TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword iv printng informaton Acknowledgements vi Introducton 2 Using the Book 3 Scope 4 Focus Area Reserve Locatons 5 Ground Dwellers 7 Creepers And Twiners 129 Small Shrubs 143 Medium Shrubs 179 Large Shrubs 218 Trees 238 Water Lovers 257 Grasses 273 Appendix A 290 Appendix B 293 Resources 300 Glossary 301 Index 303 ii iii Ground Dwellers Ground dwellers usually have a non-woody stem with most of the plant at ground level They sometmes have a die back period over summer or are annuals They are usually less than 1 metre high, provide habitat and play an important role in preventng soil erosion Goodenia blackiana, Kennedia prostrata, Glossodia major, Scaevola albida, Arthropodium strictum, Gonocarpus tetragynus Caesia calliantha 4 5 Bulbine bulbosa Bulbine-lily Tricoryne elator Yellow Rush-lily Asphodel Family ASPHODELACEAE Day Lily Family HEMEROCALLIDACEAE LILIACEAE LILIACEAE bul-BINE (bul-BEE-nee) bul-bohs-uh Meaning: Bulbine – bulb, bulbosa – bulbous triek-uhr-IEN-ee ee-LAHT-ee-or Meaning: Tricoryne – three, club shaped, elator – taller General descripton A small perennial lily with smooth bright-green leaves and General descripton Ofen inconspicuous, this erect branched plant has fne, yellow fowers wiry stems and bears small clusters of yellow star-like fowers at the tps Some Specifc features Plants regenerate annually from a tuber to form a tall longish leaves present at the base of the plant and up the stem stem from a base of feshy bright-green Specifc features Six petaled fowers are usually more than 1 cm across, with a channelled, cylindrical leaves The fowers green tnge on the outside Flowers have 6 fne yellow tufs on the stamens At have 6 yellow petals with a prominent fowering tme the stems are almost leafess Flowers form a striped twist at end bright-green mid vein The fruit is a capsule of fowering about 6 mm in diameter Size 20-40 cm Size To about 50 cm tall Community Heath and grassy woodland Community Natve grasslands and open Flowering tme Late spring and summer woodland Special interest Occasionally scented Flowering tme Spring Sometmes found growing within and Special interest Tubers eaten by Aboriginal supported by another plant Seed people capsules are very small and oval shaped Abundance Common Abundance Common Well represented at Para Wirra CP but Well represented at Hale CP but widespread widespread Similar species Bulbine semibarbata Similar species Tricoryne tenella Small Annual Bulbine-lily grows much more Yellow Rush-lily with striated stems vigorously, with its smaller yellow fowers Bulbine bulbosa (p 6) has a distnct having half of their stamens ‘bearded’ spike of fowers 6 7 Amyema miquelii Box Mistletoe Lysiana exocarpi Harlequin Mistletoe Mistletoe Family LORANTHACEAE Mistletoe Family LORANTHACEAE lie-see-AHN-uh eks-oh-KARP-ee (eye) Meaning: Lysiana – set apart from Loranthus, exocarpi – a-mie-EEM-a meek-EL-ee-eye Meaning: miquelii – afer botanist Miquel outside fruit General descripton A semi-parasitc, drooping plant with red fowers, atached General descripton Spreading semi-parasitc plant with long, fat narrow leaves to branches of trees or shrubs and upright red tubular fowers with green tps Specifc features Grows on host branches from a woody atachment which is Specifc features Atached to host plants ofen sheoaks, sometmes other ofen more visible on dead mistletoes Leaves are similar to the host plant but mistletoes Flowers sometmes yellow tpped with 6 narrow green petals Oval more yellow-green in colour and arranged opposite each other Flowers are fruit red or black when ripe stalked, orange to bright red and dangle in clusters of 3 The fruit is long and Size Depends on age and host plant yellowish Community Various Size Droops in a clump to about 2 m Flowering tme All year Community Woodland and forest Special interest Various host plants Flowering tme All seasons of the year but not Eucalyptus Important bird Special interest Found mostly on food with stcky fruit containing the smooth-barked gums Also grows on seed, excreted and stuck to the branch watles and sheoaks where it may later grow Grows on some Spread by mistletoe birds that feed on non-natve species eg fruit trees Fruit the fruit, then deposit their droppings eaten year round by Aboriginal people with a glue-like substance to the branch Abundance Common Abundance Common Well represented at Sandy Creek CP Well represented at Widespread on but widespread roadsides Similar species Other mistletoe species Similar species Amyema pendulum Drooping Mistletoe mainly found on the which have more open hanging fowers rough bark of Eucalyptus obliqua but is unlikely to be seen in the region except with no, or only a partal tube at Kaiserstuhl CP and the central Hills 8 9 Eutaxia microphylla