tag:theconversation.com,2011:/es/topics/beating-around-the-bush-54029/articlesBeating around the bush – The Conversation2020-09-29T20:01:34Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1461092020-09-29T20:01:34Z2020-09-29T20:01:34ZOnce again, wattles are out in bloom: here’s what makes our iconic flowers so special<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/359953/original/file-20200925-14-11k2voc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Spring has arrived, and all over the country the hills and riversides are burnished with the green and gold of Australian wattles, all belonging to the genus <em>Acacia</em>. </p>
<p>It’s a spectacular sight, but not a surprising one as there are about 1,000 Australian species in the <a href="http://www.anbg.gov.au/acacia/"><em>Acacia</em></a> genus ranging from very small shrubs to tall, longed-lived trees. They occur in ecosystems from the arid inland to the wet forests of the east coast. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/tree-ferns-are-older-than-dinosaurs-and-thats-not-even-the-most-interesting-thing-about-them-138435">Tree ferns are older than dinosaurs. And that's not even the most interesting thing about them</a>
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<p>Wattles have been widely used by Indigenous people for millenia, and celebrated by “<a href="http://www.wattleday.asn.au/about-wattles/what-do-you-know-a-few-wattle-facts">Wattle Day</a>” on September 1 for more than a century. </p>
<p>But their lineage may be much older. Australian wattles have relatives in Africa, South America, India and parts of Southeast Asia. This distribution suggests the wattles may have originated in Gondwana before the super-continent fragmented about 180 million years ago. </p>
<p>So let’s take a closer look at what makes these iconic flowers so special. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/359954/original/file-20200925-20-90ckdc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Wattle on a cloudy day" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/359954/original/file-20200925-20-90ckdc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/359954/original/file-20200925-20-90ckdc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359954/original/file-20200925-20-90ckdc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359954/original/file-20200925-20-90ckdc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359954/original/file-20200925-20-90ckdc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359954/original/file-20200925-20-90ckdc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359954/original/file-20200925-20-90ckdc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Wattle can always brighten a dreary day.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<h2>Don’t blame wattles for your hay fever</h2>
<p>Not everyone welcomes the wattles’ golden blooms — many blame wattle pollen for their hay fever or asthma. </p>
<p>However, many species of wattle have <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/health/2015-09-23/dont-blame-the-wattle/6791396">aggregated pollen</a>, which means it’s very heavy and tends to fall straight to ground. You have to be virtually under the plant for it to affect you. </p>
<p>They can cause trouble, but it’s more likely your allergy is due to some other inconspicuous plant, such as grass, that you haven’t noticed compared to the bright yellow of the wattles. It’s worth having an allergy test.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-manage-grass-pollen-exposure-this-hay-fever-season-an-expert-guide-123271">How to manage grass pollen exposure this hay fever season: an expert guide</a>
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<p>While a majority of wattles flower in spring and summer, a significant group — such as the sunshine wattle (<em>A. botrycephala</em>), Gawler Range wattle (<em>A. iteaphylla</em>) and flax wattle (<em>A linifolia</em>) — flowers in <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2003/07/03/2578547.htm">autumn and winter</a>. This can give the impression in some places that they’re flowering year-round. </p>
<p>What’s more, many species are hardy, and they can help in the process of taking nitrogen from the air and adding to the soil. That means they can be very handy in ancient, nutrient-poor Australian soils. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360472/original/file-20200929-14-1r2142v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A mulga in the Australian desert" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360472/original/file-20200929-14-1r2142v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360472/original/file-20200929-14-1r2142v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360472/original/file-20200929-14-1r2142v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360472/original/file-20200929-14-1r2142v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360472/original/file-20200929-14-1r2142v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=654&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360472/original/file-20200929-14-1r2142v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=654&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360472/original/file-20200929-14-1r2142v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=654&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Mulga grows over about 20% of our continent.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mark Marathon/Wikimedia</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>Many of the smaller shrub wattles may live for only a decade or so, but some, <a href="http://theconversation.com/the-mighty-mulga-grows-deep-and-lives-long-118838">such as mulga</a> (<em>Acacia aneura</em>) can live for centuries and are crucial to the viability and stability of arid inland ecosystems. They can have surprisingly large and deep root systems for such small shrubs or trees. This is to obtain water, but also binds the soil.</p>
<p>However, mulga-munching horses, cattle and other feral grazers threaten the persistence of mulga-dominated communities. If mulga and other inland <em>Acacia</em> species are lost, the soils can become loose and mobile, which results in stable productive land becoming desert.</p>
<h2>By any other name</h2>
<p>In the early 2000s, there was <a href="https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/wildlife/2016/03/the-wattle-war/">fierce debate</a> among plant taxonomists about how closely the African and Australian species were related. </p>
<p>The name “Acacia” rightly belonged to the African group, but because there were so many Australian species that would need to be renamed, Australia was allowed to keep the name “Acacia” in 2011 — much to the chagrin of foreign taxonomists. </p>
<p>This resulted in the genus being divided. Australian wattles stayed as <em>Acacia</em>, but African wattles are now in the genera <em>Vachellia</em> or <em>Senegalia</em>, and those from the middle Americas (around Mexico) are <em>Acaciella</em> and <em>Mariosousa</em>. </p>
<p>The different names reflect long, separate histories and different ecological characteristics. (The name changes rankle still with taxonomists!) </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360467/original/file-20200929-22-65x56c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Close-up of black wattle flowers" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360467/original/file-20200929-22-65x56c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360467/original/file-20200929-22-65x56c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360467/original/file-20200929-22-65x56c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360467/original/file-20200929-22-65x56c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360467/original/file-20200929-22-65x56c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360467/original/file-20200929-22-65x56c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360467/original/file-20200929-22-65x56c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Black wattle is a pest overseas.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<p>There are also weedy wattles in Australia and elsewhere. Many of us know from hard experience that the splendid ornamental tree, Cootamundra wattle (<em>Acacia baileyiana</em>), can become a weed if it grows outside its very restricted natural range in New South Wales. And Australia’s <a href="http://theconversation.com/the-black-wattle-is-a-boon-for-Australians-and-a-pest-everywhere-else-100529">black wattle</a> (<em>A. mearnsii</em>) is a significant weed in other parts of the world. </p>
<p>It can come as a bit of a blow to know Australia’s floral emblem, golden wattle (<em>A. pycnantha</em>), can be weedy both at home and when it travels abroad (perhaps like some Australians). </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-black-wattle-is-a-boon-for-australians-and-a-pest-everywhere-else-100529">The black wattle is a boon for Australians (and a pest everywhere else)</a>
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<p>Interestingly, most of the Australian wattles lack thorns, unlike <a href="http://worldwidewattle.com/schools/animals.php">their relatives in Africa</a>. In Africa, thorns protect the plants from large mammalian grazers such as giraffes. </p>
<h2>Ants love wattles, too</h2>
<p>If you don’t like ants, it might be worth checking which species of wattle you have in your backyard, or intend to buy.</p>
<p>Many wattles have a very special relationship with some insects. In Central America, ants penetrate the thorns of Bulls Horn wattle trees and establish their colonies. They then defend the tree against other insects, and if branches of another tree touch the host tree, the ants will cause such damage that the other tree will die back. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360464/original/file-20200929-20-dftc3q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360464/original/file-20200929-20-dftc3q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360464/original/file-20200929-20-dftc3q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360464/original/file-20200929-20-dftc3q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360464/original/file-20200929-20-dftc3q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360464/original/file-20200929-20-dftc3q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360464/original/file-20200929-20-dftc3q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360464/original/file-20200929-20-dftc3q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">There are more than 1,000 species of wattle in the <em>Acacia</em> genus.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<p>In Australia, the relationship between ants and wattles is based on food. The hard wattle seeds have a tasty and oil-rich outgrowth called an “aril”, which is irresistible to some ant species. </p>
<p>The ants harvest the seeds and take them back to their nest, where they’re safe from other hungry grazers until it is damaged by fire or flood and the seeds germinate. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-tiny-ants-have-invaded-your-house-and-what-to-do-about-it-132092">Why tiny ants have invaded your house, and what to do about it</a>
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<p>Some wattles, the mulga among them, have little <a href="http://worldwidewattle.com/schools/animals.php">glands</a> at the base of their phyllodes (the modified leaf stalks). These glands secrete a form of sugary syrup that attracts feeding ants. These ants may also protect host trees or perhaps leave the flowers alone to allow a greater seed set to grow. </p>
<p>It’s clear wattles have a lot going for them. They are diverse in number, habit, size, longevity and flowering season — there’s a wattle for every occasion. For all of these great traits, it’s still that green and gold that endears them to Australians.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/146109/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gregory Moore does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>With their vibrant blooms and a lineage tracing back to the ancient supercontinent of Gondwana, wattles have a lot going for them.Gregory Moore, Doctor of Botany, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1384352020-08-14T04:56:07Z2020-08-14T04:56:07ZTree ferns are older than dinosaurs. And that’s not even the most interesting thing about them<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352850/original/file-20200814-22-ukwhuy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C7%2C4977%2C3303&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>With massive fronds creating a luxuriously green canopy in the understory of Australian forests, tree ferns are a familiar sight on many long drives or bushwalks. But how much do you really know about them? </p>
<p>First of all, tree ferns are ferns, but they are not really trees. To be a tree, a plant must be woody (undergo secondary plant growth, which thickens stems and roots) and grow to a height of at least three metres when mature. While tree ferns can have single, thick trunk-like stems and can grow to a height of more than 15 metres, they are never woody.</p>
<p>They’re also incredibly hardy — tree ferns are often the first plants to show signs of recovery in the early weeks after bushfires. </p>
<p>The unfurling of an almost iridescent green tree fern fiddlehead amid the sombre black of the bushfire ash is almost symbolic of the potential for bushfire recovery.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/353082/original/file-20200817-16-anfxaq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Green fronds growing from blackened stumps in a forest." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/353082/original/file-20200817-16-anfxaq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/353082/original/file-20200817-16-anfxaq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353082/original/file-20200817-16-anfxaq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353082/original/file-20200817-16-anfxaq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353082/original/file-20200817-16-anfxaq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353082/original/file-20200817-16-anfxaq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/353082/original/file-20200817-16-anfxaq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Ferns are often the first plants to grow back after bushfires.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Greg Moore</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<h2>Ancient family ties</h2>
<p>Tree ferns are generally slow growing, at rates of just 25-50 millimetres height increase per year. This means the tall individuals you might spot in a mature forest may be <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5426625/#:%7E:text=The%20tree%20fern%20species%20in,grow%20to%2020m%20%5B16%5D.">several centuries old</a>. </p>
<p>However, in the right environment they can grow faster, so guessing their real age can be tricky, especially if they’re growing outside their usual forest environment.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-coastal-banksia-has-its-roots-in-ancient-gondwana-138434">The coastal banksia has its roots in ancient Gondwana</a>
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<p>As a plant group, tree ferns are ancient, dating back <a href="https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/ferns-the-glory-of-the-forest/">hundreds of millions of years</a> and pre-dating dinosaurs. </p>
<p>They existed on earth long before the flowering or cone-bearing plants evolved, and were a significant element of the earth’s flora during the <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/prehistoric-world/carboniferous/">Carboniferous</a> period 300-360 million years ago, when conditions for plant growth were near ideal. This explains why ferns don’t reproduce by flowers, fruits or cones, but by more primitive spores. </p>
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<img alt="A shoot of the _Dicksonia antarctica_, ready to unfurl." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352855/original/file-20200814-24-1f795dv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352855/original/file-20200814-24-1f795dv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352855/original/file-20200814-24-1f795dv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352855/original/file-20200814-24-1f795dv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352855/original/file-20200814-24-1f795dv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352855/original/file-20200814-24-1f795dv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352855/original/file-20200814-24-1f795dv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A shoot of the <em>Dicksonia antarctica</em>, ready to unfurl.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">JJ Harrison/Wikimedia</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>In fact, fossilised tree ferns and their relatives called the fern allies laid down during the carboniferous then have provided much of the earth’s fossil fuels dating from that period. And tree ferns were a great <a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/9452631">food source</a>, with Indigenous people once <a href="https://museumsvictoria.com.au/bunjilaka/about-us/the-plants-of-milarri-garden/">eating the pulp</a> that occurs in the centre of the tree fern stem either raw or roasted as a starch. </p>
<p>Until recent times, ferns were quiet achievers among plant groups with an expanding number of species and greater numbers. Today, human activities are limiting <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/resources/28b03b9a-2b02-4a50-82d0-54697736ab6e/files/threatened-tasmanian-ferns.pdf">their success</a> by the clearing of forests and agricultural practices. Climate change is also a more recent threat to many fern species. </p>
<h2>Species you’ve probably seen</h2>
<p>Two of the more common tree fern species of south eastern Australia are <em><a href="https://www.anbg.gov.au/gnp/interns-2003/cyathea-spp.html">Cyathea australis</a></em> and <a href="https://www.anbg.gov.au/gnp/interns-2003/dicksonia-antarctica.html"><em>Dicksonia antarctica</em></a>. Both species have a wide distribution, extending from Queensland down the Australian coast and into Tasmania. </p>
<p>They’re often found growing near each other along rivers and creeks. They look superficially alike and many people would be unaware that they are entirely different species at first glance. That is, until you look closely at the detail of their fronds and run your fingers down the stalks. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352859/original/file-20200814-22-1yhye53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A road cuts through a forest with tree ferns either side" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352859/original/file-20200814-22-1yhye53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352859/original/file-20200814-22-1yhye53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352859/original/file-20200814-22-1yhye53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352859/original/file-20200814-22-1yhye53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352859/original/file-20200814-22-1yhye53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352859/original/file-20200814-22-1yhye53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352859/original/file-20200814-22-1yhye53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tree ferns are a familiar sight on road trips through forests and bushwalks.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>C. australis</em> has a rough almost prickly frond, hence its common name of rough tree fern, and can grow to be 25 metres tall. While <em>D. antarctica</em>, as the soft tree fern, has a smooth and sometimes furry frond and rarely grows above 15 metres. </p>
<p>Both contribute to the lush green appearance of the understory of wet forests dominated by eucalypts, such as mountain ash (<em>Eucalyptus regnans</em>).</p>
<h2>Stems that host a tiny ecosystem</h2>
<p>The way tree ferns grow is quite complex. That’s because growth, even of the roots, originates from part of the apex of the stem. If this crown is damaged, then the fern can die. </p>
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<p>At the right time of the year, the new fronds unfurl in the crown from a coil called a fiddlehead. The stem of the tree fern is made up of all of the retained leaf bases of the fronds from previous years. </p>
<p>The stems are very fibrous and quite strong, which means they tend to retain moisture. And this is one of the reasons why the stems of tree ferns don’t easily burn in bushfires — even when they’re dry or dead.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352856/original/file-20200814-20-1r49mvn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="tall tree ferns with thick trunks." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352856/original/file-20200814-20-1r49mvn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352856/original/file-20200814-20-1r49mvn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352856/original/file-20200814-20-1r49mvn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352856/original/file-20200814-20-1r49mvn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352856/original/file-20200814-20-1r49mvn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352856/original/file-20200814-20-1r49mvn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/352856/original/file-20200814-20-1r49mvn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"><em>Dicksonia antarctica</em> is one of the more common species in Australian forests.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In some dense wet forest communities, the stems of tree ferns are a miniature ecosystem, with epiphytic plants — such as mosses, translucent filmy ferns, perhaps lichens and the seedlings of other plant species — growing on them. </p>
<p>These epiphytes are not bad for the tree ferns, they’re just looking for a place to live, and the fibrous, nutrient-rich, moist tree fern stems prove brilliantly suitable. </p>
<h2>Engulfed by trees</h2>
<p>Similarly, the spreading canopies of tree ferns, such as <em>D. antarctica</em>, provide an excellent place for trees and other species to germinate. </p>
