BEAUTIFUL PLANTS OF EEXCURSION RREPORT -- EEMERALD CCREEK THE TROPICS - TRICHOSANTHES FFALLS,, 1717 JJULY 20162016 PENTAPHYLLA.......................4 Text by Mary Gandini. Photos by Mary Gandini and Rick Wong Rain was predicted but didn’t happen. Clouds prevailed when seven members EXCURSION REPORT - gathered at the picnic area for lunch. Present were Sharon and Rick Wong, CAIRNS SGAP FALLS FOR Coralie Stuart, Val and Graeme Carnie, David and Mary Gandini. With lunch ISABELLA.................................5 and the meeting over we walked the ascending path to the falls. The area was very dry and the granite sand was like ball bearings in places. Mareeba was NOTES FROM green but this area had missed the rain with the grasses (except for Melinis TOWNSVILLE BRANCH......6 repens in full flower) very dry and many annuals gone. GRASSES OF TOWNSILLE......6 Armed with Rob Jago’s 2007 list we attempted to spot as many species as we 1 KEY TO EUCALYPTS...............6 could. In the picnic area there were many Callitris intratropica and Eucalyptus crebra. Ascending the path, Bursaria tenuifolia with its thorny processes was UPCOMING EXCURSION TO common as was Melaleuca viridiflora. Very few species were in flower. Grevillea THE BURRA RANGE, 17-18 parallela, a couple of wattles and Wahlenbergia caryophylloides were exceptions. SEPTEMBER............................6 As Mary’s brain got into gear we recognised more species but, as Rob’s list WHAT'S HAPPENING.........7 used new family names for some, it was a case of page flipping to tick the list. CAIRNS BRANCH ..........7 1 Editor's Note - There's been ongoing debate about the status of the Emerald TABLELANDS BRANCH....7 Creek Callitris. The leaves, cones and preferred habitat differ from the usual TOWNSVILLE BRANCH....7 Callitris intratropica - notice how the Emerald Creek population grows right on the creek, where most C. intratropica grow on dry hills. The resolution to this debate awaits someone with the time and enthusiasm to sort it out. The large trees with the red leaves HEMEROCALLIDACEAE LECYTHIDIACEAE were Blepharocarya involucrigera Dianella caerulea var. vennata Planchonia careya (Rose butternut). Some Planchonia careya also presented red leaves. PANDANACEAE MALVACEAE Pandanus cookii Grewia retusifolia Hakea persiehana had produced one large capsule, Grevillea glauca POACEAE MORACEAE had many “clothes pegs” and *Melinis repens Ficus rubiginosa forma rubiginosa Ficus rubiginosa forma rubiginosa MYRTACEAE near the waterfall was in fruit. The Eudicots Corymbia erythrophloia small Phyllanthus ? [possibly Phyllanthus fuernrohrii] and ACANTHACEAE Haemodorum coccineum along the way also had many small fruits. Canarium australianum var australianum and Corymbia erythrophloia (with red and brown bark) were distinct trees on the side of the path. Red fungus adorned the branches of Sersalisia Eucalyptus crebra (narrow-leaved sericea. The falls had a good flow ironbark) in spite of the dryness of the Rostellularia adscendens Lophostemon grandiflorus surrounds. No ferns were APOCYNACEAE Melaleuca viridiflora observed. Below are the plants we ticked on Rob’s list in alphabetical PHYLLANTHACEAE order. Breynia cernua Emerald Creek Falls species list Compiled by Mary Gandini and Alyxia spicata Rob Jago. Names and families Hoya australis subsp. tenuipes used here follow those listed in the Australian Plant Name Index BIGNONIACEAE biodiversity.org.au/nsl/ Dolichandrone heterophylla services/apni). Species marked BURSERACEAE with an asterisk (*) are exotic. Canarium australianum var. australianum Conifers CAMPANULACEAE CUPRESSACEAE Wahlenbergia caryophylloides Callitris intratropica CASUARAINACEAE Phyllanthus fuernrohrii. Casuarina sp. Monocots PITTOSPORACEAE FABACEAE Bursaria incana ASPARAGACEAE Acacia bidwillii Busaria tenuifolia Lomandra multiflora Jacksonia thesioides HAEMODORACEAE *Stylosanthes scabra PROTEACEAE Haemodorum coccineum Tephrosia sp. Grevillea glauca SGAP Cairns Branch Newsletter 2 Trichosanthes pentaphylla is BBEAUTIFUL “a vigorous climber with stems to 6m or more long... PPLANTS OF THE endemic to NE Qld”. The fruit was ovoid, measuring TTROPICS -- 80 mm x 55 mm with a Grevillea parallella smooth red surface – easy to Hakea persiehania TTRICHOSANTHES spot in a tree when ripe. The Persoonia falcata PENTAPHYLLA flowers only last half a day SANTALACEAE but are said to be attractive Don Lawie Exocarpos latifolius and there must be plenty of Santalum lanceolatum While Pauline was crossing pollinators, judging by the SAPINDACEAE the flooded Russell River on vine that Pauline found. The Dodonaea lanceolata Monday 22 May, a fruiting seeds are embedded in a SAPOTACEAE vine caught her eye: two dark pulpy mess which was Sersalisia sericea strings of large, bright red difficult to remove. I soaked most of the plentiful seeds THYMELEACEAE fruit hung down almost to the flood water surface, each overnight, after several string a couple of metres or changes of water, and will more long and loaded with plant them in a seed raising fruit. She picked a specimen mix. to bring home and when we got out the books found that