Category: Wildflowers Other Summer Autumn

Narrogin district Persoonias

13/4/2022

Plants in this group are root sucker clones

Greetings fellow Foxies,
Persoonia is an unusual genus in the Proteaceae family. Local names are Geebungs in eastern states (remember Banjo Patersons' famous poem - Geebung polo club?), and snottygobbles in WA.
Unlike most Proteaceae genera, persoonias do not have cluster roots. probably having mycorrhizas like most plants. Their flowers do not have secondary pollen presentation. Stamens in the yellow flowers surrounding the style, mature first and then fold outwards out of the way.
They are very fire tolerant. They germinate after fire, but and are difficult to grow from seed.

I have found three species, all on well-drained soils. Persoonia quinquinervis is a common root-suckering species, which occurs in large patches in Foxes Lair. I also found a similar species Persoonia trinervis at Candy Block.

Persoonia quinquinervis

Typical linear leaves

Persoonia trinervis

Persoonia longifolia the definitive 'snottygobble, is graceful small tree that grows on gravel uplands in the Darling Range. "When opened, the small, sweet fruit is mucous-like and green hence the first part of its rather singular name. The ‘gobble’ part apparently originated when pioneers observed pigs hastily consuming the fruit."
I have been trying to taste the disgusting looking but tasty drupe for years, but haven't managed to find one at the right stage

Snottygobble flowers too early

firm drupe too late for eating

Dry fruit much too late

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Foxydoug's guide to Proteaceae genera around Narrogin

4/4/2022

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Greetings fellow Foxies,
I became interested in Proteaceae via gravelly soils while working for the WA Department of Agriculture as an adviser. At that time it was thought that ancient fluctuating groundwater created gravel, and that Proteaceae evolved to grow on these soils.
Dr Bill Verboom (a work colleague), turned this idea on its head by proposing that plants can create soils to give them an evolutionary advantage. Proteaceae have evolved cluster roots, which enable them to access the nutrient phosphorus in infertile soils. Cluster roots and associated soil microbes create lateritic soils including bauxite. For more information click here.

Australia girt by gravel

I recently realised that I didn't know how to distinguish Proteaceae genera from each other. Alas my ageing memory is less than photographic, and I rely on rules of thumb. I developed this rough guide for my own use. No doubt there are exceptions but some may find it useful.

1 Proteaceae have tubular flowers (a corolla) with four tepals (combined petal/sepal).
The central female part consists of a superior (above surface of inside of flower base) ovary connected to a single unbranched style.
Their fruit only has one or two seeds in a 2 lobed papery (grevillea) or woody (Hakea, Lambertia) fruit or cone (Banksia, Isopogon or Petrophile, or tiny nuts (Conospermum, Synaphea, or drupes (Persoonia).
Most Proteaceae produce few seeds, particularly resprouters

section of a grevillea flower spike

2. Short corolla tube with small tepals

Synaphea have divided leaves and clusters of yellow flowers

Conospermum have entire leaves and clusters of tiny blue grey or white flowers

Conospermum stoechadis common smokebush

3. Medium to long corolla tube - the style bursts out of the side of the tube before the tepals separate

Adenanthos (woolly bushes) have only 1 or 2 flowers together.

Banksias mostly have thin styles and flowers and fruit in a round or elongate cone

Dryandras mostly have thin styles and groups of flowers surrounded by bracts (modified leaves)

Grevilleas mostly have flowers with thickened styles on end of branches and papery fruit.

Hakeas mostly have thickened styles on flowers between leaves on branches and woody fruit

4. Medium to long corolla tube - style emerges from end of corolla tube as tepals fold back

Persoonia. Anthers around style. Entire leaves.

Stirlingia. Anthers finside folded tepal. Entire leaves and sprays of flowers arise from plant base.

Lambertia. Anthers inside folded tepal.Woody fruit with horned lobes.

Isopogon. Anthers inside folded tepal. Smooth cone fruit.

Petrophile. Anthers inside folded tepal. Scaly cone fruit.

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Geophytes

11/3/2022

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Intense fire damage

Greetings fellow Foxies,

I have been reflecting on the recent fire, which severely burnt sections of North Yilliminning and Birdwhistle reserves.
Most plants in our bush are adapted to fire, but both reserves had been unburnt for about 50 years and were littered with dead material, which fuelled a very hot fire.
Annual plant seed on the surface or rseed etained on plants., was obliterated. Survival of seed in the soil varies with depth of burial.
Woody root plants which regrow from soil lignotubers (most eucalypts) and root suckers should survive well and resprout in the next few months.