Common Eutaxia Dillwynia hispida Red Parrot-pea Peas FABACEAE: FABOIDEAE Peas FABACEAE: FABOIDEAE LEGUMINOSAE LEGUMINOSAE yue-TAKS-ee-uh mie-kroh-FIL-uh Meaning: Eutaxia – well-ordered (leaves), microphylla – small leaves dil-WIN-ee-uh HIS-pid-uh Meaning: Dillwynia – afer L. Dillwyn, hispida – with bristly hairs General descripton Variable habit from prostrate forms to an erect shrub to General descripton Small upright shrub with tny leaves and orange-reddish 50 cm tall but in this area, a much-branched low bush with dark-yellow and red pea-fowers on long fne stalks at the tps veined pea-fowers Specifc features Usually with narrow hairy leaves Clusters of 1-5 broad Specifc features Small paired leaves are crowded and close to the stem, usually fowers grow on a thin stalk at the end of branches Fruits are globular pods fatened but appear cylindrical Leaves are smooth with a stf spine on the end of each branch Size To 50 cm Size Ofen to about 50 cm Community Heathy woodland and Community Woodland forest Flowering tme Spring Flowering tme Spring Special interest Caterpillars of the Special interest Easily grown from Fringed Blue Buterfy feed on this seed species As with all hard seeded Abundance Common legumes, the seed coat needs to be cracked before germinaton can Well represented at Kersbrook take place Reserve but widespread Abundance Uncommon Similar species Dillwynia sericea Well represented at Para Wirra Showy Parrot-pea, is hairy with CP (N,C,S) stalkless fowers and found south of Black Hill Similar species Pultenaea have a similar shaped pea-fower and colour but can be distnguished by the brown papery bracts (stpules) at the base of the leaf 10 11 Melicytus angustfolius Tree Violet Goodenia ovata Hop Goodenia Formerly Hymenanthera dentata Violet Family VIOLACEAE Goodenia Family GOODENIACEAE mel-ee-SIET-us an-gust-i-FOH-lee-us Meaning: Melicytus – honey cave (fowers), angustfolius – good-EEN-ee-uh oh-VAHT-uh Meaning: Goodenia – afer Bishop Goodenough, ovata – egg-shaped narrow leaves (leaf) General descripton Variable from low sparse woody plant to more commonly General descripton Sof-stemmed leafy shrub with many yellow fowers up the a bushy shrub with many spiny-tpped branched stems Leaves are small and stem Ofen grows massed in swamps and wet creeklines dull-green Specifc features Stalked bright green leaves are roughly oval or triangular Specifc features Each stem has a pointed tp and leaves in small groups Small shaped with fne serratons along the edges The shiny leaves are thin Flowers yellow to cream cup-shaped fowers from the woody older stems Roundish stalked berries turn purple-black when ripe in February to March Size To 2 m ofen less Size To 2 m Community Creeklines and Community Woodland, grassland gullies Also woodlands and Flowering tme August to October forests with higher rainfall Special interest Commonly growing Flowering tme Mostly beneath red gums from birds excretng spring but throughout the its berry seeds Important shrub for year protecton of small birds such as wrens Special interest This is Ofen seen with lichen growing on it a quick growing species Abundance Uncommon Caterpillar plant food for the Meadow Argus buterfy Well represented at Mt Crawford area but widespread (N,C) Abundance Common Similar species Could be confused with Well represented at Olives* or Boxthorns*, both of which Kersbrook NFR but much have no spiny stem tps more common and widespread in the central and southern Hills Similar species Goodenia amplexans Clasping Goodenia which has large long, stcky heart-shaped leaves which clasp around the stems, and a herby smell 12 13 Melaleuca uncinata Broombush Melaleuca decussata Totem-poles Myrtle Family MYRTACEAE Myrtle Family MYRTACEAE mel-uh-LUEK-uh un-sin-AHT-uh Meaning: Melaleuca – colors of black and white on branches, mel-uh-LUEK-uh dee-kuss-AHT-uh Meaning: Melaleuca – colours of black and white on branches, uncinata – hooked tp (leaf) decussata – leaves opposite each other and at right angles to those above and below General descripton Dense spreading shrub with upright slender branches General descripton Medium to large sized dense shrub with mauve-pink small growing from a woody base Small, pale-yellow botlebrush fowers botlebrush-like fower heads Specifc features Fine needle-like leaves Specifc features Small blue-green leaves arranged in opposite pairs, each pair with a distnct hooked tp Fruit fused facing a diferent directon (decussate) The woody fruits are embedded in the together in clumps along the stem stems, giving the name ‘totem poles’ Size 2-3 m Size Size 1-3 m Community Sandy woodlands Community Creeklines and damp places Flowering tme Spring Flowering tme Late spring and summer Special interest Can grow in dense thickets Special interest The density of this in