Comesperma is an Australian genus (mainly in WA), which belongs to the Polygalaceae  (Milkwort) family that is widespread in other countries. The name Comesperma means 'hairy seed", which  relates to the seeds bearing tufts of hair. They are climbers or small wiry shrubs (that are often grazed by kangaroos). I am intrigued by their small 'upside down pea' flowers: an evolutionary adaption to attract native bees that pollinate adjoining pea plants.

On closer inspection, it is obvious that Comesperma flowers are very different from peas. 

When a bee lands on a pea flower, its legs part the wing petals to reveal the underlying stamens and pistil.
​There is little internet information on Comesperma pollination apart from them being pollinated by native bees, and that the flowers use secondary pollen presentation.
Comesperma flowers are quite strange. Two of the five sepals comprise the coloured 'wings' (like an upside-down Donkey orchid - another pea flower mimic), and the petals form a pouch-like 'keel' enclosing the stamens and pistil) with two upright  petals at the end.

On close inspection the story gets even stranger. 
White UV fluorescent patterns lead the pollinator to a small hole between the keel and outer petals. What could be inside?

It was no mean effort cutting into the tiny keel without destroying its contents, so the following images are a bit ragged.
First Comesperma scoparia.
The style appears to grow up in a curve, pushing the cup-shaped stigma into anthers which are crowded at the top of the keel. This loads pollen into the cup shaped stigma ready for contact with a pollinator's tongue which presumably is poked into the entrance. The last image shows that the style had straightened out during dissection. Blowed if I know, but perhaps the style is held under tension inside the keel. Could it poke out after contact with the insect's tongue? The active part of the stigma is a patch on the side of the style underneath the stigma cup.

My attempt as dissecting Comesperma volubile shows that the stamens are attached as a band to the interior of the keel.
My next challenge is to see them being pollinated.

​Curious little plants!

False Boronia, Lysiandra calycina (fomerly Phyllanthus calycinus) is an unobtrusive little plant with an interesting story. Found on sandy gravel soils in Narrogin, it belongs to the family Phyllanthaceae, which  mostly occurs in subtropical areas. The plant has soft green leaves and white flowers with pinkish green shades, which dangle down from the stem on long  flower stalks (pedicels). Flowers have no petals. The apparent petals are sepals, hence the name Leaf Flower. 

​Now for the interesting part

Each plant has male and female flowers (monoecious). Females flowers are larger and intermixed with more numerous male flowers.

​I have never seen any pollinators approach the flowers. This is probably because the flowers have no scent, but they do have large nectar glands at the base of each flower.

Other Phyllanthaceae species are pollinated by insects which partially parasitise them.
One pollinator is a moth which fed on nectar, transmitted pollen to the stigma and laid an egg. When the grub hatched it burrowed down the style to the ovary, ate ovules and pupated to complete its life cycle. As the moth left some ovules, to develop seeds, This is a win win for plant and moth. It also occurs in Boronias.
For other species a tiny gall midge fed on nectar at the spongy floral disc of male flowers and laid eggs in male flower buds, picking up pollen and contacting the styles of nearby female flowers in the process. Infested buds developed into sterile galls, within which midge larvae completed their development. 

​Nature is amazing!

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.

• ​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

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.

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.

Here are some other local Fabeaceae.

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.

The dissection of Boronia capitata subsp. capitata shows dense stamen hairs, which exclude nectar thieves.

There are several mostly pink or white coloured Boronia /Cyanothamnus species in this district. 

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. Phebalium sepals are smaller than petals, and the petals have a scaly or scurfy exterior.

Sedges and rushes  are not the most exciting plants in our bush, but they are an important part. These plants protect the soil from erosion and are important habitat plants for insects, spiders, larger animals, and birds. They become obvious on misty mornings when each one becomes a dewy spider palace. Before European settlement, these plants were habitat and food for numerous emus, small rodents and marsupials, which are locally extinct. Rushes and sedges are still important habitat in wetlands. Western Grey Kangaroos and even foxes nibble sedge leaves.

​I am writing this blog for myself because descriptions and common names for this group are confusing.

A commonly used rhyme to distinguish between grasses, sedges, and rushes is.
“Sedges (Cyperaceae) have edges, rushes (Juncaceae)  are round, grasses (Poaceae) have knee joints all the way to the ground”.
This rhyme is not useful in WA.

Does it matter if you can't tell the difference? Occasionally yes when weeds are involved. A recent example was a decision to replace Bull Rushes in Narrogin Creek with Common Reed Phragmites Australis, which is an introduced weed. Phragmites is certainly impressive and probably isn’t a problem there apart from blocking the creek, but it kills adjoining plants and is an aggressive weed in coastal wetlands.

Here are my local rules of thumb.

Grasses (Poaceae), sedges (Cyperaceae), rushes (Juncaceae) and southern rushes (Anarthriaceae and Restionaceae) are all wind pollinated monocotyledons, which grow as annuals or clumping perennials. Perennial plants spread by horizontal underground roots called rhizomes.
​
There are lots of native and introduced grasses around, which can be easily identified  by their hollow stems and stem joints called nodes.

​Sedges and rushes don’t have nodes, usually have solid pithy stems, and their leaves arise from a rhizome near the ground. Wetland species commonly called rushes may actually be sedges or grasses. For example, Bull Rush or Cumbungi / Typha species are wetland grasses. Cumbungi is a bush tucker plant, which I decided to taste recently in the spirit of citizen science. Chewing a peeled rhizome was less than successful, so I cooked some in the microwave. Result: Texture = rope, taste = blah! Perhaps I should have collected my sample in the growing season and not from a roadside ditch. When I first came to Narrogin, Cumbungi groves formed wonderful bird nesting areas in Railway Dam. Our drying climate has almost eliminated them now.

Locally, the classic round, smooth-leaved rushes are mostly weeds. Toad Rush  Juncus bufonius is a tiny annual weed which was a problem in wet areas in crops before no-till farming.
Spiny Rush Juncus acutus is an introduced spiny weed, which infests our damp waterways and dams. Despite this it is useful for reducing erosion in wet salty areas, and as wildlife habitat.
​

​Sedges may have flat or angled leaves (‘edges”) or not. I have noticed that flat-leaved species tend to be larger plants, which occur more often in winter wet/summer dry areas on slopes and flats. Flowers are often surrounded by spiky bracts and each produces a single small nut.

Schoenus species are small narrow-leaved sedges. Ground-hugging Schoenus calcaratum would be a delightful addition to the native garden.

A special group In southwestern WA is called southern rushes. Unlike sedges and rushes, they are dioecious (have male and female plants). There are two families, Anarthriaceae (mainly near to the coast), and (local) Restionaceae.
Restionaceae are funky mat-like plants with round green to grey-green stems (culms),and brownish scale leaves, which often occur in patches in open kwongan or woodland. Being very tough plants which can withstand short-term waterlogging then drought, they are often found on open gravel, sand,or sand over clay.
​
Lepidobolus species have curly snake-like culms

Desmocladus species have branched culms and female plants with leaf sheaths that sprout clusters of short stalks each with a single flower, which make them look like branched leaves.