Geophytes are fire tolerant perennial monocotyledons, which resprout from dormant underground storage organs each growing season - rhizomes, bulbs, corms and tubers.
The ability of geophytes to resprout at the break of the season enables them to outcompete annuals, and they survive hot and frequent fires. Unfortunately, many invasive weeds are geophytes, and some also have contractile roots, which draw them deeper into the soil. Introduced Guildford grass has spread through most loam and duplex soils at the expense of native annuals.
Rhizomes are swollen underground stems, which are very common in sedges, rushes, Haemodoraceae (kangaroo paws), and some native lilies. Depending on depth, rhizomes provide fire resistance, however in the absence of fire, rhizomatous plants can take over from plants that depend on fire for seed germination. The image below shows the effect of a hot fire in Foxes Lair after a decade. The left side (unburnt for decades) has mainly mature rock sheoaks with a dense sedge understorey. To the right, fire has stimulated a range of shrubs to grow from buried seed, and has reduced sedge density.

Foxes Lair. Sedge dominant unburnt land on right , dense germination of mixed shrubs ten years after fire on left

Bulbs have a thickened stem base of modified leaves, which store nutrients. Examples include onions and introduced lilies such as daffodils, hyacinths, tulips, and Easter lily. Some Haemodorum species (bloodroots) are bulbaceous.

Haemodorum spicatum (bloodroot) bulb

Corms are swollen stem bases filled with starch, which sit on the root base. These are very common in native and introduced geophytes. Natives include many lilies, sundews, and triggerplants. Some of our most aggressive introduced weeds (oxalis, freesias, watsonia) are cormous.

Easter lily weed bulb

Freesia weed corms

Watsonia weed corms

Tubers (swollen storage organs which form on roots and underground stems) are present on all our orchids and many native lilies, and many are bush tucker foods.
Grass trees and zamias have above ground, fire resistant growing points called caudexes.

Chamaescilla corymbosa lily tubers

Potato tuber

New growth from caudex inside top of grass tree stem

I will peg some spots in these reserves and see what comes up

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Foxes Lair Lobelias

30/1/2021

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Hello fellow Foxies,
Tiny (1cm) delightful blue Tall Lobelia Lobelia gibbosa flowers are out now. Each single stemmed plant has small, withered leaves on a fleshy stem with one to four pale blue striped flowers that are hard to spot, but is worth the search.
The larger Tufted Lobelia Lobelia rhombifolia (October/November) also has (deep) blue flowers that remind me of a fleur-de-lis. They are hardy annuals that only occur in ones or twos, mostly and sandy spots with little vegetation. I think they would flourish after a fire.

Lobelia gibbosa Tall Lobelia

Lobelia rhombifolia Tufted Lobelia

Find the Tall Lobelia

Lobelias belong to the Campanulaceae family with two other late-spring annuals in Foxes Lair, Isotoma hypercrateriformis and Wahlenbergia gracilenta (rare here) that occur in the claypit area.

Wahlenbergia gracilenta white form

Isotoma hypercrateriformis Woodbridge Poison

World-wide the Campanulaceae family is known for large and showy flowers, but not in WA.
They share these distinctive features.

Inferior (under the flower) ovary.
They exude a nasty sticky white sap when cut.
Instead of starch they store energy as inulin. Unlike starch, inulin is digested in the colon rather than in the stomach, and is very good for gut health. Before you harvest lobelias for the inulin, note that it may cause gaseous eruptions in the bowel department (a curse on Jerusalem artichokes!), and:-
Some plants contain toxins. The common name for Isotoma hypercrateriformis is Woodbridge poison.
Some plants like Lobelia gibbosa and Isotoma hypercrateriformis have fleshy stems that enable flower and seed formation to continue long after the leaves have died.
Campanulaceae and Asteraceae (sunflower family) have a remarkable stigma and stamen arrangement that is described in the extract below from this web page.

Inside the flower, the five stamens are arranged closely together around the central female style and are often fused together, thus forming a little cylinder. When they are mature, the stamens release their pollen into the centre of the tube they form, where the pollen collects. The style will then grow longer, slowly pushing the mass of pollen out of the tube, where it then falls on the backs of bees that visit the flower for nectar. Once all the pollen is pushed out and the female style is mature, the tip will split open to reveal sticky surfaces where it can receive pollen from other flowers. In other words, the flower will not pollinate itself, because the pollen is released and pushed out of the way before it is ready to be pollinated.
After much crawling around on tick-infested ground I managed to photograph this arrangement in Lobelia gibbosa. From the flower base, the tube curves up through a split in the upper petals and down again to end where it will brush the back of insects entering the flower.