<p>That’s because many plants need good light for their seedlings to establish and this may not be available on the forest floor. Seeds, such as those of the native (or myrtle) beech, <em>Nothofagus cunninghamii</em>, may germinate in the crowns of tree ferns, and its roots can grow down the tree fern trunks and into the soil. </p>
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<p>As time passes, the tree species may completely grow over the tree fern, engulfing the tree fern stem into its trunk. Decades, or even centuries later, it’s sometimes still possible to see the old tree fern stem embedded inside.</p>
<p>Still, tree ferns are wonderfully resilient and give a sense of permanence to our ever-changing fire-affected landscapes.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/138435/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gregory Moore does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>They’re a familiar sight on forest walks and long drives, but tree ferns are more fascinating than you may have realised.Gregory Moore, Doctor of Botany, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1384342020-06-12T04:47:15Z2020-06-12T04:47:15ZThe coastal banksia has its roots in ancient Gondwana<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341052/original/file-20200611-114066-10q242f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=220%2C141%2C1493%2C833&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://flic.kr/p/ecVh2F">John Tann/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>If you fondly remember May Gibbs’s <a href="https://maygibbs.org/story/gumnut-babies/">Gumnut Baby</a> stories about the adventures of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie, you may also remember the villainous <a href="https://maygibbs.org/characters/big-bad-banksia-men/">Big Bad Banksia Men</a> (perhaps you’re still having nightmares about them). </p>
<p>But banksias are nothing to be afraid of. They’re a marvellous group of Australian native trees and shrubs, with an ancient heritage and a vital role in Australian plant ecology, colonial history and bushfire regeneration.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.anbg.gov.au/banksia/">genus Banksia</a> has about 173 native species. It takes its name from botanist <a href="https://theconversation.com/botany-and-the-colonisation-of-australia-in-1770-128469">Sir Joseph Banks</a>, who collected specimens of four species in 1770 when he arrived in Australia on board Captain Cook’s Endeavour. </p>
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Read more:
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<p>One of the four species he collected was <em>B. integrifolia</em>, the coastal banksia. This can be a small to medium tree about 5m to 15m tall. In the right conditions, it can be quite impressive and grow up to 35m. </p>
<p>It’s found naturally in coastal regions, growing on sand dunes or around coastal marshes from Queensland to Victoria. These can be quite tough environments and, while <em>B. integrifolia</em> tends to grow in slightly protected sites, it still copes well with sandy soils, poor soil nutrition, salt and wind.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341066/original/file-20200611-114066-11d96vm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341066/original/file-20200611-114066-11d96vm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341066/original/file-20200611-114066-11d96vm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341066/original/file-20200611-114066-11d96vm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341066/original/file-20200611-114066-11d96vm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341066/original/file-20200611-114066-11d96vm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341066/original/file-20200611-114066-11d96vm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341066/original/file-20200611-114066-11d96vm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In the right conditions, coastal banksia can grow to 35m tall.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>From ancient origins</h2>
<p>Coastal banksia – like all banksias – belong to <a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/14599266?q&versionId=45817129">the protea family</a> (Proteaceae). But given the spectacular flowering proteas are of African origin, how did our Australian genera get here?</p>
<p>The members of the Proteaceae belong to an ancient group of flowering plants that evolved almost 100 million years ago on the southern supercontinent Gondwana. When Gondwana fragmented more than 80 million years ago, the proteas remained on the African plate, while the Australian genera remained here.</p>
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<p>
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Read more:
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<p>The spikes of woody fruits on the Australian banksia, sometimes called cones, are made up of several hundred flowers. The flower spikes are beautiful structures, soft and brush-like. But with <em>B. integrifolia</em>, they are pale green, similar to the foliage, and can be hard to see within the canopy at a distance.</p>
<p>Up close, these fruit spikes can look quite spooky, almost sinister, especially when wasps have caused <a href="https://www.sgaonline.org.au/gall-of-australian-native-trees/">extensive gall formation</a>. Galls are swellings that develop on plant tissues as a result of fungal and insect damage, a bit like a benign tumour. </p>
<p>Maybe this is what led May Gibbs to cast them as <a href="https://www.maygibbs.org/characters/big-bad-banksia-men/">the baddies</a> in her Gumnut Baby stories. While the galls may look unsightly, they rarely do serious harm to banksias.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341056/original/file-20200611-114066-i21m2u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341056/original/file-20200611-114066-i21m2u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=723&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341056/original/file-20200611-114066-i21m2u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=723&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341056/original/file-20200611-114066-i21m2u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=723&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341056/original/file-20200611-114066-i21m2u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=908&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341056/original/file-20200611-114066-i21m2u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=908&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341056/original/file-20200611-114066-i21m2u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=908&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Banksias were depicted as the Big Bad Banksia Men in May Gibbs’s Gumnut stories.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://maygibbs.org/characters/big-bad-banksia-men/">May Gibbs/The Northcott Society and Cerebral Palsy Alliance</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Indigenous use</h2>
<p>Given the fruit spikes of coastal banksia look like brushes, it’s not surprising Indigenous people once used them as <a href="https://www.monash.edu/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/542119/Guide-to-the-Aboriginal-Garden-Clayton-Campus.pdf">paint brushes</a>. </p>
<p>The flowers <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/BT/BT9850705" title="Flowering Biology and Phenology of Banksia integrifolia and B. spinulosa (Proteaceae) in New England National Park, NSW">are very rich in nectar</a>, which attracts insects and birds. If you run your hand along the flower spike you, like generations of Aboriginal people before you, can enjoy the sweet taste if you lick the nectar off your hand. You can also soak the flowers in water and collect a sweet syrup. </p>
<p>In the garden, <em>B. integrifolia</em> is wonderfully attractive to native insects, birds and ringtail possums. It’s easy to establish and, until it grows more than a few metres high, can be successfully moved and transplanted.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341064/original/file-20200611-114124-1uflyxn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341064/original/file-20200611-114124-1uflyxn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341064/original/file-20200611-114124-1uflyxn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341064/original/file-20200611-114124-1uflyxn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341064/original/file-20200611-114124-1uflyxn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341064/original/file-20200611-114124-1uflyxn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341064/original/file-20200611-114124-1uflyxn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341064/original/file-20200611-114124-1uflyxn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Coastal banksia doesn’t need fire to release its seed.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Unlike many other banksia species, coastal banksias don’t need fire to release their seed. For many Australian species, the woody fruits remain solid and sealed, and it’s only when fire comes through that they burn, dry, crack open and release their seed.</p>
<p>This can happen with <em>B. integrifolia</em> too, but in a garden setting the fruits will mature, dry and crack open and release the seeds, which germinate readily. This makes propagating coastal banksia easy work.</p>
<h2>In touch with its roots</h2>
<p>Perhaps one of the more important, but less obvious, attributes of <em>B. integrifolia</em> are its roots. These are a special type of root possessed by members of the protea family.</p>
<p>The roots form a dense, branched cluster, a bit like the head of a toothbrush, that can be 2-5cm across. They greatly increase the absorbing surface area of the roots, as each root possesses thousands of very fine root hairs.</p>
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<p>Proteoid roots can be very handy in sandy and other poor soils, where water drains quickly and nutrients are scarce.</p>
<p>These roots, also described as cluster roots, are often visible in a garden bed just at the interface of the soil with the humus or mulch layer above it. They’re very light brown, almost white, in colour.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341390/original/file-20200612-38702-59lnis.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341390/original/file-20200612-38702-59lnis.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341390/original/file-20200612-38702-59lnis.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341390/original/file-20200612-38702-59lnis.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341390/original/file-20200612-38702-59lnis.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341390/original/file-20200612-38702-59lnis.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341390/original/file-20200612-38702-59lnis.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341390/original/file-20200612-38702-59lnis.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rainbow lorikeets love hanging around in banksias.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/salihan/5567118988/">Flickr/Salihan</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>B. integrifolia</em>, like other banksias, also has the ability to take in nitrogen and enrich the soil, which can be very handy in soils low in nitrogen. It’s like a natural living and decorative fertiliser.</p>
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<p>Proteoid roots are unfortunately very well suited to the presence of <em>Phytophthora cinnamomii</em> (the cinnamon fungus). It causes dieback in many native plant species, but can be particularly virulent for banksias.</p>
<p>But <em>B. Integrifolia</em> is one of the more <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Native_Australian_Plants/1G4lAQAAMAAJ?hl=en" title="Native Australian Plants">resistant species</a> to the fungus. Promising experiments have been done on grafting susceptible species onto the roots of <em>B. integrifolia</em> to improve their rates of survival.</p>
<p>This could be important, as banksias have a role in bushfire regeneration in many parts of Australia, so the occurrence of the fungus can compromise fire recovery.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/138434/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gregory Moore does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The plant takes its name from the colonial botanist Joseph Banks, but the coastal banksia’s history goes way back to ancient times.Gregory Moore, Doctor of Botany, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1235232019-09-27T02:13:51Z2019-09-27T02:13:51ZThe showy everlasting is endangered, but a primary school is helping out<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/292384/original/file-20190913-2184-1s7tq8o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=53%2C0%2C6000%2C3979&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The showy everlasting is being grown at Woodlupine Primary School.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Andrew Crawford</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Western Australia boasts seemingly endless fields of pink, white and yellow everlasting daisies. But while there might seem to be an infinite number, one species in particular is actually <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/epbc/about">endangered</a>. The showy everlasting (or <a href="https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/browse/profile/13356"><em>Schoenia filifolia</em> subsp. <em>subulifolia</em></a>) once grew in the Mid West of WA. Now it is found in just a few spots around the tiny inland town of Mingenew.</p>
<p>But a WA primary school is helping my colleagues and me save the beautiful showy everlasting. With new seed banks, a genetic project and a whole lot of digging, we’re hopeful we can keep this gorgeous native daisy around for the next generation. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-phoenix-factor-what-home-gardeners-can-learn-from-natures-rebirth-after-fire-122620">The phoenix factor: what home gardeners can learn from nature's rebirth after fire</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>A grower and a shower</h2>
<p>The first European to collect the showy everlasting was eminent botanist James Drummond, most likely in the mid-1800s. Initially the species was placed in the Helichrysum family (a group of plants also known as everlastings), but in 1992 botanist Paul Wilson formally described the species based on a specimen collected from Geraldton. </p>
<p>The genus name <em>Schoenia</em> is in honour of the 19th-century eye specialist and botanical illustrator Johannes Schoen, and the species name <em>filifolia</em> refers to its long, slender leaves.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/294304/original/file-20190926-51429-3tnaht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/294304/original/file-20190926-51429-3tnaht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/294304/original/file-20190926-51429-3tnaht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294304/original/file-20190926-51429-3tnaht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294304/original/file-20190926-51429-3tnaht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294304/original/file-20190926-51429-3tnaht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294304/original/file-20190926-51429-3tnaht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294304/original/file-20190926-51429-3tnaht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Showy everlastings retain their colour long after they’re picked and dried.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Andrew Crawford</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Everlastings get their name from the fact that that the flowers hold their colour long after they have been picked and dried. The species is known as the showy everlasting because its large, brightly coloured flowers put on a spectacular show when in bloom. </p>
<p>The showy everlasting is an annual plant, growing around 30cm high, with long narrow leaves. Its bright yellow flowers bloom from August to October. The showy everlasting has two closely related sister species: the more common <a href="https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/browse/profile/13287"><em>Schoenia filifolia</em> subsp. <em>filifolia</em></a>, found throughout the WA Wheatbelt, and <a href="https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/browse/profile/13288"><em>Schoenia filifolia</em> subsp. <em>arenicola</em></a>, which grows around Carnarvon but hasn’t been collected for decades. The main differences between the showy everlasting and its sister species are the much larger flowers and the shape of the base of the flower, which is hemispherical rather than vase-shaped.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/waratah-is-an-icon-of-the-aussie-bush-and-very-nearly-our-national-emblem-122706">Waratah is an icon of the Aussie bush (and very nearly our national emblem)</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Collections of the showy everlasting housed in the <a href="https://www.dpaw.wa.gov.au/plants-and-animals/wa-herbarium">Western Australian Herbarium</a> indicate the species was once more widespread. It’s likely land clearing for farms and infrastructure led to the disappearance of the species from much of its known range. </p>
<p>It was listed as endangered in 2003. At that time the species was found in just three locations. At each of these sites, threats such as chemical drift from nearby agricultural land, grazing by animals, competition from weeds, and increasing soil salinity were all jeopardising the survival of the species. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, by the late 2000s two of these three populations had succumbed to these threats and were lost. However, continued search efforts since then have uncovered two new populations. The showy everlasting is hanging on, but a concerted conservation effort is needed to ensure its survival in the wild.</p>
<h2>New populations needed</h2>
<p>To ensure the long-term survival of the showy everlasting, we need to establish new populations – a process called <a href="https://www.dpaw.wa.gov.au/about-us/science-and-research/plant-conservation-research/258-flora-translocations">translocation</a>.</p>
<p>As an insurance policy, in 2007 seeds were collected and frozen in the Threatened Flora Seed Vault at the Western Australia Seed Centre. In 2015 my colleagues and I used some of these seeds in small-scale translocation trials, successfully getting new plants to grow, flower and seed in three small populations. </p>
<p>Despite this success, we knew the populations would need to be much, much larger and we would need many more populations to ensure persistence of the species. And for that we needed more information about the showy everlasting’s biology, and larger amounts of seed.</p>
<p>Currently a genetic study is underway to look at the difference between the showy everlasting in different locations and its sister species. As part of my PhD study with <a href="http://www.murdoch.edu.au/Research-capabilities/Terrestrial-Ecology/">Murdoch University</a>, I am running a glasshouse experiment to see whether different populations of the showy everlasting can cross and produce viable seed, and whether there are benefits or risks to such crosses.</p>
<p>The initial translocation trials have proved we can successfully establish new populations, but we’re currently limited by the amount of available seed. This is because our trials showed the most efficient way to establish the showy everlasting is by planting seeds directly into the ground. However, this process uses a lot of seeds – more than we have stored in the Seed Vault. Rather than denude the wild populations, we needed a new source.</p>
<p>Fortunately, at this time Andrew Crawford, manager of the Threatened Flora Seed Vault at the Western Australian Seed Centre, was approached by the principal of the <a href="https://www.woodlupineps.wa.edu.au/page/200/Seed-Bank">Woodlupine Primary School</a>, Trevor Phoebe. He was looking for a meaningful way to involve his students with plant conservation. This led to the establishment of a seed production area at the school which aims to grow and harvest seed of the showy everlasting. The students at the school are involved with planting, monitoring and taking care of the plants, and will help collect the seed when they ripen.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-meat-eating-bladderwort-traps-aquatic-animals-at-lightning-speed-120766">The meat-eating bladderwort traps aquatic animals at lightning speed</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>It is still early days for this project, however early signs are promising. Seedlings have established well and have begun flowering. Seed collection is planned for later in the year.</p>
<p>The seed harvested will be used in the future to boost plant numbers in the existing populations, and to establish new sites, hopefully securing this beautiful species in the wild so that everyone can enjoy the showy everlasting for decades to come.</p>
<p><br></p>
<hr>
