Society for Growing Australian Plants Cairns Branch Newsletter 152 July 2015 In this issue... JULY 2015 EXCURSION REPORT - CAIRNS SGAP VISITS GOLDSBOROUGH VALLEY................................1 SGAP EXCURSION - 21 JUNE 2015 .................................3 JARAGUN NURSERY SPECIES LIST............................4 LOWER BABINDA CREEK – RAINFOREST REMNANT SPECIES LIST..................5 BEAUTIFUL PLANTS OF THE WET TROPICS.....................6 LOMANDRA – THE MAT RUSHES ......................................6 WHAT'S HAPPENING...........7 CAIRNS BRANCH ...........7 TABLELANDS BRANCH......7JULY 2015 EXCURSION REPORT - CAIRNS TOWNSVILLE BRANCH......7 SGAP VISITS GOLDSBOROUGH VALLEY Don Lawie A cool crisp winter day, sun shining, beautiful countryside, good company – all the ingredients were there for an enjoyable day out. Goldsborough Valley lies between two spurs of the Bellenden Ker range, runs south to north for about twenty kilometres and is drained by the upper reaches of the Mulgrave River. Formerly a rich source of gold, much of the area is now National Park. Vegetation is mostly tropical rainforest A National Park campground is established about 11 km in from the junction of the road with the Gillies Highway, and we met for lunch at the day use area . Lunch in a sheltered area led to an extended Show and Tell session, with a wide variety of botanical specimens that members had brought in for discussion. Dave Barrow produced a flowering branch of Bancroft’s Quandong Elaeocarpus bancroftii with its softly perfumed, pale cream bell-shaped flowers covering the stem and twigs most attractively. This plant is the floral emblem of Cairns Branch SGAP and so had particular significance to us. A tall rainforest tree, it is not often that one obtains a close-up of the flowers. The fruit has a very hard shell that is usually found gnawed open by the incisors of White Tailed Rats (Uromys caudimaculatus). If a fruit is found intact it takes about a year to germinate – if one is lucky. Dave’s wife Desley ventured out with us today for the first time – Welcome, Desley! Patsy Penny showed a branch of down from the trees in the Quandong (Elaeocarpus Bollywood (Neolitsea dealbata) surrounding forest and make a angustifolius),Poison Peach (Trema bearing numerous small delicious olfactory end to the day. orientalis), and Cairns Pencil Cedar inflorescences of tiny (Palaquium galactoxylum) flowers. This plant is fairly among many others. common, but I had never Boyd told us that he had previously seen it in flower. been working on the Cairns The leaves have conspicuous Pencil Cedar title and had veins and the underside is a found 12 quite different curious dirty white colour species with that name. which gives rise the species Regardless of name, the name which means timber is a beautiful flame “whitewashed”. The plant colour and works easily for a grows abundantly along the craftsman to make items of upper Gillies Range and is beauty. I have a Palaquium conspicuous at this time of that I grew from a seed year with masses of soft collected from this area velvety new leaves. about 25 years ago. It is Both Dave and Patsy had shooting for the sky and other interesting items to already commencing to show and discuss and we all produce the distinctive joined in to pool our rocket fin buttresses . collective knowledge. The forest floor is a mass of We set off on the 1.7 km fallen leaves, sticks and old rainforest walk to Kearney’s logs, well turned over by the Falls; the track is well Scrub Fowl (Megapodius defined and cared for by reinwardt), though we only NPWS with handrails and Zanthoxylum nitidum - Cat's Claw Vine saw one, old, nesting mound. strong steps in the steeper Kearney’s Falls are well places. The entrance was a worth the walk as they mass of vines – Merremia peltata, We strolled along the track, slither down the sloping granite Faradaya splendida (October identifying and discussing face in a mass of lacy spray. There Glory), and masses of separate numerous plants which ranged is a viewing platform where the plants of male and female Clematis from the scrambler Pothos longipes falls are framed by the leaves of a glycinoides (now C.pickeringii) with its leaf blade which extends tree which I did not I.D. but which climbing into the trees in masses of into a leaf-like flattened stem (to bore an extensive colony of flower. Male flowers are small and miniscule Dendrobium prenticei grow in chains that resemble bridal orchids – too high for us to tresses. The female flowers are appreciate the small yolk-yellow almost head size, fluffy and creamy flowers. coloured. They can be used to cure Few orchid species were seen for a headache by plunging one’s face the day, but there were more into the mass of flower – Rob says Cinnamon orchids (Corymborkis that is similar to a sudden veratrifolia) than I