Restless natives of the Top End

Thanks Rachel, there's lots more where those came from. Just have to dig them all up, so to speak, and crop the images a bit.

This is an interesting one which might 'test' Dave. Grows in sandstone plateau country on the margins of creeks where the water floods out and seeps through the shallow sandy waterlogged soils. A very fine, low plant with spindly inconspicuous stems.

11 March 2009 Showed the photo to one of the botanists today and he recognised it as a Burmannia, only two species, coelestis and juncea but he wasn't sure which. Thought is was probably Burmannia juncea. Quite common around the place, but I've only seen it in one area.

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This message was edited Mar 29, 2009 12:14 AM

And Silver Cycad, Cycas calcicola, which has a bit of a restricted range. Originally given the name "calcicola" because it was first found on limestone hills, but has since been found is a range of environments including the more acidic soiled sandstone country.

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This message was edited Mar 29, 2009 12:15 AM

We have a lot of Grevilleas, from small trees to ground hugging prostrate shrubs. This is one of the ground huggers, Grevillea goodii. It's very widespread throughout tropical woodland and on sandstone plateau.

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This message was edited Mar 29, 2009 12:16 AM

Grevillea dryandri, grows in sandstone country and slopes, in sandy well drained soils.

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This message was edited Mar 29, 2009 12:16 AM

So beautiful and diverse! I love it!

Thanks goofybulb, I'll keep them coming. Was interupted yesterday, the chopper was waiting to take me out on the flora survey. Managed to get some more photos :O)

This is the Grevillea I was about to post. Apparently it's still Grevillea dryandri but grows up on the ridge lines here amongst rocks. A bushy prostrate form with a deeper red colour than the one in the previous photo.

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This message was edited Mar 29, 2009 12:17 AM

Some Convolvulaceae now. We have a lot of Ipomoeas and Merremias, a lot that I don't know the species names for.

This one's Ipomoea pes-caprae, grows on the coastline in the sand dunes as a dense ground cover.

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This message was edited Mar 29, 2009 12:18 AM

Don't know which one this is, but definitely looks like an Ipomoea. Grows up in the sandstone plateau country amongst grasses.

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This message was edited Mar 29, 2009 12:19 AM

Your pics are beautiful tropic!

Thanks Brical1, I enjoy reeling them out. Here's a few I took yesterday out where I went by chopper. Having the botanists along helped with the ID.

Asteromyrtus magnifica, used to be Melaleuca magnifica. An endemic, growing as a shrub to a couple of metres high, in the sandstone country of Kakadu and Arnhem Land.

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This message was edited Mar 29, 2009 12:19 AM

A Calytrix, but although the botanist gave the species name I didn't write it down and have forgotten it. Hopefully I get it again and then edit it in here.

Again, from the sandstone country (that was the focus of our flora survey).

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This message was edited Mar 29, 2009 12:20 AM

An unusual flower on an attractive small shrub. I was told it was very rare, Drummondita calida.

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This message was edited Mar 29, 2009 12:21 AM

Grevillea angulata is a small shrub also growing in the sandstone country, locally quite common.

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This message was edited Mar 29, 2009 12:22 AM

A Sowerbaea, only one listed on the official plant checklist and this one being very common must be it, Sowerbaea alliacea, apparently called Native Chives. I've forgotten the Aboriginal name but they told me kangaroos would dig up the roots and eat them. Knowing the habits of animals, what and where they eat is necessary for successful hunting.

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This message was edited Mar 29, 2009 12:22 AM

There's only one Arthrostylis listed in the plantlist, this one again being fairly common must be Arthrostylis aphylla. It's a sedge (Cyperaceae) and grows in damp areas. The stem is flat, like fettucini.

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This message was edited Mar 30, 2009 7:30 AM

Got back on the chopper yesterday from a couple of days camping out on the fauna survey. The good thing about those surveys is that you get more time to wander around. The flora surveys keep you at it fairly constantly until you're done. Then you can't go too far in case the chopper turns up to move you on.

With the fauna survey you set up the various types of traps then just check them now and again over a few days. Gives you plenty of time to wander without worrying about getting back at short notice.

Only difficulty was we were doing a 'sand plain', a flat area of alluvial sand making it a featureless landscape. When the cloud cover moves in (it's our wet season) it's impossible to tell direction, it all looks the same, north, south, east or west. Great to get lost in.

But I took a compass as security, and it worked out well. Found a seepage/swamp area and then a creek. So got lots of photos but unfortunately a lot of them were very poor. So there's plants of the drier sand plain, plus plants of the swamps.

The first is a small peaflower from the drier sand plain. Like so many of these photos I have no idea of identity. Had a fauna and not a flora expert with me. Might be able to track down some of the ID's and will edit them in.

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This message was edited Mar 30, 2009 7:31 AM

This small blue flower did surprisingly well out in the blistering sun, with roots set in sand. Would probably make a good rockery plant in an open sunny spot.

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This message was edited Mar 30, 2009 7:32 AM

This one's up to a metre high and has its flowers in the upper leaf axils. Reminds me a bit of Waltheria.

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This message was edited Mar 30, 2009 7:33 AM

Probably a convolvulaceae, but that's as far as my ideas go. A small ground creeper.