<p><em>Do you love native plants? Sign up to The Conversation’s <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ConversationEDU/posts/sign-up-to-beating-around-the-bush-wherein-we-yell-about-australias-trees-and-pl/2186302314730718/">Beating Around the Bush Facebook group</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/123523/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Leonie Monks works for the West Australian Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions and is a PhD student at Murdoch University. For this research she has received funding from the West Australian State Natural Resource Management Program and the Australian Government's National Environmental Science Program's Threatened Species Recovery Hub. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alanna Chant works for the West Australian Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions. She has received funding from the Australian government National Landcare Program.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Crawford works for the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions. He has received funding from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew's Millennium Seed Bank Project. </span></em></p>Despite the optimistic name, the showy everlasting only has three wild populations in Australia. But a West Australian public school has stepped up to help grow vital new seeds.Leonie Monks, Research scientist, Murdoch UniversityAlanna Chant, Invited UserAndrew Crawford, Research scientistLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1227062019-08-31T23:19:28Z2019-08-31T23:19:28ZWaratah is an icon of the Aussie bush (and very nearly our national emblem)<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290253/original/file-20190830-115376-iftskv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=12%2C19%2C1010%2C662&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Waratah flowers stand out vividly in the bush.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/suburbanbloke/5189402266/in/photolist-gSpzw6-8Uz3uS-8Zk7yh-ij895V-gSp6Z3-gSoSRb-h9ZoGP-h9Zd8o-h9Zioc-jSn81-gSp4C1-gSpYEF-h9Zx49-4dNkFA-859LQU-gSoU3E-gSpiej-ha1LE2-jSmUr-h9Zm7t-ha1v9T-h9Z1YZ-fN6qPM-8Zk6Aw-WBGrhf-dg1gYJ-gTUFeN-ha1xNF-ivYFWY-ivYvD3-ivSbXq-ivryFW-ivrX5H-3NrLQ4-jSkW3-qschJr-XFeZt8-WDWCCk-5BS4q3-XCv9B7-47sUE4-XFf1er-XFf2nP-5BS47Q-ivSFaE">Tim J Keegan/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>On one of my first field trips as a young student, searching in sweltering September heat for banksia trees in the bush around Sydney, my eye was caught by a flash of remarkable crimson. Trudging over the red dust, we saw the beautiful waratah flower. </p>
<p>The cone-shaped flower sat upon a green leaf throne, sepals facing upward towards the heavens. The sun lit the red petals just right, and I felt a sense of awe for the flower emblem of New South Wales. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-mighty-mulga-grows-deep-and-lives-long-118838">The mighty mulga grows deep and lives long</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The rounded flower head and the green razored leaves are iconic. The long stem that can grow up to 4 metres tall allows it to stand above the other vegetation. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290399/original/file-20190831-166014-r4vysx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290399/original/file-20190831-166014-r4vysx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290399/original/file-20190831-166014-r4vysx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290399/original/file-20190831-166014-r4vysx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290399/original/file-20190831-166014-r4vysx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290399/original/file-20190831-166014-r4vysx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290399/original/file-20190831-166014-r4vysx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290399/original/file-20190831-166014-r4vysx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The waratah’s long stem lifts it high in the bush understory.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/13639096@N06/6161602107/in/photolist-aotPD6-5udc55-2aW2Ron-21uD42r-aotMwH-Nyxkwv-ajoqqa-93hhJj-Zr9Nkh-2cfeBwm-ajX1Gz-2jaL6y-2aW2QP6-ddDnUs-gmXKVF-JY6bX7-dfev8n-kDeZt-Rsc3F-5mWKdL-9jcpXH-4KxD7C-5cRscU-dJcn5s-gkFRg7-9jcpJv-dfeuha-dfevCp-66kS-apxLxo-iGLWtZ-dfewVU-6CeR-ajooWF-nko87-2dZuPtz-8wAM2P-4wSPXH-5YGhHz-5YFXBi-7MbdYD-72YKnj-29uM68j-u76jHE-g1r83U-NW5TB4-5YFKBp-deYkRK-4qS8Df-5MLyEd">Margaret Donald/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There are five species of waratah flowers, although the species chosen for NSW’s emblem, <em>Telopea speciosissima</em>, is simply known as the New South Wales waratah. </p>
<p>These grow across southeastern Australia along the central coast and up the mountains from the Gibraltar range north of Sydney to Conjola in the south.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-i-discovered-the-dalveen-blue-box-a-rare-eucalypt-species-with-a-sweet-fruity-smell-115561">How I discovered the Dalveen Blue Box, a rare eucalypt species with a sweet, fruity smell</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Robert Brown named the genus <em>Telopea</em> in 1810, which derives from the Greek word for “seen from afar” – just as I was able to spot the striking red flowers in the bush. (There is even a botanical journal named Teleopea, after the flower.)</p>
<p>This flower thrives in the shrub understory of open forest and survives despite sandstone soils and volcanic rock. Delicate, the flowers need lots of rainfall. There is also a rare white morph called “Wirrimbira white.” This form was found in the Robertson, NSW near the Kangaloon water catchment.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290396/original/file-20190831-166009-15ow15t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290396/original/file-20190831-166009-15ow15t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290396/original/file-20190831-166009-15ow15t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290396/original/file-20190831-166009-15ow15t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290396/original/file-20190831-166009-15ow15t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290396/original/file-20190831-166009-15ow15t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290396/original/file-20190831-166009-15ow15t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290396/original/file-20190831-166009-15ow15t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A beautiful white variation in Sydney’s Royal Botanic Gardens.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/botanic-gardens-sydney/14661769760/in/photolist-okBpkN-29r4xvL-fswZ28-UEkE5P-PPK4nq-fNHw9X-286aUjS-gSpzw6-vZSx3D-fnG1cb-9HvRXa-4wSNjc-8Uz3uS-aUQp7n-9jfwUd-PdMcvY-FUCS4h-aUQpTV-8wAMkc-aUQpvP-g75SFE-8L16K1-7YWHzg-nMuyY-fjZDuZ-aF3A1f-dH7k9L-8nbqYL-9jcqpK-BGCMo7-ct84cy-ct7YyE-ct81RN-2cckg4g-WuBPqN-6j6Dnp-oJLGPz-djaEDk-3erPGy-8Zk7yh-ntKiF-Qwj41j-nkoty-Sp8NKN-auSicz-9jVbbG-5YKxeN-2d9thBv-w65Kz-bmoZLA">Royal Botanic Garden Sydney/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Warratahs have a lignotuber in their root system that allows them to store energy and nutrients. They can regenerate within two years after a wildfire destroys the main flower. </p>
<p>It flowers from September to November, though flowering is highly variable and is sensitive to the environment. The flower is pollinated by birds that feed on its sweet nectar. The plant releases brown leathery pods with large, winged seeds, which germinate readily – making it a popular garden ornament.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/do-you-know-a-bunji-from-a-boorie-meet-our-dictionarys-new-indigenous-words-63993">Do you know a Bunji from a Boorie? Meet our dictionary's new Indigenous words</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>A lovely first alternate for national flower</h2>
<p>The waratah flower is a cultural symbol, adorning Australiana ranging from stamps to the state flag of New South Wales. Because it was so common, it helped play a role in developing a colonial Australia’s cultural identity. In fact, it <a href="https://www.anbg.gov.au/emblems/nsw.emblem.html">almost beat out</a> the golden wattle as the national emblem back in the 1900s. </p>
<p>There was heated debate, but ultimately the waratah’s bias towards coastal habitat – which meant it was only found on the east coast of Australia and Tasmania – led to its loss. However, in 1962 the flower was proclaimed the <a href="https://www.anbg.gov.au/emblems/nsw.emblem.html">official floral emblem</a> of New South Wales.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290397/original/file-20190831-166014-1sjzdk8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290397/original/file-20190831-166014-1sjzdk8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290397/original/file-20190831-166014-1sjzdk8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290397/original/file-20190831-166014-1sjzdk8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290397/original/file-20190831-166014-1sjzdk8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290397/original/file-20190831-166014-1sjzdk8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290397/original/file-20190831-166014-1sjzdk8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290397/original/file-20190831-166014-1sjzdk8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The wonga pigeon is linked to the waratah in Indigenous Dreamtime stories.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/berniedup/10020933573/in/photolist-21zeRtr-5mdGnT-gjnXRc-7rMqH1-hPwgHD-ggvUqM-JynfiS-7AqLz3-bRzRN-5mdFJc-5mdCDi-5mhXxA-pGY9oy-fG4x5A-5mhVCS-5mhVfs-5mhVbA-5mdGaR-5mhWS5-b7zcNR-5mhXih-5mdDYa-fQQcCR-f67Qnu-5mhXaf-nRRWEh-EyLNus-26DQ8ia-xdaNR2-5mhWjd-5mhUNy-5mhVjj-QFcvqC-rxrZRE-sd1aa2-Jnrmda-rE2v9N">Bernard DUPONT/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There is a rich aboriginal history regarding the flower as well. <a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/5969095?selectedversion=NBD21836009">Gulpilil’s Stories of the Dreamtime</a> tells a story explaining <a href="http://dreamtime.net.au/waratah/">how the white warratah became red</a>. In the story, a female wonga pigeon flew above the tree canopy looking for her lost mate. She was caught by a hawk but broke free, tearing her breast. She landed on a white warratah and her flowing blood stained it red. As she flew from flower to flower, the blood from the wounds drenched all the flowers red.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/stories-from-the-sky-astronomy-in-indigenous-knowledge-33140">Stories from the sky: astronomy in Indigenous knowledge</a>
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</em>
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<p>If you stick your finger in the flower when it is in bloom you’ll see the “blood” of the pigeon on your finger. The red nectar is sweet, and a <a href="https://www.interflora.com.au/blog/post/waratah-facts">medicinal tonic</a> can be made from the red blooms.</p>
<p>It also made a striking impression on European artists in the 18th and 19th centuries. The flower can be seen on collections ranging from vases to statues and stained-glass windows.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290395/original/file-20190831-165997-4or5ul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290395/original/file-20190831-165997-4or5ul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290395/original/file-20190831-165997-4or5ul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290395/original/file-20190831-165997-4or5ul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290395/original/file-20190831-165997-4or5ul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290395/original/file-20190831-165997-4or5ul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=556&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290395/original/file-20190831-165997-4or5ul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=556&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290395/original/file-20190831-165997-4or5ul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=556&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">An inflatable light installation in Vivid Sydney.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/78821753@N03/34564414023/in/photolist-UEkE5P-PPK4nq-fNHw9X-286aUjS-gSpzw6-vZSx3D-fnG1cb-9HvRXa-4wSNjc-8Uz3uS-aUQp7n-9jfwUd-PdMcvY-FUCS4h-aUQpTV-8wAMkc-aUQpvP-g75SFE-8L16K1-7YWHzg-nMuyY-fjZDuZ-aF3A1f-dH7k9L-8nbqYL-9jcqpK-BGCMo7-ct84cy-ct7YyE-ct81RN-2cckg4g-WuBPqN-6j6Dnp-oJLGPz-djaEDk-3erPGy-8Zk7yh-ntKiF-Qwj41j-nkoty-Sp8NKN-auSicz-9jVbbG-5YKxeN-2d9thBv-w65Kz-bmoZLA-bmohcd-29hWC6W-5YGbVr">Ashley/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 1915, Australian botanist R.T. Baker <a href="https://www.anbg.gov.au/emblems/nsw.emblem.html">wrote</a>, “The entire plant…lends itself to such a boldness of artistic ideas in all branches of Applied Art that it has few compeers amongst the representatives of the whole floral world.”</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/silver-moss-is-a-rugged-survivor-in-the-city-landscape-113459">Silver moss is a rugged survivor in the city landscape</a>
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<p>I first spotted the flower on one of my first experiences in the bush near Sydney, hunting banksia for a professor who studies the unique fire ecology of Australian plants in Royal National Park. It is one of my favourite Australian flowers, made even more special by the memory when I first encountered it on that sunny, September day.</p>
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<p><em>Do you love native plants? Sign up to The Conversation’s <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ConversationEDU/posts/sign-up-to-beating-around-the-bush-wherein-we-yell-about-australias-trees-and-pl/2186302314730718/">Beating Around the Bush Facebook group</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/122706/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jacob Krauss does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In an often-muted bush landscape, the deep crimson of the waratah stands out like a shout.Jacob Krauss, Graduate Student, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1217022019-08-16T04:27:21Z2019-08-16T04:27:21ZThe exquisite blotched butterfly orchid is an airy jewel of the Australian landscape<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288141/original/file-20190815-136222-3kdjp1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3000%2C1500&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The butterfly orchid grows beautifully.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Conversation/John Dearlarney</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The blotched butterfly orchid (<em>Sarcochilus weinthalii</em>) looks fairly unremarkable when it’s not flowering, generally resembling the far more common orange blossom orchid. But when it flowers, it is exquisite. Dark purple blotches stand out on cream petals, resembling a flock of butterflies come to rest on rainforest trees.</p>
<p>Like the most of its genus, the blotched butterfly orchid is epiphytic, or an air plant: without roots, they absorb water from the air. The leaves are leathery and curved, and appear in groups of three to seven. They usually grow on the horizontal branches of tree hosts in dry rainforests in southern Queensland and northern NSW.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/warty-hammer-orchids-are-sexual-deceivers-107805">Warty hammer orchids are sexual deceivers</a>
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<p>Australia has 18 unique butterfly orchids, a number of which are under threat. As they are easily grown by orchid fanciers, they are often removed from natural locations and are becoming harder to see in their natural habitat, high up on rainforest trees in hilly terrain.</p>
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<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288143/original/file-20190815-136222-1k1bsoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288143/original/file-20190815-136222-1k1bsoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288143/original/file-20190815-136222-1k1bsoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288143/original/file-20190815-136222-1k1bsoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288143/original/file-20190815-136222-1k1bsoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288143/original/file-20190815-136222-1k1bsoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288143/original/file-20190815-136222-1k1bsoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288143/original/file-20190815-136222-1k1bsoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Conversation</span></span>
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<p>The genus <em>Sarcochilus</em> was named by Robert Brown, the naturalist on board the Flinders expedition documenting the east coast of Australia in the early 19th century. The name refers to the fleshy labellum, the showy front petal of the flowers.</p>
<p>The blotched butterfly orchid, <em>Sarcochilus weinthalii</em> was first collected by Ferdinand Weinthal, a notable early Australian orchid collector and grower near Toowoomba in southern Queensland in 1903.</p>
<p>My colleagues and I have been trying to learn more about the biology of these beautiful orchids, to help improve conservation efforts. We are studying populations sizes, life cycles, host trees and similar species in an effort to learn more about how and where they grow – and what might be pollinating them.</p>
<p>The total number of plants at our study locations is less than 200 individuals which is concerning. More troubling is now the complete absence of plants from several regular sites for the orchid. The presence of juvenile plants at the study locations suggests the remaining populations could still be viable, albeit with the spectre of inbreeding depression hovering over the smaller groups. </p>
<p>The orchid was quite adaptable to different tree hosts although there was preference for native hydrangea (<em>Cuttsia viburnea</em>) at one site. Plants grew on the southerly (shaded) side of their hosts, at heights varying from more than 4 metres above the forest floor to less than one metre above soil level. These latter plants were growing on a basalt boulder – something never recorded before. </p>
<h2>Fungus friends</h2>
<p>As part of our research we sampled the roots of the orchid and isolated a symbiotic fungus, identified by DNA analysis. Analysis of the fungal DNA showed something quite striking. Every orchid, from every location, had exactly the same fungus growing in its roots. </p>
<p>When orchid seed was combined with the fungus in the laboratory, plants grew considerably faster than controls. This suggests that both life stages of the plant require the fungus to provide nutrients.</p>
<p>This fungus will be integral for conservation efforts for the species. Strong growth of seedlings in labs and greenhouse will require the fungus to be present. Restoration efforts will need to check for the presence of the fungus to ensure transplanted populations thrive, and to support new seedling growth in re-established orchid populations.</p>
<p>We observed a number of insects visiting flowers of the blotched butterfly orchid, but most of these were small and unlikely to be capable of pollinating the species. <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/bt/bt9930553">Previous research</a> suggests Sarcochilus orchids are pollinated by native bees.</p>
<h2>What is the future for the blotched butterfly orchid?</h2>
<p>In another species of Sarcochilus we have studied, <em>S. hartmannii</em>, we saw hover flies regularly visiting (and possibly pollinating) these orchids. So it’s feasible these insects are pollinating the blotched butterfly orchid as well – but we need more research to be sure.</p>
<p>Our work also found the orchids are vulnerable to land clearing, an issue that threatens many native Australian plants. Clearing not only destroys individual plants or populations, but provides conduits for the entry of aggressive exotic plant species like cat’s claw and climbing asparagus into fragile ecosystems.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/leek-orchids-are-beautiful-endangered-and-we-have-no-idea-how-to-grow-them-103224">Leek orchids are beautiful, endangered and we have no idea how to grow them</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<p>And unfortunately, the blotched butterfly orchid grows outside national parks (as well as inside them), which makes them hard to protect from orchid collectors. Perhaps weightier fines are necessary to change the minds of recalcitrants who still believe collecting native plant species from the wild is acceptable!</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/121702/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Dearnaley receives funding from the Australian Orchid Foundation and the Australia and Pacific Science Foundation.. </span></em></p>The blotched butterfly orchid (Sarcochilus weinthalii) looks fairly unremarkable when it’s not flowering, generally resembling the far more common orange blossom orchid. But when it flowers, it is exquisite…John Dearnaley, Associate Professor, University of Southern QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1207662019-08-09T07:51:02Z2019-08-09T07:51:02ZThe meat-eating bladderwort traps aquatic animals at lightning speed<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287487/original/file-20190809-144851-12s7rgd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A hapless animal will swim by, triggering the sensitive hairs at the front of the bladderworts’ bladder, which open like a trap door.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source"> Emma Lupin</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Carnivorous plants intrigue people. It’s so out of place to our mental image of what “normal” plants should do. </p>
<p>On the outskirts of Darwin, bladderworts can be found feasting on aquatic animals such as invertebrates, insect larvae, aquatic worms, and water fleas. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-albany-pitcher-plant-will-straight-up-eat-you-if-youre-an-ant-120767">The Albany pitcher plant will straight up eat you (if you're an ant)</a>
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<p>A hapless animal will swim by, triggering the sensitive hairs at the front of the bladderwort’s bladder, which opens like a trap door. The rush of water into the trap carries the animal inside. The door slams shut and digestion starts. </p>
<p>This all happens faster than the eye can see – in less than a millisecond, more than <a href="https://www.livescience.com/12878-bladderwort-fastest-carnivorous-plant.html">100 times faster</a> than a Venus flytrap.</p>
