Staying with yellow, a very common and very widespread plant, I've seen it in many parts of Australia, north and south. Seems to like sitting in water, or in very damp ground nearby.
IDed as Philydrum lanuginosum
Photo 088
This message was edited Mar 31, 2009 10:37 AM
Probably a Convolvulaceae, a small vine sprawling on the ground and climbing surrounding grasses.
Photo 089
This message was edited Mar 31, 2009 10:38 AM
Growing as a small sprawling herbaceous shrub on the edge of the creek. Didn't appear to be very common.
Photo 090
This message was edited Mar 31, 2009 10:39 AM
Back up on the sand again, this small plant was very common through the looser sand with very little competition from grasses or other taller plants. Seemed to thrive in the blazing hot conditions.
Photo 091
This message was edited Mar 31, 2009 10:40 AM
Another small herb that likes blazing hot conditions as well.
Photo 092
This message was edited Mar 31, 2009 10:41 AM
A photo I took today - a small shrubby plant in amongst taller grasses. It's just amazing when you look closely at the form the flower has taken.
Photo 093
This message was edited Mar 31, 2009 10:43 AM
It's this time of year our many Acacias start to flower. Another photo I took today - Acacia dimidiata. Often growing in swampy conditions, it's also found in better drained areas. Like a lot of Acacias, it grows rapidly, has a shallow root system, and goes over easily in a storm. One of the only trees on my place that completely toppled last year when Cyclone Helen came through. And it's only a small spindly tree.
Called Manborrelk by Aborigines, the seed pods were crushed and used as a fish 'poison'.. But they told me you could eat the green seeds.
Photo 094
This message was edited Mar 31, 2009 10:44 AM
More great photos Tropicbreeze!
I think that blue flower which you refer to Commelina, is a Tradescantia. Commelina have two larger lobes on top and a smaller bottom lobe. Tradescantia have three even lobes.
That first yellow flower, from March 20, may be a Xyris, Yellow Eyed Grass. Are the flowering stems flat? Maybe either Xyris complanata or Xyris platylepis.
Don't stop with the photos; it's very interesting to see what grows on the other side of the planet!
Aloha, Dave
Dave, I've checked the Checklist of NT Vascular Plant Species. There's no Tradescantia listed. I checked Commelina, there's 8 species listed for the Northern Territory. The two links below are the closest matching, appears C. lanceolata is a syn for C. agrostophylla.
Commelina agrostophylla - www.anbg.gov.au/cgi-bin/phtml?pc=dig&pn=1438&size=3
Commelina lanceolata (very poor photo)- www.anbg.gov.au/cgi-bin/phtml?pc=nt&pn=375&size=3
When I checked Xyris, there are 6 species listed including X. complanata which looks like a perfect match.
I've noticed that time on the posts shows up as the local time. My posts were on 21 March. So I've decided to number the photos. Only thing is, they only allow 12 edits per day. Means it'll take 8 days for my numbering to catch up.
Thanks Tropicbreeze, you've got other than normal Commelina, from those shown in my Western floras!
I'll dig out my thinking cap for your unknowns. Many of them, I'm unfamiliar with.
The yellow after the Xyris is Philydrum lanuginosum
First time I've heard of the Philydraceae!
Its a Far East microfamily!
I didn't realize there were Commelina species with more or less equal petals either.
There's a cute but sad story behind Commelina: there were three Commelin brothers, all botanists (or aiming to be). The youngest died very young, and he is "represented" by the small petal of typical Commelina!
Hopefully I've worked out my numbers right, so this should be 95. Once I've caught up with editing the numbers in then I'll edit in the names of previously posted plants that have been identified.
Last night I was caught up doing a crocodile survey so didn't get any more photos up loaded. But during the day I was able to get some more interesting shots.
These plants grow on the slopes of the sandstone escarpment, supported by seepage water. Sandstone acts like a sponge, absorbing the wet season's rains and releasing them slowly over a long period..
Photo 095
I feel guilty. Next time the gravity feed pipes stuff up and we have to hike up into the mountains to fix them I'll try and bring my camera. Beautiful stuff, but I'm usually just trying to get my middle aged body in and out in one piece:)
Ann
Another Goodenia, growing on the slopes of sandstone escarpment.
Photo 096
This message was edited Mar 31, 2009 10:45 AM
As I said before Ann, about the only place I don't take my camera is into the shower.
A small shrub of the sandstone escarpment.
Photo 097
One of the many sandstone Acacias I can't identify.
Photo 098
This one is very common along all the slopes. The plant itself resembles a coleus, but is plain green.
Photo 099
I'd guess this is a Goodeniaceae, it resembles another one that grows on the coast, except it's a smaller, more spindly bush with totally different leaves. (The coastal one is Scaevola sericea.)
(IDed as Scaevola angulata, see also Photos 113 and 114 below.)
Photo 100
This message was edited Apr 9, 2009 6:25 AM
There's 10 Cleomes in the checklist for the Northern Territory, which one this is I don't know.
Photo 101
These were growing lower on the slopes of the escarpment, but I've seen them down in the woodlands as well. Not very widely spread, from what I've seen of it.
Photo 102
Another Spermacoce (see also photo 036). This one is smaller than the others and mainly green in colour.
Photo 103
This is another Spermacoce, but from the lowland woodlands, and pinkish in colour.