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This message was edited Mar 30, 2009 7:34 AM

This is quite common everywhere, particularly in sandy areas. Aborigines call it Kanbukbuk, they say it's eaten by emus. I think it's a Gomphrena species.

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This message was edited Mar 30, 2009 7:35 AM

We have a lot of Ipomoeas, and a lot of pure white ones. It can get a bit confusing trying to differentiating them from photos. Sometimes it's more the leaf and stem structure which is different.

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This message was edited Mar 30, 2009 7:36 AM

Grows to just over a metre high and has a number of stems. I think it's a Pachynema, but could be wrong.

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This message was edited Mar 30, 2009 7:37 AM

Called Dikkala by Aborigines, this Cartonema spicata has small tubers along its taproot which can be roasted and eaten.

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This message was edited Mar 30, 2009 7:38 AM

No idea what this is. Sends up a stem about half to one metre high with these flowers. As you can see, the flowers appear to come out randomly rather than progressively up the stem.

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This message was edited Mar 30, 2009 7:39 AM

A small yellow peaflowered creeper that twines through tall grasses.

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This message was edited Mar 30, 2009 7:41 AM

A sprawling herb that grows up to about 30 centimetres high if supported by surrounding grasses, otherwise sprawls along the ground. very common where it grew, the deep blue giving a good effect. I think it's a Commelina.

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This message was edited Mar 30, 2009 7:42 AM

Quite an unusual dainty herb growing amongst grasses.

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This message was edited Mar 31, 2009 10:33 AM

I'm loving your pics tropic!

thanks for sharing your enviable job, volunteer or otherwise, it's fascinating.
This plant is from Australia, and seems that it would be from a very arid, rocky place. Was difficult to keep alive, and in the end I failed. Wondering if you come across it in your observations.
hope you had some luck Brical.
Rj

I am really enjoying the pictures of the pretty wildflowers in your area, thanks for taking us with you ^_^

Nice flora! Many unusual species, not seen in this part of the world!

Rj's plant looks like some type of Hibiscus.

yes, it is some type of rock rose, mallow hibiscus...

Thanks Brical1, Braveheartsmom and Dave.

Rj, I looked it up, appears to be Alyogyne huegelii. Native to the south west coast of South Australia and southern Western Australia. That's a mediterranean climate - cool wetter winters, hot mostly dry summers. Grows in sandy gravelly soils which drain well. Well, possibly a bit late now, but if you get another one it might help.

Okay, tis what I suspected, thankyou for checking. It was one of those off the wall plants found in a corner at Home Depot of all places, and only about 6 plants..I kept them dry most of the time, but it still languished..was beautiful for the time I had it.

Great pics tropicbreeze!

I think the climbing aroid is actually Epipremnum amplissimum rather than Rhaphidophora australasica.

Thanks Alistair, another name change they've done on me. My texts still have it under the old name Rhaphidophora australasica.

They are different plants rather than a name change as such.

R. australasica is restricted to Queensland (and maybe PNG).

They differ in the Rhaphidophora having raised pointed stigmas, leaf sheaths which mostly degrade to fibres, and leaf blades which hang. The Epipremnum has more or less flat, slit-like stigmas (sometimes some round, but not raised), persistent leaf sheaths (sometimes with a papery margin) and leaf blades which are held in a spreading posture. It occurs in NT, Qld, PNG, Solomons and Vanuatu.

In fruit Rhaphidophora has many tiny seeds per fruit, and Epipremnum one or two much larger ones per fruit.

Well Alistair, you've set me off on a great learning adventure all about Epipremnum species (and I still haven't got to the bottom of the Typhonium mystery yet).

Where I checked the difference in naming there wasn't any indication of the reason for the change. So it appears it was originally mis-identified. I guess it didn't make the headlines in the NT News at the time, LOL. But I now find I have Epipremnum pinnatum growing at home.

Always thought it was interesting that E. pinnatum wasn't as adversely affected by the lime in my bore water as were most others. E. amplissimum doesn't like lime at all.

Back again to continue with the natives. My time is a bit in short supply of late. In May I'm doing some trekking in Papua New Guinea so I'm spending time training, as well as all my other activities on top of my full time (mortgage paying) job. But I'm really looking forward to PNG, it's been pretty much a life long dream to go there, surprising thing being that's it's taken me so long to do it. So anyway, that's why there's often time gaps in my posting on this thread.

The next lot of plants come from the wetter edges of the sand plain country. The sand plain acts like a sponge in the wet season. The water emerges in swamps, seepage areas and finally into creeks which drain it away. So while out on the fauna survey last week I wandered a bit and found some of these wetter areas.

This is Banksia dentata, Northern Banksia. Although there are many species of Banksia in Australia, in the north we only have one. Grows as a small tree in wet or swampy areas. Aborigines call it Mankoybuk and used the furry cones to carry fire. The cones burn slowly for a long time.

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This message was edited Mar 31, 2009 10:34 AM

This flower is very common, growing both in very wet and better drained areas. The flowers in the wetter conditions are usually larger.

(IDed as Xyris complanata.)

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This message was edited Apr 9, 2009 6:29 AM