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<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287492/original/file-20190809-144883-nug7hw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287492/original/file-20190809-144883-nug7hw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287492/original/file-20190809-144883-nug7hw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287492/original/file-20190809-144883-nug7hw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287492/original/file-20190809-144883-nug7hw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287492/original/file-20190809-144883-nug7hw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287492/original/file-20190809-144883-nug7hw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287492/original/file-20190809-144883-nug7hw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Conversation</span></span>
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<h2>The best habitat in all the (wet)land</h2>
<p>The bladderwort is just one example of <em>Utricularia</em>. Australia’s Top End contains some 36 species of <em>Utricularia</em>, making it a a global centre for the genus. And the species count is still going up as researchers make new discoveries. </p>
<p>In particular, bladderworts can be found around the Howard River, about 30km east of Darwin, part of a 264 square km area of significant conservation value. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/rising-seas-allow-coastal-wetlands-to-store-more-carbon-113020">Rising seas allow coastal wetlands to store more carbon</a>
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<p>The Howard River area supports the largest and most continuous stretch of seasonally-flooded sandy wetlands in the Northern Territory, with extensive shallow lagoons and swamps.</p>
<p>The layer of fine sand is between 1 and 10 metres thick. The sand overlays less permeable material such as rock and clay, so the sand becomes completely waterlogged in the wet season. It makes a perfect home for bladderworts.</p>
<p>This highly dynamic environment provides a miniature topography of rises and depressions measured in just centimetres. As well as the alternating monsoonal dry and wet seasons, the topography is overlain with seasonal changes in water levels. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-waterwheel-plant-is-a-carnivorous-underwater-snap-trap-120424">The waterwheel plant is a carnivorous, underwater snap-trap</a>
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<p>The species of <em>Utricularia</em> have adapted to different windows of opportunity in these seasonal changes and partition themselves within the habitat, often based on water height.</p>
<p>Within the same small area, species come and go during the season based on their tolerance of these habitat variables. This can be frustrating for the collector and observer, as not all species are found at the one time. </p>
<h2>All shapes and sizes</h2>
<p>A unifying feature of the <em>Utricularia</em> genus is the suction trap – or “bladder”. But the bladderwort species come in many shapes and sizes.</p>
<p>Flowers, for instance, can vary in size. Some bladderworts have flowers with large nectar-filled spurs. These can grow up to 15 millimetres long and attract insects with a long proboscis (an elongated “snout”). Other bizarre flowers on different bladderwort species have long antennae-like extensions and appear to involve insect mimicry to attract pollinators. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/squid-team-finds-high-species-diversity-off-kermadec-islands-part-of-stalled-marine-reserve-proposal-110893">Squid team finds high species diversity off Kermadec Islands, part of stalled marine reserve proposal</a>
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<p>Other bladderwort species, such as <em>U. odorata</em>, have tall, conspicuous groups of flowers up to 70cm high, with up to 20 bright golden yellow flowers.</p>
<p>And aquatic species of bladderwort have, in some cases, even developed floats around the flowering stalk to keep the flowers above water.</p>
<h2>Threats to the Howard Sand Plains</h2>
<p>But all is not well on the Howard Sand Plains. The unique landscape is under threat from urban development, recreational misuse, fire, and weed encroachment. </p>
<p>But construction booms in Darwin have created added pressure on the Sand Plains.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/can-we-really-restore-or-protect-natural-habitats-to-offset-those-we-destroy-121213">Can we really restore or protect natural habitats to 'offset' those we destroy?</a>
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<hr>
<p>Twenty-two per cent of the sand sheet landscape in this region has been cleared for sand mining, as it holds a huge source of easily accessible, fine, high-grade sand used in concrete for building. </p>
<p>But it’s not all doom and gloom. A <a href="https://www.nomadart.com.au/wp/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Sand-Sheets-Catalogue-15-LR.pdf">project</a>, “Secret World: Carnivorous plants of the Howard sand sheets”, brought artists and scientists out into the field in a workshop setting. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287476/original/file-20190809-144847-143yd3s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287476/original/file-20190809-144847-143yd3s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287476/original/file-20190809-144847-143yd3s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=715&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287476/original/file-20190809-144847-143yd3s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=715&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287476/original/file-20190809-144847-143yd3s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=715&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287476/original/file-20190809-144847-143yd3s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287476/original/file-20190809-144847-143yd3s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287476/original/file-20190809-144847-143yd3s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bladderworts were the inspiration for stunning artworks, leading to education around the species in the local area.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bladderwort species 1 ..... by John Wolseley/Nomad Art Gallery</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>Scientists explained the significance of the environment, the flora and the threats facing the habitat. </p>
<p>And the artists squelched about the waterlogged habitat and got down and dirty into this Lilliputian world. They set about interpreting the plants and with a diversity of approaches matching the diversity of the bladderworts, they produced a stunning portfolio of artworks. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287482/original/file-20190809-144888-p10cc8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287482/original/file-20190809-144888-p10cc8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287482/original/file-20190809-144888-p10cc8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=846&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287482/original/file-20190809-144888-p10cc8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=846&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287482/original/file-20190809-144888-p10cc8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=846&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287482/original/file-20190809-144888-p10cc8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1063&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287482/original/file-20190809-144888-p10cc8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1063&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/287482/original/file-20190809-144888-p10cc8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1063&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Artists who explored the waterlogged habitat of the bladderworts produced a stunning portfolio of artworks.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lunch by Winsome Jobling/Nomad Art Gallery</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/more-than-28-000-species-are-officially-threatened-with-more-likely-to-come-120430">More than 28,000 species are officially threatened, with more likely to come</a>
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<p>An <a href="https://www.nomadart.com.au/wp/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/SECRET-WORLD-Education-Kit.pdf">education kit</a> produced from the project also took the story into local schools. </p>
<p>The Northern Territory Environment Protection Authority assessed the issues and determined areas of the sand sheets that should be set aside for conservation purposes. The art and science collaboration certainly played a pivotal part in this positive conservation outcome.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/120766/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Greg Leach volunteered for the project "Secret World: Carnivorous plants of the Howard sand sheets". </span></em></p>On the outskirts of Darwin, small insects are gobbled up by strange plants. Enter the world of the bladderwort.Greg Leach, Honorary Fellow at Menzies School of Health Research, Charles Darwin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1207672019-07-26T05:27:19Z2019-07-26T05:27:19ZThe Albany pitcher plant will straight up eat you (if you’re an ant)<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/285797/original/file-20190726-43118-1f3yxp2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">FEED me, Seymour!</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Adam Cross</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Sign up to the Beating Around the Bush newsletter <a href="https://confirmsubscription.com/h/r/9AE707FA51C4AC1B">here</a>, and suggest a plant we should cover at batb@theconversation.edu.au.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>On a warm evening in early 1802, Robert Brown sat aboard the HMS Investigator describing several plant specimens collected that day. Brown was the botanist on Captain Matthew Flinders’ expedition, and they had been anchored in King George Sound for nearly a month documenting the remarkable flora of the area. </p>
<p>He keenly awaited the return of their gardener, Peter Good, who had left earlier in search of a curious “pitcher plant” discovered the previous morning by botanical artist Ferdinand Bauer and landscape artist William Westall. </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/death-traps-how-carnivorous-plants-catch-their-prey-14811">Death traps: how carnivorous plants catch their prey</a>
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<p>Unbeknownst to him, in minutes he would be gazing upon a uniquely wondrous plant: <em>Cephalotus follicularis</em>, the Albany pitcher plant.</p>
<p>Named after the southwestern Australian port city around which it occurs, the Albany pitcher plant stands out as an oddity even by the standards of carnivorous plants. The species is instantly recognisable, as it produces distinctive insect-trapping pitcher leaves that sit on the ground almost expectantly waiting for prey. </p>
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<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/285802/original/file-20190726-43104-ctltj0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/285802/original/file-20190726-43104-ctltj0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/285802/original/file-20190726-43104-ctltj0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285802/original/file-20190726-43104-ctltj0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285802/original/file-20190726-43104-ctltj0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285802/original/file-20190726-43104-ctltj0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285802/original/file-20190726-43104-ctltj0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285802/original/file-20190726-43104-ctltj0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Conversation</span></span>
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<p>The toothed mouth and overarching lid of these pitchers look superficially similar to those of the tropical pitcher plants (<em>Nepenthes</em>) and North American pitcher plants (<em>Sarracenia</em>). However, these plants are not related; this similarity is a remarkable example of convergent evolution. The Albany pitcher plant is unique.</p>
<p><em>C. follicularis</em> is the only species in the genus <em>Cephalotus</em>, which is the only genus within the family Cephalotaceae. Its nearest living relatives are rainforest trees from tropical South America, from which it is separated by some <a href="https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/nph.14879">50 million years</a>. Indeed, it is the only carnivorous plant among the 70,000 species, a quarter of all flowering plants, that make up one of the largest evolutionary plant groups, the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/rosids">rosid clade</a>. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/when-thailand-and-australia-were-closer-neighbours-tectonically-speaking-100824">When Thailand and Australia were closer neighbours, tectonically speaking</a>
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<p>The Albany pitcher plant is more closely related to cabbages, roses and pumpkins than it is to other pitcher plants.</p>
<p>The Albany pitcher plant only grows in a very small area of Western Australia, and is thought to be an ancient Gondwanan relict from a period when this region was <a href="https://cephalotus.redfernnaturalhistory.com/product/book/">almost tropical</a>. It grows in nutrient-poor soils of coastal swamps and lowlands, where it survives by luring insects into its traps to be digested in a pool of enzymes at the base of each pitcher. Each pitcher bears a lid to prevent rain from diluting the pool of enzymes, with translucent windows to disorient trapped prey and prevent escape.</p>
<p>Interestingly, one species of insect not only survives inside the fluid of the pitchers, but relies on it for survival. The wingless stilt fly <em>Badisis ambulans</em> lays its eggs in the pitchers, and the larvae develop in the pool of pitcher fluid, <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsos.160690">feeding on captured prey</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/285791/original/file-20190726-43136-5eet1n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/285791/original/file-20190726-43136-5eet1n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/285791/original/file-20190726-43136-5eet1n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285791/original/file-20190726-43136-5eet1n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285791/original/file-20190726-43136-5eet1n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285791/original/file-20190726-43136-5eet1n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285791/original/file-20190726-43136-5eet1n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285791/original/file-20190726-43136-5eet1n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The wingless stilt fly lives inside the Albany pitcher plant. These flies were photographed in Northcliffe, Western Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.bowerbird.org.au/observations/116722">Cheryl Macaulay/BowerBird</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These stilt flies live only in the dense vegetation of the swamps inhabited by the Albany pitcher plant. They look more like an ant than a fly, which is probably a deliberate mimicry of the ant <em>Iridomyrmex conifer</em>, the primary prey of the pitcher plant. It is likely that these three species – plant, fly and ant – have co-evolved together over millions of years.</p>
<p>The Albany pitcher plant was probably widespread in the southwest corner of WA before European settlement, and almost 150 populations have been recorded throughout this region. However, the species has declined dramatically over the past century as extensive land has been cleared throughout the southwest for agriculture and urban development. </p>
<p>The Albany pitcher plant now occurs only as small, isolated populations in remnant habitat patches. It is thought that <a href="http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.733.529&rep=rep1&type=pdf">less than 3,000 hectares</a> of habitat suitable for the species now remains in the greater Albany region. Recent survey efforts suggest that fewer than 20 populations of the Albany pitcher plant still exist, and <a href="https://thewest.com.au/news/albany-advertiser/government-urged-to-save-carnivorous-plant-species-ng-b881118765z">fewer than 5,000 plants remain</a>.</p>
<p>Despite the perilous state of the Albany pitcher plant, it still has no formal conservation status. Indeed, swamps containing the species have been bulldozed for housing development in the <a href="https://thewest.com.au/news/albany-advertiser/government-urged-to-save-carnivorous-plant-species-ng-b881118765z">past 12 months</a>. But habitat loss and changes to bushfire frequency and water flow are not the only threats to this amazing species. Current projections of a drying climate in the southwest of Western Australia may see the species <a href="https://cephalotus.redfernnaturalhistory.com/product/book/">pushed towards extinction</a> in the coming decades.</p>
<p>Incredibly, the Albany pitcher plant is also at risk from poaching. The species is prized for its horticultural novelty, and unscrupulous individuals dig up plants from the wild either to grow or sell. At one accessible location where the species was known to grow in abundance, every single plant within reach has been removed. At other sites, entire populations have been dug up.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-waterwheel-plant-is-a-carnivorous-underwater-snap-trap-120424">The waterwheel plant is a carnivorous, underwater snap-trap</a>
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<p>Without improved conservation measures, and tough penalties for removing this incredible species from its natural habitat, the Albany pitcher plant and its complex web of insect relationships face a potentially dire future.</p>
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<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=199&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=199&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=199&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
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</figure>
<p><em><a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/BeatingAroundTheBush">Sign up to Beating Around the Bush, a series that profiles native plants: part gardening column, part dispatches from country, entirely Australian.</a></em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/120767/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adam Cross receives funding from the Australian Government through the Australian Research Council Industrial Transformation Training Centre for Mine Site Restoration (project number ICI150100041). </span></em></p>Albany pitcher plants are more closely related to cabbages and roses than any other carnivorous plant.Adam Cross, Research Fellow, Curtin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1204242019-07-19T03:40:38Z2019-07-19T03:40:38ZThe waterwheel plant is a carnivorous, underwater snap-trap<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/284244/original/file-20190716-173351-mqzqmw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The whaterwheel plant can snap up its prey in milliseconds.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Conversation</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Sign up to the Beating Around the Bush newsletter <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/newsletters">here</a>, and suggest a plant we should cover at batb@theconversation.edu.au.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>Billabongs in the northern Kimberley are welcome oases of colour in an otherwise brown landscape. This one reflected the clear blue sky, broken up by water lilies and a scattering of yellow Nymphoides flowers. A ring of trees surrounded it, taking advantage of the permanent water source.</p>
<p>My student and I approached with excitement. We had spent a week searching barren habitats, but now on the final day of our expedition we were ecstatic about the potential of this watering hole. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-strange-world-of-the-carnivorous-plant-15607">The strange world of the carnivorous plant</a>
</strong>
</em>
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<hr>
<p>Between us we had been plant-hunting in northern Australia for nearly 20 years and knew well that where water seeped over sandstone, carnivorous plants often grew.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/284890/original/file-20190719-116569-4jvh27.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/284890/original/file-20190719-116569-4jvh27.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/284890/original/file-20190719-116569-4jvh27.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284890/original/file-20190719-116569-4jvh27.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284890/original/file-20190719-116569-4jvh27.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284890/original/file-20190719-116569-4jvh27.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284890/original/file-20190719-116569-4jvh27.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284890/original/file-20190719-116569-4jvh27.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hunting carnivorous plants in the North Kimberley.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Adam Cross</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Clambering along some rocks at the edge of the billabong, I looked down by chance into a small rockhole and nearly fell in. Floating between two water lily leaves was a short stem of whorled leaves. And at the end of each leaf, a tiny snapping trap. </p>
<p>Looking out into the middle of the billabong I saw thousands of plants, and even a few tiny white flowers protruding above the surface of the water. After a decade of fruitlessly searching the swamps, creeks and rivers of the Kimberley for it, I had stumbled across a new population of <em>Aldrovanda vesiculosa</em>, the waterwheel plant.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/284885/original/file-20190719-116573-19g7tb3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/284885/original/file-20190719-116573-19g7tb3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/284885/original/file-20190719-116573-19g7tb3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284885/original/file-20190719-116573-19g7tb3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284885/original/file-20190719-116573-19g7tb3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284885/original/file-20190719-116573-19g7tb3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284885/original/file-20190719-116573-19g7tb3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284885/original/file-20190719-116573-19g7tb3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Conversation</span></span>
