, a corner of the Australian continent, called, to act as guides and carry talented self funded botanical but which, as Domin rightly states, tent, provisions and possible explorer, who, amongst other feats, "is only a small remainder of a botanical booty. This last, owing to was the first botanist to climb Mt flora spread formerly over large the sterile nature of the granitic Kinabalu. This paper, edited from areas, now mostly sunk under the shallow soil, and consequently volume 55 of the “Journal of sea". limited character of the vegetation, Botany British and Foreign” tells proved very much less than my the story of Miss Gibbs' ascent of As March is the height of the Papuan experiences had led me to Mt Bellenden Ker in March 1914 in summer or rainy season in these anticipate. The altitude of the her own words. parts, it was not considered a very mountain being low, and a break in propitious time for work on In March 1914, proceeding from the fine weather to be expected to Bellenden Ker, all previous ascents Dutch New New Guinea to Sydney any moment, arrangements were having been made in the winter or via Macassar, I stopped at Cairns in made to spend only one night on dry season. The relatively high North Queensland, for the purpose the summit. number of new species obtained is not only of ascending Bellenden possibly attributable to this fact. ...[The] lower slopes of this range Ker, 5400', the highest mountain in [were] quite easy to penetrate. Here the country, but also of spending A spell of fine weather prevailing at the undergrowth consists some weeks at Kuranda, at 1000', the time decided me to proceed at principally of the very general on the Barron River, to enable me once to Harvey's Creek in the endemic tree-fern Alsophila to form some idea of the vegetation Mulgrave valley, the base from rebeccae [Cyathea rebeccae] with in this outlying portion of the which the highest or central peak of entire pinnules, a Macrozamia, and Malayan-Papuan floral region. the Bellenden -Ker range is most the peculiar Bowenia spectabilis in accessible. Here, the enterprising Both these localities had been very young examples, only landlord of the local hotel very visited by Dr. K. Domin, of Prague, showing simple branches like kindly making all arrangements for during his long stay for botano- deltoid fronds in appearance. me, I was enabled to start the geographical work in North . 5 A graceful little palm, Bacularia the character of its vegetation.