Photo 104
A Spermacoce again, from the same area as the last one (photo 104) but white in colour.
Photo 105
A short plant growing on river flats, subject to occasional flooding/inundation.
Photo 106
A Goodenia from the same area as the last photo - river flats, subject to occasional flooding/inundation.
Photo 107
More wonderful photos! I am enjoying seeing your corner of the world, thank you so much!
Crocodile survey? Gosh!
Jen.
Hey Tropicbreeze, photo 100 does look like a Scaevola. Maybe Scaevola evolved up into the hills from the coast in Australia as it did in Hawai'i. Do you have a photo of the leaves and whole plant?
Here is a shot of Scaevola chamissoniana; a rainforest bush found in Hawaiian uplands.
Jen, there's a lot where the photos just didn't come out any good. Then there's so many more that I haven't even photographed yet. So I'll keep them coming. It's great for me because I'm getting so much help with IDing them.
I get the opportunity to do lots of different surveys through my work. Croc surveys are one of the most common. I've got firearms training plus additional training specific to croc attacks. Other surveys I do are marine turtles (also involving croc attack risk), feral animals (Water Buffalo, Horses, Cattle, Donkeys and pigs), fauna and flora. The marine turtle surveys I've been avoiding the past few years, done so many already. No fun sitting on a deserted tropical island all night waiting for turtles to come up, and then wrestling them (Flat-back Turtles) after they've laid, or chasing around the reefs on a speeding boat and leaping into the water after Green Turtles.
Dave, I got those photos today, but forgot to bring the cable for down loading from my camera. Will have to do it Monday, I'm off for 4 days from work. But the leaves and shrub shape are very different to the coastal one. It's about a 70 - 80 cm erect shrub, with numerous branches tending to vertical rather than spreading like the S. sericea. Thickest stems are less than a centimetre diameter. Largest leaves (about 3 cms or less long) are towards the bottom of stems. Leaves get progressively smaller higher up the stems.
This is Acacia mimula, called Mankalbbu by Aborigines. (Note that when I give Aboriginal names, it's in the language I speak. There were about 600 different Aboriginal languages across the country.) It grows as a very small tree in well drained, lowland, sandy country. Flowers come late in the wet (now). For Aborigines it's a 'calendar plant', indicating the flood waters will be receding and the fish will be moving back up the rivers, ie time to go fishing.
Photo 108
Having to check back all the time now so that I don't double up. Noticed that Photo 040 and 093 are the same plant species.
This is a small twining herb which climbs grasses and other vegetation. One of the sand plain plants (from the fauna survey).
Photo 109
This is the Scaevola sericea mentioned previously. Grows at the back of beaches on sand dunes. Common in the north of Australia and the Indo-Pacific and Pacific regions.
Photo 110
Although some Solanums are edible, this one's not included. Solanum echinatum grows in the sandstone country and is called Mandjabeldjabel by Aborigines. They told me the fruit of this one is very poisonous to humans, but is eaten by Barrk, the Black Wallaroo (Macropus bernardus).
Photo 111
A Grevillea which is quite common but doesn't, in my opinion, have a very notable flower. Grevillea decurrens has beautiful leaves and while still of large shrub size can look very attractive with just the foliage. Grows up to a very small tree size. The fruits are a hard wooden capsule with a single seed surrounded by a thin circular wing which helps disperse the seed away from the parent.
An interesting view of this plant by Aborigines who call it Mandjangkerre Ngalbaydjan. It's the "mother" Mandjangkerre, the "boy" or "son" of it is Mandjangkerre Narangem, Grevillea heliosperma. It becomes a bit more involved, in anthropological terms, but I'll leave it at that. The seeds of both are similar and both very good eating.
Photo 112
Hi Tropicbreeze, the Scaevola you found has very small leaves from what I'm used to. Is it possibly Scaevola archeriana? It is a "sand plains" plant.
I see that Australia is the center of diversity for Scaevola. Maybe the Pan-Tropical Scaevola sericea came originally from Australia!
It looks like the flower lobes on the Australian plants (Scaevola sericea) are more rounded than those on Hawaiian plants.
Rachael, there are lots of feral horses here, we call them brumbies. One of our (Australian) iconic stories about brumbies was turned into a successful movie - "Man from the Snowy River". Although, the story is set in the south east of the country, a long way from here.
Dave, when I looked up the checklist there were 19 Scaevolas plus 8 subspecies/varieties. But there wasn't a Scaevola sericea. I also found this on a google search (http://florabase.dec.wa.gov.au/search/current/13153):
"Scaevola taccada (Gaertn.) Roxb. This taxon name is current. The available references for this name are:
Scaevola sericea Vahl is a taxonomic synonym. Reason: See Carolin, Fl.Australia 35:97(1992) "
Scaevola archeriana is very unlikely, it's from southern Western Australia, a very mediterranean climate and it's only known from down there.
The closest I could find was Scaevola angulata, but I get lost in the technical jargon of the description. The photo taken at East Alligator River (http://www.anbg.gov.au/cgi-bin/phtml?pc=nt&pn=163&size=3), about 100 - 200 kms from my photo seems a good match.
The description is at http://www.anbg.gov.au/abrs/abif/flora/stddisplay.xsql?pnid=3950
Our flora lists Scaevola sericea Vahl as the modern term, and Scaevola tacca Roxb. as the old synonym!
Why should they make it easy for us? :O(