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<hr>
<p>The waterwheel plant must surely be among the most fascinating plants in the world. Its genus dates back <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1433831918300568;%20http://www.butbn.cas.cz/adamec/PPEES2018.pdf">50 million years</a>, and although we know of many species from the fossil record, <em>A. vesiculosa</em> is the only modern species.</p>
<p>The waterwheel plant is a submerged aquatic plant, first <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=babwAAAAMAAJ&pg=PP5&dq=insectivorous+plants&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjhkuOq77jjAhVFfysKHWOvCAcQ6AEINjAC#v=onepage&q=insectivorous%20plants&f=false">discovered by botanists</a> in 1696 and studied by the likes of Charles Darwin, and is the only species to have evolved snap-trap carnivory under water. It takes just 100 milliseconds for the snapping leaves to close upon small, unsuspecting aquatic invertebrates such as mosquito larvae – one of the <a href="https://journals.aps.org/pre/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevE.84.041928;%20https://arxiv.org/pdf/1110.0714">fastest movements in the plant kingdom</a>. </p>
<p>Although the waterwheel plant also photosynthesises, it needs to <a href="https://idp.springer.com/authorize/casa?redirect_uri=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1026567300241&casa_token=RMTEbW0On_YAAAAA:htSjuaIRekcPmFOBIfsjmiTpUM3naUopVCtjqr5cGYcsor3MxQPr0pkhS84rtPhXGLDI0n74XfAJAsi2">eat prey</a> to get enough nutrients to grow. And while its traps may be small, up to 1cm long, it can efficiently catch <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/fwb.12609?casa_token=4FeIh0Zvea8AAAAA:hyilg95fesWlES40ZEzA3XDMcnXgUB9lFqTC46NLYa-JTOi3gT5PO429B4fI8_Ym0ctUsatUiCaHqy8;">tiny insects</a> and even <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/fwb.12609?casa_token=hHZNEKvS0csAAAAA:SakodknuXlzwjyUcBYte_OMwpR4oP043CLHnptYYL0g13UbUGJ9ggFrrAbv-AUY4INO9u2bEM988_1s">small fish and tadpoles</a>.</p>
<h2>Mr Worldwide</h2>
<p>Uniquely, the waterwheel plant is a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304377009001685;">global clone</a>, with virtually no genetic differentiation between populations on <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Helena_Storchova/publication/222708639_Uniformity_of_organellar_DNA_in_Aldrovanda_vesiculosa_an_endangered_aquatic_carnivorous_species_distributed_across_four_continents/links/5c4a1df3458515a4c73da667/Uniformity-of-organellar-DNA-in-Aldrovanda-vesiculosa-an-endangered-aquatic-carnivorous-species-distributed-across-four-continents.pdf">different continents</a>.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/55Gtfw5aPnk?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>It has one of the largest and most disconnected distributions of any flowering species, growing in more than 40 countries across four continents, from sub-Arctic regions of northern Russia to the southern coast of Australia, and from western Africa to the eastern coast of Australia. Yet despite this global distribution, the waterwheel plant occupies a very small ecological niche, and grows only in the shallow and acidic waters of nutrient-poor freshwater swamps.</p>
<p>The waterwheel plant is sensitive, and is often the first species to disappear when these habitats become degraded. </p>
<p>As a result, this unique species has undergone a catastrophic global decline as humans have systematically degraded and destroyed <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/162346/901031#habitat-ecology">nearly two-thirds</a> of the world’s wetland habitats.</p>
<p>The past century has seen the systematic extinction of the waterwheel plant from more than half the countries it once occupied, and a rapid deterioration in almost all others. From more than 400 populations recorded since the 18th century, <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/162346/901031#habitat-ecology">fewer than 50 now remain</a>. </p>
<p>Three-quarters of these are in the exclusion zone surrounding the Chernobyl nuclear disaster site, with the rest spread thinly across Africa, Australia and Europe, and isolated from each other by thousands, and sometimes tens of thousands, of kilometres. The species can be seen as a harbinger of the perilous state of our world’s freshwater ecosystems.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/284888/original/file-20190719-116596-4nccdk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/284888/original/file-20190719-116596-4nccdk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/284888/original/file-20190719-116596-4nccdk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284888/original/file-20190719-116596-4nccdk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284888/original/file-20190719-116596-4nccdk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284888/original/file-20190719-116596-4nccdk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284888/original/file-20190719-116596-4nccdk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/284888/original/file-20190719-116596-4nccdk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Waterwheel plants flourish in this oasis in the remote North Kimberley.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Adam Cross</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Conservation</h2>
<p>Ecologists are working hard at conserving the waterwheel plant: monitoring habitats, reintroducing it into areas where it has become extinct and detailed study of its ecology and reproductive biology. </p>
<p>But ultimately, its future depends on the survival of wetlands – complex and sensitive ecosystems that can be affected by even small changes throughout their catchment area. Wetlands are often linked together by waterbirds and other animals that disperse plant seeds and spores between them, so the degradation of one area can have significant knock-on effects even for distant locations.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-a-wetland-might-not-be-wet-103687">Why a wetland might not be wet</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Without concerted wetland conservation, individual conservation for species like the waterwheel plant become little more than band-aids.</p>
<p>For the waterwheel plant, a single isolated population in a remote and untouched corner of the North Kimberley could represent a crucial refuge. It gives a thin sliver of hope that this remarkable species will still exist for future generations to marvel at.</p>
<p><br></p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=199&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=199&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=199&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption"></span>
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</figure>
<p><em><a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/BeatingAroundTheBush">Sign up to Beating Around the Bush, a series that profiles native plants: part gardening column, part dispatches from country, entirely Australian.</a></em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/120424/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adam Cross receives funding from the Australian Government through the Australian Research Council Industrial Transformation Training Centre for Mine Site Restoration (project number ICI150100041). </span></em></p>Waterwheel plants use snap up mosquito larvae, tiny fish and even tadpoles in freshwater wetlands around the world – including remote parts of north Australia.Adam Cross, Research Fellow, Curtin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1188392019-07-12T05:54:14Z2019-07-12T05:54:14ZThe river red gum is an icon of the driest continent<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/283815/original/file-20190712-173334-1trkqt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">River red gums' iconic silhouette is found across Australia.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Conversation/Wikimedia Commons</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Sign up to the Beating Around the Bush newsletter <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/newsletters">here</a>, and suggest a plant we should cover at batb@theconversation.edu.au.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>River red gums, <em>Eucalyptus camaldulensis</em>, are among the most iconic of Australia’s eucalypts. They are the most widely distributed of all the eucalypts. They grow along rivers, creeks, waterways and flood plains where many Australians like to picnic, so most of us get to know and love them. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/this-centuries-old-river-red-gum-is-a-local-legend-heres-why-its-worth-fighting-for-117666">This centuries-old river red gum is a local legend – here's why it's worth fighting for</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Formerly known as <em>Eucalyptus rostrata</em>, the species was one of the <a href="https://www.anbg.gov.au/cpbr/cd-keys/euclid3/euclidsample/html/Eucalyptus_camaldulensis_var._camaldulensis.htm">first eucalypts</a> encountered in parts of Australia by European settlers. Curiously, the name <em>camaldulensis</em> comes from the <a href="https://www.anbg.gov.au/cpbr/cd-keys/euclid3/euclidsample/html/Eucalyptus_camaldulensis_var._camaldulensis.htm">Italian monastery of Camaldoli</a> near Naples, where a specimen grown from seed in a private garden was given the name <em>Eucalyptus camaldulensis</em> in 1832. No one knows how the seed got to be there!</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/283816/original/file-20190712-173347-1ugjhhe.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/283816/original/file-20190712-173347-1ugjhhe.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/283816/original/file-20190712-173347-1ugjhhe.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283816/original/file-20190712-173347-1ugjhhe.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283816/original/file-20190712-173347-1ugjhhe.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283816/original/file-20190712-173347-1ugjhhe.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283816/original/file-20190712-173347-1ugjhhe.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283816/original/file-20190712-173347-1ugjhhe.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Conversation</span></span>
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<hr>
<p>River red gums can be very large spreading trees with huge trunks more than 5 metres around. In parts of Australia, such as along the Murray River, they can be very erect trees reaching more than 45m tall. </p>
<p>Most specimens have smooth bark with a mottling of multiple colours ranging from creams to orange and red, but there may be a skirt of fibrous grey bark for the first few metres of the base. They are called river red gums because they grow along rivers and their wood when freshly exposed is a bright red; almost blood-coloured.</p>
<p>River red gums have been used by Indigenous people for canoes, bowls, shields, and other utensils. The wood is red is because it contains very high levels of chemicals such as polyphenols, which are a natural antiobiotic when combined with air. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/283820/original/file-20190712-173325-1pfeifx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/283820/original/file-20190712-173325-1pfeifx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/283820/original/file-20190712-173325-1pfeifx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283820/original/file-20190712-173325-1pfeifx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283820/original/file-20190712-173325-1pfeifx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283820/original/file-20190712-173325-1pfeifx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283820/original/file-20190712-173325-1pfeifx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283820/original/file-20190712-173325-1pfeifx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">River red gums growing along the Murray River.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/elizabeth_donoghue/4933983059/in/photolist-8vZXgr-q7WW8D-2657839-NYDgWQ-oQ8A8L-6UDrZW-7GNbsq-6Uzngz-4QfWXf-8EK6r9-5QyN7j-6sBKJz-eLGbRd-dsA46x-4QfWKN-ovR8Wu-ha2HRN-23x1t5D-2fMJB5k-2dpj3dC-kQuuDn-2fGr9nC-2fB4Yyv-6UzgEM-JkR2Tc-cQJu4Y-7JW2qg-9Dfsnv-eFFVE2-bZzTqJ-9Dingj-mT6WNq-2ev6XjE-V7wRvU-4sD1Qc-qxoJTo-a2bw5F-pX3zPf-56bKE8-hLtco-eF5ewX-VWsBwm-2fGr98u-2fB4Znp-26d63Yb-24ZsRNi-ZojdZ5-kXjaVZ-2fMJBiM-9oaWJ6">Elizabeth Donoghue/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These chemicals not only protect the living tree from disease and some pest attacks, but make the timber <a href="https://www.anbg.gov.au/cpbr/WfHC/Eucalyptus-camaldulensis/index.html">very durable</a>. These chemicals meant river red gums were used for medicinal purposes by Indigenous people. The wood has been widely used for railway sleepers, fence posts, and piers and wharfs where durability and water resistance are desirable. They have been widely planted overseas and in some countries pose a <a href="https://www.anbg.gov.au/cpbr/WfHC/Eucalyptus-camaldulensis/index.html">serious weed problem</a>. </p>
<p>The trees can have very long lives, and may reach <a href="https://www.anbg.gov.au/cpbr/WfHC/Eucalyptus-camaldulensis/index.html">1,000 years of age</a>. They grow very rapidly when conditions are favourable and so become large trees quite quickly. But as they get older it is very difficult to age them without damaging the tree and putting it at risk of disease and decay. So their ages are estimated, as no one wants to be responsible for killing a grand old tree just to confirm its age!</p>
<p>Older specimens almost always develop large hollows, which can take centuries to form. The hollows provide refuges for birds, mammals and reptiles. The nesting sites are often raucously defended by brightly coloured parrots. The trees and the nectar from their small white flowers are also very important for honey production – a large tree in full flower over the warmer months can attract so many bees that the whole tree can be heard humming from many metres away; it’s a wonder the tree doesn’t take off.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/283821/original/file-20190712-173325-1diujx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/283821/original/file-20190712-173325-1diujx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/283821/original/file-20190712-173325-1diujx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283821/original/file-20190712-173325-1diujx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283821/original/file-20190712-173325-1diujx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283821/original/file-20190712-173325-1diujx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283821/original/file-20190712-173325-1diujx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283821/original/file-20190712-173325-1diujx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Trees in full flower can hum with bees.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/rexness/4530194065/in/photolist-7UjqSe-kQwkUy-qPVcNz-pX1kyL-cBYrCw-7s3gnu-bLcBRx-Jpvvsw-bLcFgV-bLcGbr-PRkCsu-5wZxmo-qxoM9A-24asD46-phQJoK-T2o4zs-7UnEdW-fmY17X-pX2NuL-pYwwfg-bxi23L-qxmi37-28mtuMA-pSUwGY-eX7yLx-dveHiZ-SGeEv6-YoyqxY-mT5h7P-2evPtx3-csX5aA-pTbXd8-269xAsP-qxkyDu-H43vF2-5y8g3U-qexDQx-qxvb6V-qxmbaS-pTajDi-qxsC16-pX73JF-2oHHWm-pX6Tav-pWZK29-ZebXvr-8bm2Ht-2oDocF-26d64z1-pSXZAS">Rexness/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At certain times of the year, often during summer, river reds can be very heavily grazed by insects to the point where their leaves are skeletonised. The trees look as though they are about to die, but they are very resilient and a few months later most are back to a <a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/23117530?q&versionId=45477828+50549613">full and healthy canopy</a>. Another insect, the psyllid, also feeds on and skeletonises the leaves. It has a sweet, waxy covering called a lerp that protects the vulnerable insect nymphs beneath. Some Indigenous groups scrape off the lerps, roll them into a ball, and eat them like a lolly.</p>
<h2>Surviving floods and driving rain</h2>
<p>Any tree that can live for a millennium must be adaptable, so like some other eucalypt species, river red gums can shed <a href="http://joa.isa-arbor.com/request.asp?JournalID=1&ArticleID=3272&Type=2">up to two-thirds</a> of their foliage when soils dry out during a drought, which reduces water demand and prevents the trees from wilting. This shedding often causes people to complain about the trees when they grow in towns and cities, but when the rains come a few months later they rapidly produce new leaves and are soon once again in full canopy.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-glowing-ghost-mushroom-looks-like-it-comes-from-a-fungal-netherworld-111607">The glowing ghost mushroom looks like it comes from a fungal netherworld</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>River red gums can tolerate immersion in flood waters for <a href="https://www.anbg.gov.au/cpbr/WfHC/Eucalyptus-camaldulensis/index.html">up to nine months</a>. They do this by having extensive roots, some of which contain a spongy, air-filled tissue called aerenchyma that allows for the accumulation and transport of much-needed oxygen in waterlogged soils. This adaptation to stressed soils also means river red gums can do quite well in disturbed urban soils when the urban sprawl impinges on their natural domain.</p>
<p>River red gums readily seed after flooding events and great numbers of young trees may germinate. However, relatively few survive to maturity due to competition from other red gums, other trees, and weeds. They may also struggle to survive in some places due to a lack of water. </p>
<p>Because river reds occur in some of the driest and harshest parts of the Australian mainland, you might think they are very efficient users of water. However, nothing could be <a href="https://www.anbg.gov.au/cpbr/WfHC/Eucalyptus-camaldulensis/index.html">further from the truth</a>. The trees can have very deep, spreading and searching root systems, which tap into subterranean water, even if the water is many metres from the trunk. They are luxury water users with very little capacity for water use control. If water becomes really limiting, they simply wilt.</p>
<h2>Territorial trees</h2>
<p><em>E. camaldulensis</em> produces a <a href="https://www.anbg.gov.au/cpbr/WfHC/Eucalyptus-camaldulensis/index.html">water-soluble chemical</a> that is washed from its leaves by rain. These chemicals inhibit the growth of other plants, including river red gum seedlings, under the canopy. This phenomenon is called allelopathy, and along with a dense canopy inhibits plant growth under the trees. These chemicals are washed from the soil by flood water, which makes way for the germination of seedlings after floods. This is a wonderful mechanism that ensures seedlings do not germinate when conditions are dry and where they would compete with the parent tree for limited water, but germination is facilitated when there is plenty of water and soils are wet.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/283818/original/file-20190712-173355-nirqyh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/283818/original/file-20190712-173355-nirqyh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/283818/original/file-20190712-173355-nirqyh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283818/original/file-20190712-173355-nirqyh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283818/original/file-20190712-173355-nirqyh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283818/original/file-20190712-173355-nirqyh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283818/original/file-20190712-173355-nirqyh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283818/original/file-20190712-173355-nirqyh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">River red gums clear out the ground around them with toxic chemicals that discourage the growth of competitors.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">allelopathy/Flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some people think river red gums are dangerous because they shed large limbs without warning on calm, still, summer days. There is no doubt this does happen, but there is no clear evidence they shed limbs more often than other species.</p>
<p>The problem is complex, because they tend to grow everywhere people want to go. They provide shade along waterways on a hot, dry continent. In going to places where the trees grow, people tend to compact the soil with their vehicles and footpaths, which can be causes of limb shedding. The compaction of the soil affects soil moisture and aeration, which can lead to limb shedding.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/warrigal-greens-are-tasty-salty-and-covered-in-tiny-balloon-like-hairs-112307">Warrigal greens are tasty, salty, and covered in tiny balloon-like hairs</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In other contexts such as farms where limbs are shed, many old river red gums are growing in highly disturbed or changed ecosystems. Furthermore, many of these remnant specimens are often stressed and getting older and <a href="https://www.anbg.gov.au/cpbr/WfHC/Eucalyptus-camaldulensis/index.html">so more prone to shedding</a>.</p>
<p>River red gums trace the watercourses of mainland Australia, and are easily seen from aeroplanes as you cross the continent. They connect the continental fringes with its arid heart. Their lives can span many human generations and it is nice to think that the majestic old trees that pull at our heartstrings have done the same to previous generations and, if we and they are lucky, will continue to do so for generations of Australians yet to come.</p>