have ever seen inhalation of smelling salts. before; every few metres, on either A large Ylang Ylang (Cananga side of the track, were metre high odorata) tree grew adjacent to the spindly dark green plants, some toilet block and had a few bunches bearing fat fruit as proof of last of the curious, strap shaped butter Dendrobium prenticei (source summer’s flowering. By Christmas yellow flowers. The flowers are Dale and Deni Borders via time this walk will be a cinnamon highly perfumed, the species is orchidspecies.com/ perfumed delight as the orchids widespread in the tropics. They are denprenticei.htm) come into flower. It would be a plantation-grown in Malaysia as a obtain extra light) shaped just like a perfect place for a woodland source of the rich Ylang Ylang candle flame, to majestic Lords of wedding with a picturesque set of perfume. At our home, late on a the forest such as Spur Mahogany steps leading to a great granite summer day the perfume drifts (Dysoxylum pettigrewianum), Blue boulder... SGAP Cairns Branch Newsletter 2 The rainforest is Beauty and the costata) and blue thunbergia vine Beast country: if the Cinnamon (Thunbergia grandiflora) from the Orchids are Beauty, a definite Beast SGAP Russell River National Park, and re- lurks nearby. Zanthoxylum nitidum planting the disturbed areas with is one of the most confronting vines locally provenanced plants. I have seen, even rivalling Nicker EXCURSION - 21 Chosen species for re-planting will Nut (Caesalpinia bonduc) for its lean heavily in favour of cassowary confronting size and weapons. JUNE 2015 food plants in the hope of re- Zanthoxylum grows to 30 metres in energising the local, dwindling length with stems up to 40 mm across, with large corky spikes , population of the endangered bird. each tipped with a needle-sharp VISIT TO Cairns Branch of SGAP was invited brittle thorn, all over the stem. I to inspect the Jaragun plant foolishly tested the tip for JARAGUN RE- nursery at Gordonvale, then visit sharpness and was rewarded with a the re-vegetation site on the south bloody fingertip. EGETATION bank of lower Babinda Creek. The return walk was faster – for a V Jaragun directors Dennis and Liz SGAP walk, but we had to pause made us very welcome on a damp for Rob to expound on a fruiting SITE day and gave us a run-down on and flowering Pseuduvaria Don Lawie their achievements so far. Their mulgraveana subsp. mulgraveana. propagation unit, based on two Jaragun is a fairly new natural (shown on the front page). This well set-up shade houses and resource management small tree is only found in a small overflowing into the residence, organisation in the Wet Tropics. part of the Mulgrave-Russell River was close to mind-boggling; Started about ten years ago by Liz Valley and is remarkable for its Styrofoam boxes by the dozen flower and fruit. The flowers are Owen and Dennis Ah Kee, Jaragun were filled with propagating mix axillary and solitary, quite small, is supported by grants and its and their surfaces had dozens of and give rise to a cluster of fruits – associated charity, the Wet Tropics seeds of plants such as cassowary up to 15 – because the flower has Biodiversity Foundation. They've plum (Cerbera floribunda), an “apocarpous gynoecium”. (I employed several indigenous Onionwood (Syzygium alliiligneum) confess that I had to look that up in rangers, and have with some and an array of other, mostly my ancient textbook, so modern impressive aims: they are working cassowary food. Advanced terminology may differ). towards eradicating the invasive seedlings were bagged in a very aqautic glush weed1 (Hygrophila We lingered for coffee and chat but interesting mix, based on the day was fading and the cool vermiculite, which looked as night was approaching so we made though the plants could not help our farewells until next month. but thrive. Not a weed was in sight. Glush weed (Hygrophila costata) – a new and serious weed of the Russell River. Source: www.noosanativeplants.com.au 1 Named in ironic honour of the late John “Gary” Lush, who is reported to have released the species into the wild.. SGAP Cairns Branch Newsletter 3 We drove to Babinda to inspect a adjoins a massive drain which was sufficiently to suppress weed site where WTBF are working, and formerly Niringa or Cope Creek, germination. An intriguing, and I paused for lunch at Rotary think very effective way to Park beside Babinda Creek. protect the young plants, was The park is at this time of the pinning of a square of year filled with travellers felt-like material about 30 cm from southern states square around the stem of escaping from winter. The each seedling. The site is park is a free camping, subject to flooding several Cairns Regional Council - times a year and these mats controlled area with coin should assist in anchoring the in the slot hot showers, plant.