the fruit was illustrated on the covers of Cooper’s “Australian Rainforest Fruits” Pimelea sericostachya and Jones’s “Climbing Plants”. Others I spread on dry cardboard without cleaning and will plant the cardboard as is. A third lot of seed I left in each of the cut halves of the fruit and filled with mix then put out in a warm shady spot, covered to deter Eastern Yellow Robin (not a plant) rats etc. I hope to get a host of young vines – if I do I’ll share them with fellow Sgapper’s –will report results next month. SGAP Cairns Branch Newsletter 3 track and Stuart pointed out a vigorous growth of a XCURSION small specimen of one of the Climbing Fig, Ficus EEXCURSION Native Grapes, Cissus hastata, pantoniana which had caused RREPORT -- CCAIRNS which on close inspection had the collapse of its host tree. several distinctive features : The Fig vine was fruiting SGAPSGAP FFALLS FOR the leaf base was as expected copiously and will be a feast a broad hastate shape, the for figivores when the fruit IISABELLA stem was not smoothly ripen. The track followed the Don Lawie cylindrical but ribbed. With a creek bank for a while then petered out in a line of From the files - an rocks which formed a upublished report from series of little cascades 21 February 2016. which will be a real Q: What do Cairns waterfall when our SGAPPER’S do when delayed wet season the temperature is 38 arrives. degrees? Feature plant of the day A: Find a shady was a rare sight: One, rainforest creek with a two and then a clump of trickling waterfall and the Cinnamon Orchid pretend that we are on Corymborkis veratrifolia in a Botanical fact- flower. This is a finding expedition terrestrial orchid usually We had a good roll-up found in the vicinity of a for our first outing of creek bank, but I had the year and it was never before seen them good to catchup with in flower. The plants grow to about a metre in old friends after the conjuror’s flourish, Stuart height and the flowers were a break. Lunch in a shady spot inverted a leaf and we were delight to see for the first was accompanied by finds of treated to an unexpected, time. The cinnamon perfume some interesting trackside pretty dark red underside of of the flowers was not plants. A small Argyrodendrun the lamina. Cissus vines apparent and I suspect that it trifoliolatum, Brown Tulip produce a round purple fruit, may arise at dawn or dusk Oak, must have mature very similar in appearance to when pollinators are likely to cousins nearby since the a grape, reputedly edible but be on the wing. winged “helicopter” fruit not very palatable. Experts were plentiful in the are said to be able to identify So, another SGAP expedition waterholes. These light fruit a Cissus species by the degree to enable us to admire and when thrown into the air of unpalatibility. (That’s not understand our forest come spiralling down -as Ing exactly what Stu said, but I surrounds; next meeting is demonstrated to his delighted won’t spoil a good anecdote). the AGM and members will young son. again be lobbying fiercely for A small clearing appeared to positions of influence. Some small vines lined the have been made by a too- SGAP Cairns Branch Newsletter 4 This travelling seriously reduced Upcoming our ‘plant’ time and as most of NNOTES FROM Excursion to these areas are new to us we have decided to have a weekend trip in TTOWNSVILLE the Burra September to accomplish some Range, 17-18 more exploration, particularly on BBRANCH Range, 17-18 what looks like an interesting September track to Torrens Creek over the sandstone. And there are plenty of John Elliott advises: Grasses of other sites to explore if anyone Townsille Townsville Native Plants wants to stay longer, for instance Queensland had a good outing a Poison Valley. Nanette Hooker says her book, few weeks ago, and are pleased to Attached is an map of our “Grasses of Townsville” is at report that the Burra Range is in proposed trip in the park and also http://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/4 good shape [after some quite full details of where and when. 4143/ devastating recent bushfires], Please pass all this on to having had some rain, and is well It is freely available. whomever might be interested. I on the mend. will send the details separately to We took advantage of some of the the Tablelands branch. Key to Eucalypts new tracks that Queensland For more information, John can be MESSAGE FROM DR BETSY National Parks have blazed, contacted directly by email: JACKES particularly along the fence lines and ended up driving 45kms in [email protected] Euclid is now available online - the park in a large loop. We found preliminary version only. Acacia gnidium which none of our http://keyserver.lucidcentral.org:8 group had spied before, and 080/euclid/player.jsp?keyId=2 Hardbergia perbrevidens in great profusion (see http://sgaptownsville.org.au/Hard enbergia-perbrevidens.html) SGAP Cairns Branch Newsletter 5 WWHAT''S HHAPPENING Cairns Branch Tablelands Branch Townsville Branch Meetings and excursions on the Meetings on the 4th Wednesday Meets on the 2nd Wednesday of 3rd Sunday of the month.