<p><br></p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=199&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=199&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=199&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption"></span>
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</figure>
<p><em><a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/BeatingAroundTheBush">Sign up to Beating Around the Bush, a series that profiles native plants: part gardening column, part dispatches from country, entirely Australian.</a></em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/118839/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gregory Moore does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Red gums connect the continental fringes of Australia with its arid heart, marching along waterways.Gregory Moore, Doctor of Botany, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1198822019-07-05T06:17:22Z2019-07-05T06:17:22ZEelgrass keeps the oceans alive and preserves shipwrecks, so just cope when it tickles your feet<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/282800/original/file-20190705-51273-cs9ef0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C8%2C2079%2C1486&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Sea grass meadows at Bonna Point. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Valentina Hurtado-McCormick, Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Sign up to the Beating Around the Bush newsletter <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/newsletters">here</a>, and suggest a plant we should cover at batb@theconversation.edu.au.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>Have you ever walked into the ocean from a stunning Australian beach and realised the sand was covered with hundreds of ticklish leaves? This submerged canopy is a seagrass meadow, and while you might see them as a nuisance to swim past, they’re a hidden treasure. </p>
<p>Seagrasses are the only group of flowering plants that have adapted to the marine environment. This group comprises nearly 60 species, which typically occupy tropical and temperate regions of the world distributed across 1,646,788 km2.</p>
<p>There is a disproportionately large number of temperate seagrass species in southern Australia, with <em>Zostera</em> species dominating extensive and very diverse meadows. </p>
<p>Eelgrass (<em>Zostera muelleri</em>) is one of the dominant meadow-forming species in Australia. It has the widest distribution of its family (<em>Zosteraceae</em>) in temperate Australian waters, and is vital to our oceans’ health.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/282809/original/file-20190705-51258-4oiuqk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/282809/original/file-20190705-51258-4oiuqk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/282809/original/file-20190705-51258-4oiuqk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282809/original/file-20190705-51258-4oiuqk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282809/original/file-20190705-51258-4oiuqk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282809/original/file-20190705-51258-4oiuqk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282809/original/file-20190705-51258-4oiuqk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282809/original/file-20190705-51258-4oiuqk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Conversation</span></span>
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<hr>
<h2>Don’t call me weedy!</h2>
<p>These aquatic plants have evolved myriad adaptations to survive in the seas, and contrary to what many people think, seagrasses are very different from seaweeds. </p>
<p>Seaweeds are comparatively simple organisms: they are macroalgae with no vascular tissue, which is what conducts water and nutrients throughout a plant. In comparison, eelgrass has leaves, root and rhizomes, with flowers, fruits and seeds for reproduction. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/282782/original/file-20190705-51292-1o32apa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/282782/original/file-20190705-51292-1o32apa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/282782/original/file-20190705-51292-1o32apa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282782/original/file-20190705-51292-1o32apa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282782/original/file-20190705-51292-1o32apa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282782/original/file-20190705-51292-1o32apa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282782/original/file-20190705-51292-1o32apa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282782/original/file-20190705-51292-1o32apa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jmaughn/11866178586/in/photolist-j5zgtY-GBqXjh-iLbnAG-5tcCuv-5VVnwM-Hmy77-i2XzEB-cQqsgq-9Ut18t-J72Lf-5tcsXn-aeefio-H3w7c-4GW736-eh9ykD-8Qvgjq-LCSGZj-9F3CCR-3d3GuP-26LmfNQ-5tcCgt-23o58PT-iL8ESt-5DdFbz-Td3SXi-9F6xH5-8im7bV-ZMNmbf-5th1zy-4w4enc-6bWMiP-eoL5vP-8ipkYo-c1jVyh-6bWyAa-6bWPkK-7zxJqG-5N6wSE-66uTXP-bBn8Wy-5nEjrU-cXNSh7-aca1ie-H3vWX-H3u4Y-H3w4P-6bWQ6a-6c1Ytq-c1jVvY-8Fzqtf">J. Maughn/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>They do, however, share one thing. Seagrasses and seaweeds are “holobionts” – meaning that they each play host to a range of microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi and microalgae that help to support their health and survival.</p>
<p>Research has shown that these <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/29977008/">crucial host-microbe relationships</a> can be <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2019.01011/full">easily disrupted</a>. </p>
<p>Climate change is not just affecting the seagrass host; the entire holobiont and even the environment it occupies are suffering from <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2018.00190/full">rising temperatures</a>. </p>
<h2>Purple plants in warm waters</h2>
<p>My research involves studying the response of seagrass and their associated microbes to environmental degradation. I realised how much warming oceans were affecting eelgrass when I suddenly came across <em>purple</em> shoots in a meadow I was sampling once a month. </p>
<p>I was shocked. I had never seen anything like it. </p>
<p>While previous research has described the phenomenon of <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/272536989_Leaf_reddening_in_seagrasses">seagrass leaf reddening</a>, I’d never heard of seagrass going purple in this specific black-purple-white pattern. </p>
<p>We already knew that the eelgrass accumulates red pigments as a sunscreen against the increased <a href="https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlehtml/2015/pp/c4pp90032d">UV radiation</a> that results from ozone depletion and related consequences of climate change. My PhD (soon to be published) has found that this colour change has a strong effect on the microbial communities that live on seagrass leaves.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/282793/original/file-20190705-51288-1be14ky.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/282793/original/file-20190705-51288-1be14ky.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/282793/original/file-20190705-51288-1be14ky.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282793/original/file-20190705-51288-1be14ky.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282793/original/file-20190705-51288-1be14ky.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282793/original/file-20190705-51288-1be14ky.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282793/original/file-20190705-51288-1be14ky.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282793/original/file-20190705-51288-1be14ky.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Seagrasses establish and maintain fundamental relationships with the microbes that live among them.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Valentina Hurtado McCormick</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Why should we care?</h2>
<p>Besides producing weird sensations on human feet, eelgrass and its counterparts are a crucial part of our coastal ecosystems. Probably the best example is their nursery role in supporting juvenile fish and crustaceans.</p>
<p>They also provide food for a wide range of grazers, from dugongs to the green sea turtle (as featured in the movie Finding Nemo), which feed on bounteous seagrass meadows. </p>
<p>Finally, we can also thank them for sequestering <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-desperately-need-to-store-more-carbon-seagrass-could-be-the-answer-105524">huge amounts of organic carbon</a> that would otherwise contribute enormously to the greenhouse effect. Referred to as “blue carbon sinks”, researchers have calculated seagrass meadows could store <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=t8aPBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA132&lpg=PA132&dq=19.9+Pg+of+organic+carbon&source=bl&ots=y4OULZ9BAK&sig=ACfU3U00_YW9lj0FFV6hVb_VsyPt971WCQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjVkKmoy5zjAhUVmuYKHQPnAAoQ6AEwCnoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=19.9%20Pg%20of%20organic%20carbon&f=false">19.9 gigatonnes of organic carbon worldwide</a>.</p>
<p>I could keep writing about the virtues of <em>Zostera</em> species (and seagrasses in general) for much, much longer, but I will leave you with a single thought: we breathe and eat from a healthy ocean, and the ocean is not healthy without seagrass.</p>
<h2>Not just grass under your feet</h2>
<p>Seagrass is so protective, I think of them as one of the most altruistic plants on the planet. They keep <a href="https://www.nature.com/news/ocean-meadows-scrub-seawater-of-harmful-bacteria-1.21504">waterborne pathogens in check and neutralise harmful bacteria</a>, keeping coral reefs healthy, and acting as an important part of the ocean’s well-being.</p>
<p>On the other hand, these aquatic plants also help preserve human heritage. They create a thick sediment layer on the seafloor, beneath which <a href="https://theconversation.com/seagrass-protector-of-shipwrecks-and-buried-treasure-103364">shipwrecks and other treasures</a> are buried and protected from decomposition.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/seagrass-protector-of-shipwrecks-and-buried-treasure-103364">Seagrass, protector of shipwrecks and buried treasure</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>For some <a href="https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2F978-3-319-71354-0.pdf">400 million years</a>, eelgrass and other seagrass species have protected the ocean, our planet, and the creatures who live here.</p>
<p>In return, we have managed to create uncountable ways to directly or indirectly threaten seagrass-based ecosystems. As a result, meadows have declined globally at the accelerated rate of <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/106/30/12377.full.pdf">7% per year</a>.</p>
<p>For many of us, seagrass meadows are simply an obstacle to get past on the way to the waves. But for those of us who spend our days with a snorkel and collection tubes, these little watery plants mean far more. When I look at a single seagrass leaf, I see an entire microcosm of interacting entities.</p>
<p><br></p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=199&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=199&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=199&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em><a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/BeatingAroundTheBush">Sign up to Beating Around the Bush, a series that profiles native plants: part gardening column, part dispatches from country, entirely Australian.</a></em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/119882/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Valentina Hurtado-McCormick receives funding from the Faculty of Science, the Graduate Research School (GRS), and the Climate Change Cluster (C3), University of Technology Sydney (UTS). This PhD research was also funded through the Australian
Research Council (ARC) Discovery Program scheme (Future Fellowship Grant FT130100218 to Justin Seymour) and the William Macleay Microbiological Scientific Research Fund, Linnean Society of New South Wales (William Macleay Award for Microbiology Research to Valentina Hurtado-McCormick).</span></em></p>Seagrass may look unassuming, but healthy oceans depend on the huge meadows that grow in temperate and tropical waters.Valentina Hurtado-McCormick, PhD Candidate, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1188372019-06-28T06:12:20Z2019-06-28T06:12:20ZWhite cedar is a rare bird: a winter deciduous Australian tree<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281711/original/file-20190628-76734-10kdn6u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Scamperdale/Flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Sign up to the Beating Around the Bush newsletter <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/newsletters">here</a>, and suggest a plant we should cover at batb@theconversation.edu.au.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>White cedar (<em>Melia azedarach</em>) grows naturally across Queensland and northern New South Wales, but is widely planted as an ornamental tree all over Australia. It also grows across much of Asia, and belongs to the mahogany family. </p>
<p>This wide dispersal sees the species given a very wide and diverse range of common names, including: umbrella cedar, pride of India, Indian lilac, Persian lilac, and Chinaberry. It Australia it is known as white cedar due to its soft general-purpose timber.</p>
<p>The name <em>Melia</em> was the Greek name given to the ash tree, which has similar foliage, and <em>azedarach</em> means “poisonous tree” – parts of it are toxic.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/this-centuries-old-river-red-gum-is-a-local-legend-heres-why-its-worth-fighting-for-117666">This centuries-old river red gum is a local legend – here's why it's worth fighting for</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>White cedar is something of a rarity among Australian native trees, as it loses its leaves in winter or early autumn. Winter deciduous trees are highly valued in landscape design as they provide all the benefits of summer shade, but allow winter light.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281734/original/file-20190628-94700-er2thf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281734/original/file-20190628-94700-er2thf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281734/original/file-20190628-94700-er2thf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281734/original/file-20190628-94700-er2thf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281734/original/file-20190628-94700-er2thf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281734/original/file-20190628-94700-er2thf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281734/original/file-20190628-94700-er2thf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281734/original/file-20190628-94700-er2thf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Conversation</span></span>
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<p>While Australia has an abundance of evergreen tree species and a variety of summer deciduous trees that lose their leaves in summer when water is scarce, we have <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2016-03-07/deciduous-trees-in-australia/7200608">few winter deciduous native trees</a>. White cedar fits the bill beautifully, and despite a few shortcomings has some very attractive traits.</p>
<p>White cedar is usually a small spreading tree with a rounded canopy up to about 6m in height, but under the right conditions trees can be more than 20m tall, with a canopy spread of 10m or more. They have quite dense foliage composed of dark compound leaves up to 500mm long, which transition from dark green to a pale yellow in autumn. </p>
<p>As a winter deciduous tree they are a very popular native tree that has been widely planted as street trees and in domestic gardens, where specimens of 10-12m are common. The trees are often considered to be short-lived (around 20 years), but in gardens and where irrigation is available some may live for 40 years or longer.</p>
<p>Good specimens of white cedar have many small flowers (20mm) that are white with purple/blue stripes and a wonderful, almost citrus-like scent. The fruits are about 15mm in diameter and bright orange in colour. They are usually retained over winter and so the trees provide a seasonal smorgasbord – shade in summer, autumn foliage colour, orange fruits in winter, and attractive scented flowers in spring.</p>
<p>Many specimens are prolific in their production of fruits and seeds, which readily germinate, underscoring the weed potential of the species under the right circumstances. They can be an invasive species in some parts of Asia and Africa.</p>
<p>Unfortunately as the fruits mature and dry they become as hard as ball bearings. If you mow over them they can fire from under a mower like bullets, and if they land on a hard paved surface they can be a tripping hazard for people who unexpectedly find themselves skating. The fruits and foliage can also be quite toxic if eaten. So this would appear to put a bit a dampener on the use of the tree. However, in recent years non-fruiting varieties of white cedar have become available and these have proven popular as street and garden trees.</p>
<h2>A toxic treat</h2>
<p>Many parts of the tree are toxic - interestingly, though, not the fleshy part of the fruit. It has evolved to be attractive to the birds that disperse seed. However the seeds are very poisonous, and as few as 6 or 8 seeds can be <a href="https://www.nationalarboretum.act.gov.au/living-collection/trees/tree-descriptions/forests-and-trees/forest-5">fatal for children</a>. Fortunately, the seeds are very hard and do not taste very pleasant, so the risk of humans eating them is quite low.</p>
<p>Despite this, white cedar has been widely used as a medicinal plant by indigenous cultures, especially for <a href="https://www.nationalarboretum.act.gov.au/living-collection/trees/tree-descriptions/forests-and-trees/forest-5*">intestinal parasites</a>. The seeds have been widely used to make beads by indigenous peoples in Asia and Australia, and in some places the tree is called the <a href="https://keys.lucidcentral.org/keys/v3/eafrinet/weeds/key/weeds/Media/Html/Melia_azedarach__(Melia).htm">bead tree</a>.</p>
<h2>An easy grower</h2>
<p>One of the good things about white cedar is they are easily grown, and cope quite well with the low rainfall in many parts of Australia. They also tolerate a variety of soil types, which is why they have been so widely and successfully spread. </p>
<p>The trees are quite resistant to termite damage and their poison does protect them from grazing mammals and some insects. They can be prone to root problems and it is not uncommon for their trunks to break off at ground level, especially if they have been poorly propagated or planted, which can be a big problem when they are planted as a street tree.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/built-like-buildings-boab-trees-are-life-savers-with-a-chequered-past-118821">Built like buildings, boab trees are life-savers with a chequered past</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Although they are related to mahogany, their wood can be quite brittle and easily broken, which means care should be taken when pruning or working on them. When the wood dries it shatters easily and can send shards in all directions when you try to snap it. In Australia the wood can range from light cream to dark brown in colour, and while it is quite a useful wood for carving and furniture, it is not widely used.</p>
<p>As a winter deciduous native tree of smallish stature, with many attractive characteristics, the white cedar really is an Australian rarity, despite how widely it occurs or is planted.</p>
<p><br></p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=199&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=199&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=199&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em><a href="https://confirmsubscription.com/h/r/9AE707FA51C4AC1B">Sign up to Beating Around the Bush, a series that profiles native plants: part gardening column, part dispatches from country, entirely Australian.</a></em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/118837/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gregory Moore does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>White cedar grows across Asia and Australia, as a hardy and resilient deciduous.Gregory Moore, Doctor of Botany, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1188382019-06-21T06:16:19Z2019-06-21T06:16:19ZThe mighty mulga grows deep and lives long<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280629/original/file-20190621-149814-k0wgzp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mark Marathon via Wikipedia</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Sign up to the Beating Around the Bush newsletter <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/newsletters">here</a>, and suggest a plant we should cover at batb@theconversation.edu.au.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>Among the nearly <a href="http://www.anbg.gov.au/acacia/species.html">1,000 species of Australian acacias</a>, there are few with a reputation for hardiness, resilience and endurance to match mulga. Once the higher rainfall of the coastal fringes of the continent diminishes, from west to east and south to north, the mulga prevails. </p>
<p>It grows over the vast expanse of about 20% of our continent and is often the dominant woody species of the grassland communities that are themselves known as the mulga. It is also an important shrub component of inland woodlands, such as those dominated by poplar box, <em>Eucalyptus populnea</em>. </p>
<p>Any species that covers 1.5 million km² of any landmass is clearly a vital part of its ecosystems.</p>
