So who else in the bush is enjoying Christmas?

Mrs Western Spinebill did her bit, by making a strong toy sack for Santa.

Labels: Christmas, christmas bush, christmas tree

Posted by: Neil C / 1:45 PM 0 comments

There are more than sixty smokebush species occurring in most Australian States, but are most numerous and diverse in the SW region of WA (the wheatbelt). Generally they are low to medium sized shrubs, often with striking floral displays that are used in the cut flower industry. There are several species in the Esperance region, but two outshine the others when it comes to display. These are Conospermum distichum and Conospermum teretifolium.

The Conospermum distichum smokebush is a bushy shrub growing to less than a metre and usually (in the Esperance region) occurring in small colonies on deep sandy soil. It mass flowers during spring producing a striking bluish grey (smoky) floral display.

Conospermum teretifolium the Spider Smokebush grows to over a metre, also on deep sandy soils, but as scattered plants or only a few individuals. The flowers form in dense creamy white heads during late spring to early summer.

Like most people interested in botany, I have often been caught out on identification. On occasion I have seen (to me) a new species and on keying out the botanical features, it eventually indicates that it belongs to this or that family. But being familiar with some species and genera within that family, I think it can't be as it looks nothing like them. So believing I have made an error, I retrace my steps, only to arrive back again at the highly suspicious family. So reluctantly I investigate, only to find the key was correct and I had encountered yet another variation of the taxonomic features.

These two Conospermum species are also very dissimilar, but now have a look at the flowers, first the C. distichum smokebush. Note the small petals and densely woolly flowers.

Now the Conospermum teretifolium the Spider Smokebush, see how large the flowers are in comparison, with no hairs and the long thin petals.

So how come these completely different plants have been placed in the same genus? The secret is in the structure of the flowers, and this applies not only to these two species, but also to the hundreds of other species in the large Proteaceae family. These Proteaceae plants are found in several countries, although Australia and South Africa have the greatest diversity of species. These include the Australian Banksia, Hakea, Grevillea, Isopogon, Persoonia, Conospermum, etc, also the Protea, Leucospermum, Leucadendron, etc, from South Africa.

The similarity of these plants world wide, is they all have four perianth-segments (4 petal-like structures), with four stamens that are either attached directly to the petal-like structures, or to the perianth (flower) tube itself. There are other features like a superior ovary (where the floral tube runs uninterrupted to below the seed bearing structure, ie the ovary), but basically you have 4 petals + 4 attached stamens.

Now the main differences between the genera relate to the seed and/or, the seed bearing structure, which with Conospermum is a hairy obconical seed/nut. Conospermum in Latin means a cone [shaped] seed.

Therefore both these very different looking plants, have with close examination, 4 petals + 4 attached stamens + obconical seed/nuts!

Why not checkout the above features on the Proteaceae plants in your garden or bush? Then look at the different seeds and seed carrying arrangements. So now you should be able to recognise any Proteaceae plant from anywhere in the world, even if you have never seen them before.

Labels: conospermum, proteacea, smokebush, western australia, wheatbelt

Posted by: Neil C / 1:34 PM 0 comments

Labels: banksia, baueri, Ferdinand Bauer, flower, infloresence

Posted by: Neil C / 7:36 PM 0 comments

Botany Photo of the Day

Posted by: Neil C / 9:55 PM 0 comments

Walnut Creek's Ruth Bancroft is a national authority on drought-resistant gardening. Twice a month she and her staff share their knowledge with Times readers.

MANY PLANTS begin their annual cycle with a burst of flowering, and this is what makes spring such an exhilarating time of year to be out in the garden.

However, different groups of plants have different ideas about when to commence, and thus we have waves of "spring" extending from early starters, like paperwhite narcissus that often begins flowering even before New Year's, all the way through the late bloomers, such as many rhododendrons, which don't get going until May.

Among the early birds are many kinds of acacia, which often provide splashes of intense yellow early in the year.

This large group includes a number of widely grown trees that are familiar parts of the California landscape, but many gardeners don't realize just how many kinds there are to choose from. Some of these are shrubs rather than trees, although in some cases a species may be either a tree or a shrub, depending on conditions or on pruning.

One delightful species of modest size is Acacia cultriformis, sometimes known as the knife acacia because its small bluish leaves look like little paring knives. In the "Sunset Western Garden Book," its size is listed as 10 to 15 feet, but even after many years, our plants at the Ruth Bancroft Garden are only about 8 feet tall.

Like many acacias, it comes from Australia and keeps its leaves all year round, and its silvery blue-gray color is an attractive feature. In late January, clusters of bright yellow flowers are produced at the ends of the branches. These are small puffballs, but occur in such numbers that the whole bush becomes a dazzling blaze of yellow.

Somewhat similar, but taller-growing, is Acacia pravissima. This species has a similar leaf shape and is also from Australia, but its leaves are more a gray-green color. Our specimen is definitely a small tree rather than a shrub, but its mass of brilliant yellow flowers commencing in late January is very reminiscent of A. cultriformis.

These two species are only a small sample of the many attractive acacias available, with leaf colors varying from emerald-green to olive-green to bluish or silvery. Flower color in acacias is almost always yellow, though this may range from pale yellow -- or even straw-colored -- to a golden or orange-yellow hue.

If you have a question for the Ruth Bancroft Garden, e-mail info@ruthbancroftgarden.org. For tour and event information, visit www.ruthbancroftgarden.org.

Posted by: Neil C / 4:55 PM 0 comments

New research from the CSIRO suggests the current drought is due to natural variation in climate, not the greenhouse effect.

Barrie Hunt, an honorary research fellow at the CSIRO's atmospheric research centre in Melbourne, has studied 10,000 years of climate variability in Australia.

His research shows about 30 periods of drought which occur at random times and he says the length of each drought does not follow a predictable pattern.

Mr Hunt says this drought is not caused by the greenhouse effect.

"I think it's probably a bit to early yet to say we're having a greenhouse effect on rainfall, rainfall's a very difficult climatic term to get to grips with," he said.

"There's definitely a greenhouse effect on temperature, I'm not sure we're having one on rainfall yet.

"This drought will break and it's important for people to say well I understand that when the drought breaks it's not the greenhouse effect is a load of rubbish, of course it's rained again, everyone says this thing's due to the greenhouse effect and therefore they expect it to go on forever in a way, the naive people do."

Posted by: Neil C / 10:57 AM 0 comments