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Inside a Fabiaceae Pea Flower

9/5/2023

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There are 29 Fabiaceae species in Foxes Lair and many others in the district. 
They all have five petals whose shape has evolved specifically for pollination by native bees.
  • The large top petal called a banner usually has a differently coloured 'bullseye patch' at its base, which attracts the bee to a nectar gland is. Because bees can see ultraviolet light, the bullseye patch stands out even more for them than for us. For more information see this paper.
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  • ​Below this, two sideways- aligned petals called wings project out as a landing point, and cover the stamens and pistil.
  • Under the stamens and pistil is the keel, which consists of two petals, joined to form a boat - shaped base to stop insects getting at them for below.
This series of images shows the flower parts of a Daviesia as it was progessively dissected
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There is a range of flower sizes, which would fit a number of pollinators, but they are all designed for the bee to land on the flower from the front. The bee's claws push the wings down  and the bee's abdomen contacts the pistil and stamens. Megachile bees have furry tummies, which then collect  pollen.
European honey bees don't play by the rules. They often steal nectar from the side of the flower. I recently saw honey bees chewing into Daviesia flowers before they had opened. The bees destroyed flowers and ate the pollen. With their overwhelming numbers, they reduce pollination and native bee numbers.
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Megachile bee approaching from front
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Megachile bee rubbing stomach on anthers
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Honey bee stealing nectar
Kennedia prostrata (Running Postman) is an oddity, and one of the first plants to recolonise in the season following a bushfire.
The plant can form cluster roots  enables it to extract phosphorus from organic souces such as charcoal.
The large red flower is designed for bird pollination, presumably because birds colonise burnt areas before insects. Unlike other pea flowers,the wings don't cover the keel allowing a honeyeater to accurately place its beak  to get nectar and pollinate the flower.
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Large red upright flowers
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Stamens and pistil inside the keel
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Rapid growth after fire
Here are some other local Fabeaceae.
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Isotropis drummondii
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Daviesia retusum
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Gompholobium cyaninum
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Gompholobium marginatum
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Inside a Boronia Flower

21/4/2023

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As a boy I remember  itinerent flower sellers coming to our house with bunches of heavenly smelling Boronia metastigma. I recently learnt that the intense aroma is a strategy to attract  a particular pollinator - a heliozelid moth. The moth pollinates the flower while laying eggs on the carpels (ovaries). Caterpillars eat some but not all ovaries, so win win for plant and moth.
Boronias are in the Rutaceae family, which is characterised by open flowers with a superior ovary and leaves containing oil glands.Our domesticated citrus plants are in this family.
Boronias have opposite leaves and  four sepals and petals.
Recently Boronias have been split into two genera:- Boronia and Cyanothamnus. There is almost no physical difference between the genera. Two different genetic groups have evolved very similar plant features. A trifle perplexing for the amateur, but such is modern taxonomy.
When I moved to Narrogin, I was amused to find tiny Cyanothamnus ramosus flowers in Foxes Lair. Local Boronia / Cyanothamnus species are mainly pink/ white or pale blue colours with little scent. Unlike us, Insects see untraviolet light and these colours are exceptionally bright for them. Several native bee species pollinate these boronias. 
Male and female parts are clustered together in a tight group. Images of Cyanothamnus ramosus below show that a barrier of serrated stamen filaments with coarse hairs prevent insects from accessing nectar from the side. My guess is that these stop ants and other nectar thieves. To get nectar, insect pollinators have to poke their tongue down the top of the flower past the clustered anthers and stigma. To avoid self pollination, the stigma only becomes receptive after the flower's pollen has died.
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Cyanothamnus ramosus
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Stamens form a protective rim
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Four - lobed superior ovary
The dissection of Boronia capitata subsp. capitata shows dense stamen hairs, which exclude nectar thieves.
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There are several mostly pink or white coloured Boronia /Cyanothamnus species in this district. 
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Boronia busseliana Wedin reserve
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Boronia crenulata Contine Hill
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Boronia sp. Harrismith reserve
Two other genera in this district differ from boronias by having alternate leaves and five sepals / petals.
They look very similar.
Asterolasia pallida (white) and squamaligera (yellow) have a tiny or no sepals and petals with a hairy exterior.
Phebalium tubercolosum (white) and filifolium (yellow) are showy shrubs commonly found in mallee woodland in the east of the district. Sepals are smaller than petals, and petals have a scaly or scurfy exterior.
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Asterolasia squamaligera Dryandra
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Megachile bee on Asterolasia pallida
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Phebalium tubercolosum Harrismith
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Birdwhistle Rock

12/4/2023

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PictureDark green = sandy gravel
Birdwhistle Rock is a historic site, which was a notable picnic, bird watching and wildflower spot. Noongars, shepherds, and sandalwood cutters, used the rock as a stopping place from Murramucking Well on the track to Harrismith, or to Wayluring Spring and on to Dongolocking. There was water from a spring coming from the side of the rock, which abruptly stopped after the 1968 earthquake, and a walled well that was buried by silt. A line of Noongar gnamma holes is on top of the rock.

​There are no facilities.