<p>The scientific name of mulga is <em>Acacia aneura</em>, which refers to the lack of a prominent mid-rib in their leaves (<em>a</em> means “no” and <em>neura</em> means “nerve”). Interestingly, like most Australian acacias, mulga lacks spines which their African relatives possess in abundance on their foliage, and they don’t actually have leaves.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-detailed-eucalypt-family-tree-helps-us-see-how-they-came-to-dominate-australia-113371">A detailed eucalypt family tree helps us see how they came to dominate Australia</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The structures that appear to be leaves are actually flattened leaf stems called phyllodes. They function as leaves, but are very efficient in arid conditions. The narrow and rolled mulga leaves often have a sharp tip, so while they are not spiny they are still prickly.</p>
<p>Mulga plays an important ecological role in drier parts of Australia. It is a nitrogen-fixing species that enriches often impoverished soils, provides habitat for birds, insects, reptiles and mammals, and is important for honey production. </p>
<p>They drop many of their phyllodes during very dry spells, which not only reduces demand for water, but provides a vital mulch to their ecosystems during tough times. <em>Acacia aneura</em> is fire-sensitive, and changes to fire regimes can see it displaced by grass species. In parts of the outback, the species is not regenerating, and as the old specimens die the mulga is disappearing.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280661/original/file-20190621-61747-1ea8gej.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280661/original/file-20190621-61747-1ea8gej.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280661/original/file-20190621-61747-1ea8gej.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280661/original/file-20190621-61747-1ea8gej.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280661/original/file-20190621-61747-1ea8gej.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280661/original/file-20190621-61747-1ea8gej.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280661/original/file-20190621-61747-1ea8gej.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280661/original/file-20190621-61747-1ea8gej.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Conversaion</span></span>
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<hr>
<h2>Frugal lifestyle</h2>
<p>Mulga are brilliantly designed for coping with the arid Australian interior, as they do not get too big in places where resources are limited. In good conditions they are small trees that can grow taller than 10m, but in dry conditions they may be shrubs little more than 2-3m tall. They have a very deep root system that begins with a tap root 3m or more in length when the tree is only 20cm tall, and which exploits a large volume of soil for water. </p>
<p>This biology often leads to individual specimens being evenly spaced in the landscape as if they were positioned by design. The roots may be considerably longer than the tree is tall! </p>
<p>The little apertures on the phyllodes that regulate water loss and gaseous exchange (stomata) are located at the bottom of deep pits called stomatal crypts, which further slows water loss.</p>
<p>It is common for gardeners to think of acacia species as being short-lived, but with nearly 1,000 different species there is great variation in the age that various species can reach. While many shrubby species might only survive for a decade or two, <em>Acacia aneura</em> can live for three centuries or more. It is hard to believe many of the scrubby little specimens only a metre or two high growing in the arid heart of Australia are such a venerable age.</p>
<p>Mulga can be very slow-growing, and its wood can be both strong and durable. It grows a light cream sapwood that surrounds a dark reddish-brown or black heartwood. The combination is ideal for wood carving, especially of ornaments, utensils, and of course prized souvenirs of a trip to the red centre. It is durable as indigenous weapons, digging sticks or modern fence posts, and its foliage can provide emergency fodder for stock during prolonged dry periods. Resin from the leaves is also used for sealing cracks and splits in cups and bowls.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-art-of-healing-five-medicinal-plants-used-by-aboriginal-australians-97249">The art of healing: five medicinal plants used by Aboriginal Australians</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Like many acacia species, the seeds of mulga are protein-rich and have made an excellent food source for many centuries, particularly in seed cakes. Boiling young leaves and twigs in water has been used for <a href="http://anpsa.org.au/APOL16/dec99-5.html">treating colds</a>, and lerps – the sticky protective coverings of insects that grow on the leaves – provide a sugary treat.</p>
<p>Many of those who have never seen the outback of Australia imagine it to be a vast and barren red sandy desert. However, for those areas where mulga rules, it is a place of diversity and complex ecosystems. <em>Acacia aneura</em> typifies the resilience of a huge part of the Australian landscape, and its wonderful biology deserves to be better known.</p>
<p><br></p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=199&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=199&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=199&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em><a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/BeatingAroundTheBush">Sign up to Beating Around the Bush, a series that profiles native plants: part gardening column, part dispatches from country, entirely Australian.</a></em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/118838/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gregory Moore does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Mulga is an Aussie icon: hardy, adaptable, and absolutely everywhere.Gregory Moore, Doctor of Botany, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1188212019-06-14T06:07:02Z2019-06-14T06:07:02ZBuilt like buildings, boab trees are life-savers with a chequered past<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279490/original/file-20190614-158941-p6jvlh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C4%2C2995%2C1491&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A boab tree in the Kimberley. Boab trees can live for thousands of years and their trunks hollow out as they get older.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Sign up to the Beating Around the Bush newsletter <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/newsletters">here</a>, and suggest a plant we should cover at batb@theconversation.edu.au.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>When you are in the northern part of Western Australia, one of nature’s joys is seeing a large boab tree close up, perhaps for the first time. </p>
<p>The boab (<em>Adansonia gregorii</em>) is a native to this part of Australia, but is related to the broader group of species called boababs that live in Madagascar and Africa – but more on that connection later.</p>
<p>Boabs are also called bottle trees, the tree of life, boababs and Australian boababs. Some of the indigenous Australian names include gadawon and larrgadi. </p>
<p>From their iconic swollen trunks, to living up to 2,000 years and the many uses for their “superfood” fruits, here’s what makes boab trees so fascinating.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279487/original/file-20190614-158958-1t9t56u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279487/original/file-20190614-158958-1t9t56u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279487/original/file-20190614-158958-1t9t56u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279487/original/file-20190614-158958-1t9t56u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279487/original/file-20190614-158958-1t9t56u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279487/original/file-20190614-158958-1t9t56u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279487/original/file-20190614-158958-1t9t56u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279487/original/file-20190614-158958-1t9t56u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Conversation</span></span>
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<hr>
<h2>The ‘upside-down tree’: trunks that save lives and lock up prisoners</h2>
<p>While the boab in Australia is not quite as <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=q2v3kb9tFsYC&printsec=frontcover&dq=1962+Forest+Trees+of+Australia&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiq2ai08efiAhVFVH0KHV2BD5YQ6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&q=1962%20Forest%20Trees%20of%20Australia&f=false">well-documented</a> as the African species, specimens have been recorded at over 1,000 years of age. Some living trees have been estimated to be nearer to 2,000 years old.</p>
<p>And while it’s difficult to age the trees, several specimens of the African species have been dated at 2,000 or more years old. </p>
<p>Australian boabs can grow up to 15 metres tall at maturity and have swollen, attention-grabbing trunks called a caudex, which may be up to five metres in diameter. </p>
<p>The African boab species, <em>A. digitata</em>, can be much taller, at 25 metres high and with a diameter of up to 15 metres. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/iconic-boab-trees-trace-journeys-of-ancient-aboriginal-people-39565">Iconic boab trees trace journeys of ancient Aboriginal people</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In such dry continents, the caudex is a life-saver, often containing water, which was tapped by Indigenous folk. It has been estimated that some of these huge old trees can hold more than 100,000 litres of water in their trunks.</p>
<p>In Africa, these massive trunks have been used as shelters, homes, farm sheds and, more recently, <a href="https://awol.junkee.com/this-south-african-bar-is-in-a-6000-year-old-tree/2811">even shops and bars</a>. </p>
<p>Sadly in Australia, legend has it the huge trunks <a href="https://www.australiasnorthwest.com/business/attractions/boab-prison-tree">were used</a> to make lock-ups for Indigenous people and other prisoners.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279465/original/file-20190614-32335-1ogru35.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279465/original/file-20190614-32335-1ogru35.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279465/original/file-20190614-32335-1ogru35.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279465/original/file-20190614-32335-1ogru35.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279465/original/file-20190614-32335-1ogru35.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279465/original/file-20190614-32335-1ogru35.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279465/original/file-20190614-32335-1ogru35.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279465/original/file-20190614-32335-1ogru35.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The infamous Boab Prison Tree, just south of Derby in Western Australia, was said to have once held Indigenous prisoners.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It’s not just the trunk that can stop you in your tracks. The boab has a unique branching structure, one that looks more like a root system than a canopy. </p>
<p>Some locals in Africa will tell you the tree was dropped from heaven to earth and landed upside down. So the African species of boab is sometimes called the upside-down tree.</p>
<h2>Boab fruits are ‘superfoods’ and its shell has many uses</h2>
<p><em>A. gregorii</em>, the Australian boab species, has large, attractive white flowers up to 75 millimetres in length. Its round fruits are edible and sought after by birds, mammals and humans. The fruit gives rise to some of the common names for the tree, such as monkey bread tree and dead rat tree. The latter comes from the appearance of older fruits in the canopy looking a bit like … well, dead rats? </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/baobab-trees-have-more-than-300-uses-but-theyre-dying-in-africa-98214">Baobab trees have more than 300 uses but they're dying in Africa</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In fact, there’s great interest in fruits from the African species, <em>A. digitata</em>, which are considered a “superfood” because of their high levels of antioxidants, calcium, potassium, magnesium, fibre and vitamin C. It’s assumed many of these traits will be shared by the Australian boab, but there is little research as yet to prove it.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279471/original/file-20190614-32321-r7k882.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279471/original/file-20190614-32321-r7k882.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279471/original/file-20190614-32321-r7k882.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279471/original/file-20190614-32321-r7k882.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279471/original/file-20190614-32321-r7k882.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279471/original/file-20190614-32321-r7k882.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279471/original/file-20190614-32321-r7k882.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279471/original/file-20190614-32321-r7k882.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fruit of the African boab tree fruit are initially covered in velvety fur.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ton Rulkens/Wikimedia</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The soft part of the fruit is surrounded by a hard, coconut-like shell that’s initially covered in a velvety fur. The hard shell has been used for cups and bowls, but has also been intricately carved and decorated by Aboriginal artists in Africa and Australia. If the seeds are left inside the fruit as it dries, they can be used for toys like rattles.</p>
<p>On both continents, Aboriginal people have eaten the white powder that surrounds the seeds. The leaves are rich in iron and the pulp from the fruits tastes like cream of tartar. </p>
<p>The Indigenous people of both continents were also well aware of the medicinal uses of the fruits. The bark and leaves of the trees also treat various ailments, but particularly those associated with digestive disorders. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/science-the-loser-in-victorias-alpine-grazing-trial-3">Science the loser in Victoria's alpine grazing trial</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>But at present there is very little modern research on the medicinal and dietary aspects of either the baobab or boab.</p>
<h2>How the boab tree got to Australia</h2>
<p>One of the mysteries surrounding the boab is how it got to Australia – the Australian species has clear affinities with related species in continental Africa and Madagascar.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279469/original/file-20190614-32317-1pt138j.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279469/original/file-20190614-32317-1pt138j.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279469/original/file-20190614-32317-1pt138j.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279469/original/file-20190614-32317-1pt138j.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279469/original/file-20190614-32317-1pt138j.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279469/original/file-20190614-32317-1pt138j.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279469/original/file-20190614-32317-1pt138j.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279469/original/file-20190614-32317-1pt138j.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A baobab tree, <em>Adansonia digitata</em>, in Tarangire National Park, Tanzania. Its journey from Africa to Australia remains a mystery.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Yoki/Wikimedia</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There are three intriguing <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-07/boabs-come-africa-baobabs-evolution/10060946">theories</a>. </p>
<p>The first is that all of the boababs originate from the super-continent Gondwana – consisting of Africa, South America, Antarctica, Australia, India and Madagascar – before it fragmented almost 80 million years ago. But <em>A. Gregorii</em> and <em>A. digitata</em> are so similar genetically that, given the millions of years that have elapsed, this theory is now in question. </p>
<p>The second theory comes from recent DNA analysis of the species. It suggests they separated more recently, perhaps only 70,000 years ago, which raises the question, were humans involved in their journey? But did they come to Australia from Africa, or from Australia to Africa? The latter is a less likely scenario given the direction of ocean currents.</p>
<p>And the third theory is that fruits arrived on the Australian shore after an epic ocean voyage from Africa. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/dark-tourism-aboriginal-imprisonment-and-the-prison-tree-that-wasnt-75203">Dark tourism, Aboriginal imprisonment and the ‘prison tree’ that wasn’t</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Boabs are usually found in the remote outback of Australia, but in 2008, a large 750-year-old boab <a href="https://www.bgpa.wa.gov.au/images/horticulture/docs/pn_adansonia_gregorii.pdf">was transported</a> from Warmun in the Kimberley to Perth and transplanted in Kings Park. </p>
<p>Transplanting such a large tree is both daunting and fraught, with a high chance of failure, but the deciduousness and growth habit of the boab gave some cause for optimism about a successful outcome. For the reward of having a large old boab growing in Perth, it would be worth it. </p>
<p>After a period of stress, the tree appears to be coming good, reflecting the toughness of the species.</p>
<p>A large, mature boab is a splendid tree of arid Australia that inspires awe in all who experience them close up. They really are a beauty and a bottler of a tree!</p>
<p><br></p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=199&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=199&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=199&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em><a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/BeatingAroundTheBush">Sign up to Beating Around the Bush, a series that profiles native plants: part gardening column, part dispatches from country, entirely Australian.</a></em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/118821/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gregory Moore does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The leaves, when boiled, can be eaten like spinach. The seeds can be roasted for a coffee substitute, and the pulp can be fermented to make beer.Gregory Moore, Doctor of Botany, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1176662019-06-07T06:25:25Z2019-06-07T06:25:25ZThis centuries-old river red gum is a local legend – here’s why it’s worth fighting for<p><em>Sign up to the Beating Around the Bush newsletter <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/newsletters">here</a>, and suggest a plant we should cover at batb@theconversation.edu.au.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>In Dr Seuss’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lorax">The Lorax</a>, his titular character famously said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I am the Lorax. I speak for the trees. I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In the midst of a <a href="https://theconversation.com/revolutionary-change-needed-to-stop-unprecedented-global-extinction-crisis-116166">global extinction crisis</a>, the Lorax’s call to preserve what is precious couldn’t be more apt. The greatest threat to the survival of species globally continues to be habitat destruction and modification. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-ring-trees-of-victorias-watti-watti-people-are-an-extraordinary-part-of-our-heritage-91310">The ring trees of Victoria's Watti Watti people are an extraordinary part of our heritage</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>A potential and local victim of this ongoing environmental catastrophe is a single tree, and a tree I have a deep personal connection with. The tree I refer to is <a href="https://trusttrees.org.au/tree/VIC/Bulleen/Cnr_Bridge_Street_And_Manningham_Road">Bulleen’s iconic 300-year-old river red gum</a> (<em>Eucalyptus camaldulensis</em>). </p>
<p>To me this tree has been a constant in my life. While everything else has changed around me, it has stood there, solid, just as solid as its red gum fibres are known to be. </p>
<p>As a child I fondly remember looking up at this tree in awe, as we’d often stop at the nearby service station on a hot summer’s day to buy a cold drink or ice-cream on the way to Saturday sport, the nearby Birrarung (Yarra River), or my grandmother’s house. </p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278472/original/file-20190607-52771-1r234el.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278472/original/file-20190607-52771-1r234el.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278472/original/file-20190607-52771-1r234el.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278472/original/file-20190607-52771-1r234el.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278472/original/file-20190607-52771-1r234el.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278472/original/file-20190607-52771-1r234el.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278472/original/file-20190607-52771-1r234el.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278472/original/file-20190607-52771-1r234el.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Conversation</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<h2>Bulleen’s majestic river red gum</h2>
<p>It’s estimated to be approximately 20 metres in height with a canopy spread of 17 metres. And its trunk measures a <a href="https://trusttrees.org.au/tree/VIC/Bulleen/Cnr_Bridge_Street_And_Manningham_Road">whopping two metres</a> across. </p>
<p>The tree is thought to be the oldest remnant of a once substantial red gum forest, and was saved by a <a href="https://trusttrees.org.au/tree/VIC/Bulleen/Cnr_Bridge_Street_And_Manningham_Road">local resident</a> when the rest of the area was cleared for the construction of a service station. </p>
