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Utricularia menziesii Redcoats

16/8/2020

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​Greetings fellow Foxies,
 
I discovered these tiny ornamental plants last August in a wet mossy patch surrounding a rock pool on a granite outcrop at Highbury B Block. It is a bladderwort, a carnivorous plant. There are 15 bladderwort species in WA, mainly in wetter areas.
The plants are only about 3 cm high but brilliantly coloured.
I thought that the curved flower receptacle was the bladder, but no, it has another function.
Apparently, it is designed for pollination by the Western Spinebill.
Red attracts birds, its height is right for ground-hunting spinebills, and the curve matches the spinebill’s beak. As the spinebill inserts its beak the beak pushes on to a hinged ovary and pistil and collects a dob of pollen to take to the next plant as it withdraws.

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Western Spinebill. Image Lyn Alcock
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These plants are only about 3 cm high
The unique insect-catching bladders are tiny little vesicles underneath the leaves. I couldn’t see them when I searched recently. Luckily they are well described in this wonderful free PDF book: Plant Life of Southwestern Australia Adaptations for Survival
PictureDiagram of a longitudinal section through a Utricularia bladder. The trap is a hollow utricle, mostly two cells thick, partly filled with water, and under negative pressure. Traps are usually 1–4 mm long.
​Here is an extract
 
 Each trap is partially water- filled, and has a door surrounded by sensitive hairs that direct prey to the opening. The trapdoor opens inwards upon irritation by a passing animal such as a mosquito larva. After the prey brushes against the trigger hairs, it is sucked in because of the release of negative pressure maintained inside the utricle, engorging several times its resting volume. Traps are connected to the plant via stolons, stalks or leaves. Plants may even be rootless.
After firing, the trap restores the negative pressure by removing water from the lumen until the original compressed shape is returned. After this process is completed, which lasts about 30 minutes, the trap is ready to fire again.

PictureSide view with simulated spinebill beak
I took a muntered flower that had been cut off by a grub home for dissection.
 
The flower has three parts:
  • A curved nectar chamber with hinged anthers at the top.
  • A rear tepal  that covers the top of nectar chamber, which has a hole in the centre and an upraised tip.
  • A front tepal that looks like an insect landing pad with yellow bulges that resemble anthers.
 
The top view of the dissected flower shows an entry hole for a spinebill beak with a collar that would exclude all but the smallest insect. Side views show the (very dead) ovary on top of a hinged anther.  The normally yellow anthers are on the underside.
​In summer the plant dies back to a tiny over summering corm.

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Top view
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Dissected flower side view
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Anthers on underside of the hinge
Reference Floral micromorphology of the bird-pollinated carnivorous plant species Utricularia menziesii R.Br. (Lentibulariaceae)
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Rainbow bee eater or lizard hole?

4/3/2014

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Rainbow bee eater burrow
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Western bearded dragon
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Lizard hole
Greetings Foxies,

A couple of weeks ago I was commenting that we hadn’t seen rainbow bee eaters around January when they visit to sample local bees and a few establish nesting burrows at the western end of the arboretum. Last week we saw a flock of them on a track and wondered what they were eating, and today saw about 20 south of the claypit. These birds are acrobats of the bird world being fast and agile doing loop the loops as they catch bees on the wing, and have a lovely rolling chirrup call.World War II Spitfire fighter planes copied their wing shape to maximise manoeuvrability. We couldn’t find any nests in the usual area but then saw nests in the road burden on the side of the track on the north side of the arboretum.
The burrows look very similar to lizard or goanna diggings, but are rounder and deeper. No doubt a few chicks become goanna tucker. Bee eaters normally burrow in gully walls that are harder for predators to reach.
Alan Kerrigan took a great image of a western bearded dragon digging a burrow. Lucky him, I haven't seen on in decades but they must be moderately common.
Racehorse goannas are also rarely seen as they are usually active in hot weather. They may look fierce but always run away at great speed, which can frighten the daylights out of one. They have been rumoured to climb people, mistaking them for trees, but in my eperience take off in the opposite direction. If you are a nervous type, just take a tall person with you when walking (they are also useful if there is a chance of lightning).


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Mistletoe

6/3/2012

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PictureMistletoe bird
Greetings fellow
If you cast your eyes upwards in Foxes Lair in February, you will see lovely red Mistletoe flowers.
Ah Mistletoe, the flower of love, dedicated to the goddess Athena, and placed above doors at Christmas and where people who meet there must kiss. If you have a hankering for osculation, arrange to meet the intended person below a Mistletoe infected jam tree that adjoins the top of the loop that contains the Granite Walk picnic tables.
Now that you are fired up I mention that Mistletoe is a stem hemiparasite that can kill its host, and the name literally means ‘dung-on-a-twig’. This because Mistletoe produces a berry that is eaten by the Mistletoe bird, which in turn straddles branches to deposit  its dropping containing the seed on the branch. When the seed germinates, the seedling produces a connection like a vegetative placenta that enables it to tap into the host’s sap.
Dodder laurel is also a stem parasite, but is a holoparasite.

There are 2 species. Stalked Mistletoe Anyema miquelli  is a broad leafed species that favours eucalypts. However the species on the jam is the much leaner Wireleaf Mistletoe Anyema preissi that favours acacias and probably appeals to more restrained individuals that frown on public displays of affection (probably turn off the light to have a smooch).

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Stalked Mistletoe (left) Wireleaf Mistletoe (right)
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Mistletoe berries are a bush tucker that are sweet but so sticky that they the flesh can't be separated from the seed; this helps the seeds to stick on branches after passing through whatever eats them.
This fabulous blog shows that mistletoes are an integral part of the bush. Their fruit is food for several birds and animals, and they do not necessarily kill their host.

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Australian Shelduck Ducklings.

14/10/2011

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PictureDuck down on a twig
Greetings fellow Foxies,
The Australian Shelduck nests in tree hollows in Foxes Lair. Every June pairs of adults can be seen circling around honking loudly and competing with other pairs on the few suitable large dead marris.  To take the ducklings to a brooding area, the female calls to them from the ground to jump. No mean feat as the landing is pretty hard.
Dr Alan Kerrigan captured these amazing images below that I have to share with you.
Alternatively they fly ducklings to water on their back, often relentlessly pursued by ravens. Very sad but inevitable.
I often find duckling down on bushes under these trees, which I suspect was a raven's meal.

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    Doug Sawkins is a friend of Foxes Lair who once worked for the WA Department of Agriculture

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