I have always said that there is always something flowering in the Western Australian bush. And it is true even in summer.
Those of you who follow my blog will know that I am a wildflower hunter, and I feel incredibly lucky to live in Western Australia.
There are more than 12,000 species of wildflowers in Western Australia, making it the world’s largest collection.....60% of Western Australian wildflowers are found nowhere else on Earth.
This is Jarrah - Eucalyptus marginata - flowering spring and summer
We have been making regular visits to Manea Park near where we live over the winter and spring months. I've shared pics of orchids with you from time to time during my Covid Photo a day project. There has been an orchid we have been waiting to see come into flower over the last couple of months. And last week we were rewarded.
When we first saw these leaves in the middle of the year they looked so much like eucalypt leaves we didn't know they were orchids, but the wonderful people at the Wildflower Society of Western Australia on Facebook helped me with identification.
These are Slipper orchids or Western tongue orchid - Cryptostylis ovata - a summer flowering orchid endemic to Western Australia's south west. They grow in colonies and four to fifteen flowers form on each stem, though not all plants will flower each year.
But I have gotten slightly ahead of myself. We had hardly started along the path into Manea Park when we spied a young kangaroo sitting on the edge of the path. He was unconcerned about us. I think he was last year's joey as sitting just off the path was his mother with this year's joey sticking his head and legs out of her pouch. So cute! These reserves of bush in our cities are so important for the preservation of wildlife and flora. They are good for our well-being too!
There was not a lot flowering, as it is summer here, but there are still flowers to be seen. I know why I don't frequent this bush block in summer - it was hot! - and probably why there were flowers I hadn't seen before.
Below here you can see clockwise from top left - Spider smokebush - Conospermum teretifolium, Snotty gobble - Persoonia saccata, Jarrah - Eucalyptus marginata, and one of the pea family
And here is one of the Fringe Lilys - Thysanotus multiflorus
We had never seen this one before. Yellow starflower - Calytrix angulata. Rather gorgeous don't you think.
And the Spearwood - Kunzea glabrescens. Evidently it's long straight branches were useful to the indigenous people for making spears.
And this is the Candlestick Banksia - Banksia attenuata, also known as slender banksia or biara to the Noongar people. It reminds me so much of giant Christmas candles this time of year. This tree commonly reaches 10 metres tall and the flowers 25cms long.
You can see it at the different stages of flowering here. I love how the new leaves unfurl - as in the first two photos. The bottom right photo is the hard banksia nut. There are many forms of banksia - I have blogged about some of them here -
Thank you so much for stopping by. I hope you and yours are well and that you have enjoyed my post today. Take care and stay safe. I value your comments and look forward to hearing from you. I will try to visit your blogs in return. Have a wonderful week.
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