Greetings fellow Foxies,

I found these plants on an unusual patch of yellow sand in Dryandra Woodland Candy Block that has Drummond’s Mallee and a large number of shrubs. In August I noted a low compact plant with lovely foliage that I called “carrot plant” while waiting for it to flower. Flowers in late October revealed it to be an uncommon species, Petrophile circinata. Circinate means curled around itself, presumably referring to the whorled leaf arrangement. Images below show the plant and flower.
As this species was coming into flower I noticed that there were a few very similar plants that had beautiful hairy red growth appearing on what I thought were dead flower stalks.
Gadzooks! The local experts were confounded until the growth expanded into the flower of slightly later flowering Isopogon villosus (villous means hairy with long soft hairs). The flowers emerge from thickened scaly clumps of old growth.
To my uneducated eye, vegetative growth of both species is similar, but Petrophile circinata leaves are a slightly darker green and leaf petioles have a distinctive linear fold in the petiole stem.
I usually have no problem distinguishing Isopogons (smooth fruiting nut) from Petrophiles (scaly nut), but these squat species are a real challenge. After a fair bit of excavation in the prickly growth I eventually found a rather confusing nut on the stem below the flowering clump.
The slideshow below follows both species as they flower.

Greetings fellow Foxies,
The peak of the flowering season has past and the drive-snap crowd has departed, but for observant nature lover there is beauty in post-flowering new plant growth. Proteaceae are particularly intriguing with a myriad of shapes and colours and woolly or hairy growth. These plants are superbly adapted to thrive in the lateritic soils that they create.
I am so lucky to be able to observe the annual cycle of life- death- rebirth of the plants and animals in Foxes Lair. It provides a reality check in the increasingly chaotic outside world.

Despite profuse flower numbers, proteaceae produce relatively few viable seeds, so another way to tell the difference is flower position. Hakea flowers emerge from the junction where the leaf joins the stem (the axil), whereas grevillea flower clusters are generally at the end of the shoot. Flowers range from being insignificant (see Hakea incrassata below) to stunningly beautiful.
In June flowering Honeybush (Hakea lissocarpa) plants (below) are dotted throughout the gravel areas. Most are white with the occasional pink variant. Bees love them.

Greetings fellow Foxies,
Grevilleas are family Proteaceae plants that are often confused with hakeas. As a general rule of thumb, grevilleas have flowers at the end of the shoot (terminal), and have papery seed capsules instead of hard nuts.
There are only two grevilleas in Foxes Lair., but several hakeas.
 Grevillea tenuiflora/Tassel grevillea  is a beautiful but atypical grevillea with narrow clustered flowers and a mildly rude pistil.
It has unusual and stunning flowers that remind me of a picture of marine spoon worms that my daughter sent from Korea. Koreans call them gaebul (penis fish), and consume them with relish to enhance their (ahem) vigour. Without claiming efficacy, I recommend a stroll on the Banksia walk in September to see masses of the flowers. Latin scholars amongst you know that tenuiflora is a taxonomist’s way of saying ‘narrow flower’.

Grevillea leptobotrys/Tangled Grevillea is a great ground cover type plant that flowers on Banksia Walk brown stony loamy gravels in November/December. Its germination is also stimulated by fire