​One can drive (about 31kms from Narrogin, with 12km of gravel road) via Yilliminning Rock, or Boundain North Road past The old Yilliminning townsite and reserve.
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PictureGnamma holes in granite crack
Unlike the Yilliminning Rock inselberg, the Birdwhistle granite outcrop has extensive geological fractures and an east - west trending dolerite dyke on the southern side.  As a result there was patchy vegetation cover over much of the rock , which was full of dead trees and weeds from decades without any fire. A bomb waiting to go off.
A huge wildfire in February 2022 apparently destroyed all vegetation and wildlife. I have been able to witness how intense fire can split rocks and cause the equivalent of thousands of years of rock 'weathering' in a single event.
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​The rock is roughly an inverted U shape, with a central valley flowing south.
On the western side of the car park is a 40 ha triangle of grass tree kwongan.

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Large flakes shed from rock
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geological folds and cracks
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Fire made this large rock split
Picture Caladenia flava October 2022

​Some good news about the fire is that it was so intense that most wild oat seeds were incinerated, which gave native plant species a chance to reestablish. 
There was little plant cover in 2022 apart from some fire colonising species, moss, limited tree / shrub regrowth, and some orchids. Caladenia flava, Caladenia integra, and lots of Pyrorchis nigricans.

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Pyrochis nigricans October 2022
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Resprouting Hakea petiolaris Oct 2022
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Caladenia integra Oct 2022
By mid April 2023 there has been prolific regrowth of wandoos, which are over a metre in height / diameter and prolific seedling growth of acacias, Kennedyia prostrata, rock sheoak and other species. A funky post fire coloniser Gyrostemon subnudis and Stypandra glauca / Lamb Poison native lily are particulary prolific.There will be a mass of blue Lamb Poison flowers this spring, and it will be interesting to see how many orchids flower this year.
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April 2022
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Gyrostemon growth April 2023
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Moss/ lamb poison 2023
with each succeeding year new plant species will become promininent until a balance is reached in about a decade. I am setting up reference sites to photograph the procession
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Inside a Wire Leaf Mistletoe Flower

16/3/2023

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PictureAmyema preissi on Manna Wattle
Wire-Leaf Mistletoe Amyema preissii has dense bunches of bright orange-red flowers which produces copious amounts of nectar, but no perfume (that I could detect) - a great example of bird pollinating flowers. However, I was perplexed by flower peculiarities.
  • Stamens and pistil project out to touch a bird’s head as it drinks nectar, but petals are open right down to the ovary. This allows short-tongued insects like ants, flies, and honeybees to steal nectar without pollinating the flower.
  • Flowers were open or closed with very few in between.
  • In early morning nectar leaked out of closed flowers and collected on the bulbous end, but there was no sign of nectar on anthers or pistil of open flowers.
Intrigued, I revisited a flowering mistletoe for several days and dissected flowers at varying stages. It was a great learning experience!

The closed downward hanging flower consists of five tepals which are fused into a long tube with a bulbous end. The anthers and stigma are packed so tightly at the end that they resist entry from nectar flowing down from the flower base.
When the flower is ready to open, nectar flows down the inside, escapes from joins between tepals on the side, and coats the end. There were lots of bees on open flowers but they avoided the nectar on unopened flowers. Didn't like sticky claws?
When I dissected closed flowers I could see that stamens and anthers form a straight line from the centre of the tepal, but the end of the tepal that encloses them is curved. This creates a spring mechanism, which is held in place by stronger join at the end of the tepal.
Perhaps, when honeyeaters lick nectar off the flower end, the motion causes the flower to spring open so the bird can pollinate it.
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Open and closed parasitised flower
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Nectar coated flower tips
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About 10% of the flowers remained closed apart from a tiny dark dot on the outside, which marked the point where a moth or other insect laid an egg. Inside was a 3mm translucent grub, which ate the flower's reproductive parts then formed a dark brown pupa.

Honey bees were at the flowers from dawn to dusk with the occasional Campanotis chalceus ant. They were able to steal nectar without contacting anthers and stigma, but pollination occurred when bees collected pollen from the anthers. After seeing a bee eating pollen I learnt that honey bees have 2 stomachs: One for eating pollen and nectar for energy,and the other for storing honey for the hive.
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Campanotis chalceus
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Honeybee drinking nectar
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Honeybee collecting pollen
At late afternoons a pair of large Australian Hornets buzzed in regularly to feed, and just once a Silky Azure butterfly. This was a great find as they are very rare in this district. The caterpillar larvae eat  flower buds, flowers, leaves and soft stem parts of the mistletoe, but are particularly fond of the flower buds.
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Australian Hornet
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Silky Azure side 1
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Silky Azure side 2
I decided to check out bush at Thomas Hogg Oval where Jam Wattles Acacia acuminata were infested with mistletoe (only occasional occurrence in Foxes Lair). This is typical of isolated small areas of bush. Apparently possums love eating mistletoe, particularly the flowers. As possums can't survive fox and cat predation in small areas with few trees, mistletoe gets out of control. There were lots of honeyeaters but fewer bees. Many mistletoes were old and dying back. Flowers on some were dying from extensive  infestation of giant scales, which were being attended by aggressive meat ants.
Sadly an unbalanced ecosystem. 
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Meat ants tending scale, wilted flowers
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Scale on mistletoe
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Orcus australasiae lady bug eats scale
Further information Mistletoe blog
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    Doug Sawkins is a friend of Foxes Lair 

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