<p>It now faces destruction, as it is within the preferred path of construction for <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/after-300-years-splendid-red-gum-will-be-felled-for-north-east-link-20190506-p51kks.html">Victoria’s North East link</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-i-discovered-the-dalveen-blue-box-a-rare-eucalypt-species-with-a-sweet-fruity-smell-115561">How I discovered the Dalveen Blue Box, a rare eucalypt species with a sweet, fruity smell</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>While the measurements of this tree are impressive, the splendour and value for me is that it has survived for so long and, in more recent times, against tremendous odds. </p>
<h2>Surviving against all odds</h2>
<p>The Bulleen red gum stands beside one of Melbourne’s busiest roads and the immediate area is covered with concrete and bitumen. The tree’s roots and health have therefore been challenged for a long time, and yet this massive red gum stands, as if in defiance of the modern world and the development that has encircled it. </p>
<p>Since this tree has survived for so long, it undoubtedly holds a special connection with so many: the <a href="https://aboriginalhistoryofyarra.com.au/1-introduction/">Wurundjeri-willam people of the Kulin Nation</a>, members of Australia’s famed <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heidelberg_School">Heidelberg school</a> of artists who lived and worked in the near vicinty, everyday commuters that have driven or walked by or stopped to admire it, or the war verteran <a href="https://www.heraldsun.com.au/leader/east/bulleen-red-gum-94yearold-war-veteran-joins-community-push-to-save-tree/news-story/3e2b49282b529f0816b6e30a4c96fe31">Nevin Phillips</a> who once apparently defended it with his rifle against it being chainsawed. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278233/original/file-20190606-40715-471yuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278233/original/file-20190606-40715-471yuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278233/original/file-20190606-40715-471yuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278233/original/file-20190606-40715-471yuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278233/original/file-20190606-40715-471yuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278233/original/file-20190606-40715-471yuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278233/original/file-20190606-40715-471yuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278233/original/file-20190606-40715-471yuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Very old trees such as Bulleen’s river red gum deserve our respect and protection, for these trees have substantial environmental, economic and cultural value.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">National Trust</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Further proof of the value of this tree to so many is that it was awarded The National Trust of Australia’s (Victoria) 2019 <a href="https://www.nationaltrust.org.au/treeoftheyear/">Victorian Tree of the Year</a>.</p>
<h2>Why we must speak for and save old trees</h2>
<p>I grew up near this tree and, like the Lorax, I would like to <em>speak for it</em>.<br>
Trees as old as the Bulleen river red gum are now <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/338/6112/1305">increasingly rare in our world</a>, and beyond their strong personal and cultural values, including in some places as <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/nitv-news/article/2018/06/20/sacred-djap-wurrung-trees-earmarked-removal-get-temporary-reprieve-following">Aboriginal birthing sites</a>, they are tremendously important for other reasons as well. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/vic-stockwells-puzzle-is-an-unlikely-survivor-from-a-different-epoch-113370">Vic Stockwell’s Puzzle is an unlikely survivor from a different epoch</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>These trees provide shade and help keep our <a href="https://theconversation.com/urban-greening-can-save-species-cool-warming-cities-and-make-us-happy-116000">cities cooler</a>, improve our <a href="https://theconversation.com/hug-a-tree-the-evidence-shows-it-really-will-make-you-feel-better-21924">mental health and wellbeing</a>, and store <a href="https://theconversation.com/big-old-trees-grow-faster-making-them-vital-carbon-absorbers-22104">considerable amounts of carbon</a> aiding our fight against climate change. </p>
<p>Perhaps most importantly, under their bark and in their cracks and hollows, they provide homes for many of Australia’s precious but increasingly <a href="https://theconversation.com/mourn-our-lost-mammals-while-helping-the-survivors-battle-back-36126">imperilled native wildlife</a>, including bats, birds, possums and gliders, snakes and lizards, insects and spiders. </p>
<p>These homes are prime wildlife real estate, especially in our big cities, where such large old trees are vanishingly rare but <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-39-endangered-species-in-melbourne-sydney-adelaide-and-other-australian-cities-114741">where considerable wildlife, common and threatened, still persists</a>. And yet more could survive with a helping hand from us.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278251/original/file-20190606-2754-1c17pb0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278251/original/file-20190606-2754-1c17pb0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278251/original/file-20190606-2754-1c17pb0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278251/original/file-20190606-2754-1c17pb0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278251/original/file-20190606-2754-1c17pb0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278251/original/file-20190606-2754-1c17pb0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278251/original/file-20190606-2754-1c17pb0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A powerful owl chick in a tree hollow, in outer Melbourne.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">John White (Deakin University)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As cities like Melbourne continue to grow around the world, there will be more and more cases where arguments of progress are used to justify the further destruction of what nature remains. But progress shouldn’t come at any cost, and in the case of preserving iconic and valuable trees such as Bulleen’s river red gum, it would seem there’s more than enough reasons to ensure this tree’s life and its many values continue. </p>
<p>Perhaps again the wise sage, the Lorax, says it best. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, Nothing is going to get better. It’s not.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><br></p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=199&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=199&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=199&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em><a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/BeatingAroundTheBush">Sign up to Beating Around the Bush, a series that profiles native plants: part gardening column, part dispatches from country, entirely Australian.</a></em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/117666/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Euan Ritchie is a Director (Media Working Group) of the Ecological Society of Australia and a member of the Australian Mammal Society.</span></em></p>This massive red gum has stood for 300 years, as if in defiance of the modern world and the development that has encircled it.Euan Ritchie, Associate Professor in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, Centre for Integrative Ecology, School of Life & Environmental Sciences, Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1163622019-05-31T05:21:12Z2019-05-31T05:21:12ZMeet the Kakadu plum: an international superfood thousands of years in the making<p><em>Sign up to the Beating Around the Bush newsletter <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/newsletters">here</a>, and suggest a plant we should cover at batb@theconversation.edu.au.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>The Kakadu Plum fruiting season in the Top End is just finishing. Over one weekend, I was able to find a few fruits on the ground beneath some trees in the Eucalypt woodland near Darwin. </p>
<p>This is the best way to eat Kakadu plums – fresh, fully ripe, and fallen from the tree. The <a href="http://eflora.nt.gov.au/factsheet?id=1322">fruit</a> is smooth, fleshy and ovoid in shape with a short beak, and yellow–green or slightly reddish when ripe. </p>
<p>Initially, the taste seems somewhat bland, but with a definite sour and astringent finish. While that’s probably not a very inspiring description to encourage a tasting, a professional flavour profile describes the taste as “a stewed apple and pear <a href="http://anfab.org.au/main.asp?_=Kakadu%20Plum">aroma</a> with cooked citrus and a floral-musk note” – so it’s perfect for jam, sauces and relishes.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-tasty-weed-like-desert-raisin-plant-is-as-big-as-a-carpark-115121">The tasty, weed-like desert raisin plant is as big as a carpark</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>With small, creamy white flowers in long spikes clustered towards the tips of the branches, the Kakadu plum, <em>Terminalia ferdiandiana</em>, is just one of about 29 species of <em>Terminalia</em> found in Australia.</p>
<p>But the extraordinary properties of the Kakadu plum makes it attractive for a diversity of food, beverage and even cosmetic products. And this demand is creating supply problems as competition to cash in on the fruit increases.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277341/original/file-20190531-69051-15mwl62.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277341/original/file-20190531-69051-15mwl62.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277341/original/file-20190531-69051-15mwl62.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277341/original/file-20190531-69051-15mwl62.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277341/original/file-20190531-69051-15mwl62.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277341/original/file-20190531-69051-15mwl62.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277341/original/file-20190531-69051-15mwl62.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277341/original/file-20190531-69051-15mwl62.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Conversation</span></span>
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<hr>
<h2>A plum by any other name</h2>
<p>Kakadu plums are abundant in the Eucalypt woodlands of the northern savannas. There are a plethora of Aboriginal <a href="http://eflora.nt.gov.au/factsheet?id=1322">names</a> that reflect the distribution of the species and the broadly held knowledge across numerous language groups, such as “<a href="https://www.kimberleywildgubinge.com.au/">Gubinge</a>”, a name from the Bardi people north of Broome.</p>
<p>Common names such as “billygoat plum” or “green plum” are also <a href="http://eflora.nt.gov.au/factsheet?id=1322">sometimes used</a>. But thanks to marketing success, the common name “Kakadu plum” is the most well known, although it’s misleading. </p>
<p>While the species is <a href="https://bie.ala.org.au/species/http:/id.biodiversity.org.au/node/apni/2916755">found</a> in Kakadu National Park, its distribution extends to the savanna vegetation, from the Kimberley to Cape York. </p>
<h2>Getting ‘superfood’ status</h2>
<p>The rise of the Kakadu plum to international fame as a “superfood” may appear to have come about almost overnight. But this story has been a long time in the making. </p>
<p>Aboriginal people have valued this plant for thousands of years for its food and <a href="https://parksaustralia.gov.au/kakadu/discover/nature/plants/kakadu-plum/">medicinal properties</a>. The health benefits of the fruit were certainly recognised, but more specifically, the red inner bark was used to treat skin conditions and sores.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/traditional-medicines-must-be-integrated-into-health-care-for-culturally-diverse-groups-114980">Traditional medicines must be integrated into health care for culturally diverse groups</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The findings of western scientists also go back a little way. Pioneering analysis of the <a href="http://apjcn.nhri.org.tw/server/apjcn/procnutsoc/1980-1989/1982/1982%20p050-054.pdf">composition</a> of bush foods in the early 1980s found phenomenally high vitamin C content in Kakadu plums.</p>
<p>Citrus fruits are known for being good natural sources of vitamin C, which makes up around 0.5% of their weight.</p>
<p>But the Kakadu plum tops the scale, with vitamin C <a href="http://www.kalaricrush.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/lancet.pdf">levels</a> of 3.5-5.9% of its weight. This is about 50 times more vitamin C than in oranges.</p>
<p>Chemicals in the plum also have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties, and recent research has shown extracts have excellent <a href="https://www.karensheldoncatering.com.au/blog/the-media-vault/catering-company-adding-kakadu-plum-to-improve-she/">preservative</a> qualities. This means the plum is now used in the seafood industry to extend the shelf life of, for instance, cooked <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2013-09-19/kakadu-plums-improving-prawns/4968046">prawns</a>.</p>
<h2>Opportunities for Indigenous-owned business</h2>
<p>Now, increased demand for the fruit has produced opportunities for Indigenous communities to create enterprise on country. </p>
<p>Many communities in the Top End and the Kimberley are now engaged in fruit harvesting, which, for the most part, takes place from the wild on Indigenous-owned land.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2016-04-28/kakadu-plum-harvest-underway-in-wadeye-nt/7359856">successful example</a> is in Wadeye, about 250km southwest of Darwin. </p>
<p>I spoke to the Community Development Officer at Thamarrurr Development Corporation there, Melissa Bentivoglio, who said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Thamarrurr Plums [Kakadu plums], based at Wadeye, has been evolving over the past 10 years as a locally owned and operated Indigenous enterprise. This year’s plum season saw over 250 local women harvest over 10 tonnes of plums from their clan estates in the Thamarrurr Region. </p>
<p>The community continue to carefully discern their way forward in this local enterprise to ensure community ownership and long-term sustainability.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But Indigenous representation over the entire supply chain and processing is poor. The <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2019-01-19/low-indigenous-representation-in-bush-food-industry/10701986">participation rate</a> in the bush food industry is reported to be less than 1%. </p>
<p>Indigenous groups are actively seeking mechanisms to see greater recognition and returns from their traditional knowledge.</p>
<p>In 2007, for instance, the American-based cosmetic company Mary Kay Inc. <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/patent-fight-erupts-over-kakadu-plum-20101203-18jud.html">was granted</a> a patent for Kakadu plum extracts in a skin cosmetic product. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/warrigal-greens-are-tasty-salty-and-covered-in-tiny-balloon-like-hairs-112307">Warrigal greens are tasty, salty, and covered in tiny balloon-like hairs</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>These patents were <a href="https://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/sites/g/files/net856/f/submission_-_daniel_robinson.pdf">opposed</a> following concerns around the recognition of the Indigenous knowledge and the lack of any benefit-sharing arrangements with relevant Indigenous communities. They were rejected by IP Australia on the grounds of lack of novelty – there were serious claims of <a href="https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:689537">biopiracy</a> – commericially exploiting natural material – a cloud of uncertainty around the legal acquisition of the plant material.</p>
<h2>Competing interests: food, cosmetics, bandicoots</h2>
<p>The increasing demand for the fruit and sustainability concerns of the harvest has led the Northern Territory government to draft a <a href="https://denr.nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/592785/Project-TNRM00536_DRAFT-Management-Program-for-Terminalia-ferdinandiana_EcOz_23-August-18.pdf">management plan</a> for Kakadu plum. It was released for public comment last year. </p>
<p>Ecologists also know the fruits of Kakadu plum form an important part of the diet of a suite of small native mammals, such as possums, rock rats, tree rats, and bandicoots. The recently observed <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1046/j.1442-9993.2001.01121.x">decline</a> in these populations can, in part, be attributed to overly frequent fires which are detrimental to small trees in the wild like the Kakadu plum.</p>
<p>The NT government’s management plan will need to ensure commercial harvest doesn’t add to the pressure on these native mammals.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/can-we-be-australian-without-eating-indigenous-food-53742">Can we be Australian without eating indigenous food?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>What’s more, the traditional medicinal uses are being tested in a current <a href="http://www.crcna.com.au/research/current-projects/enabling-a-traditional-australian-medicinal-plants-agribusiness/">research project</a> through a Cooperative Research Centre for Developing Northern Australia (CRCNA) funded collaboration to assess potential for establishing a medicinal plant agribusiness on Indigenous land.</p>
<p>It’s not easy being a super plant.</p>
<p><br></p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=199&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=199&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=199&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
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</figure>
<p><em><a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/BeatingAroundTheBush">Sign up to Beating Around the Bush, a series that profiles native plants: part gardening column, part dispatches from country, entirely Australian.</a></em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/116362/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Greg Leach is a collaborator in a project "Enabling a traditional medicinal plant agribusiness' which is jointly funded by the Cooperative Research Centre for Developing Northern Australia, Integria Healthcare, University of Queensland, Traditional Homeland Enterprises and Menzies School of Health Research.</span></em></p>The Kakadu plum is one of the richest sources of vitamin C of any fruit, and the increasing demand has started creating supply problems.Greg Leach, Honorary Fellow at Menzies School of Health Research, Charles Darwin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1155612019-05-24T03:41:31Z2019-05-24T03:41:31ZHow I discovered the Dalveen Blue Box, a rare eucalypt species with a sweet, fruity smell<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/276255/original/file-20190524-187185-1m472if.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Tim Collins classifying a new species of eucalyptus tree, Eucalytus dalveenica, March 2019. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">University of New England, Author provided (No reuse)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Sign up to the Beating Around the Bush newsletter <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/newsletters">here</a>, and suggest a plant we should cover at batb@theconversation.edu.au.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>In 2002, I went on a bushwalk with plant taxonomist David Albrecht, and had a big surprise. He pointed to a plant I thought I knew, and said: “that’s probably a new species.”</p>
<p>A new species? How could it be that this plant had not already been scientifically described and named? </p>
<p>I was in for another surprise when I learnt there are <a href="https://www.science.org.au/news-and-events/news-and-media-releases/time-running-out-capture-australias-biodiversity-we-have-plan">estimated to be</a> thousands of undescribed plant species in Australia. But just because one botanist says a plant is a new species, it doesn’t mean that everyone else automatically agrees.</p>
<p>As a researcher, I had the opportunity to study one of Australia’s most iconic plant groups – the eucalypts. </p>
<p>Herbarium records of an endagered eucalyptus species, the Northern Blue Box (<em>Eucalyptus magnificata</em>), showed populations from the Northern Tablelands in New South Wales scattered up to the Granite Belt in southern Queensland. </p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/276252/original/file-20190524-187153-8sjimz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/276252/original/file-20190524-187153-8sjimz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/276252/original/file-20190524-187153-8sjimz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276252/original/file-20190524-187153-8sjimz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276252/original/file-20190524-187153-8sjimz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276252/original/file-20190524-187153-8sjimz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276252/original/file-20190524-187153-8sjimz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276252/original/file-20190524-187153-8sjimz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Conversation</span></span>
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<hr>
<p>But on closer inspection, I discovered there were different ecosystems between populations. <em>E. magnificata</em>, for instance, is found on rims of gorges in Oxley Wild Rivers National Park, whereas <em>E. baueriana</em> is typically found on riverbanks and flood plains.</p>
<p>The question I wanted answered was: are all these populations really <em>E. magnificata</em> or have some been misidentified and represent other common species? Or, alternatively, are they new, undescribed rarer species?</p>
<p>So when my supervisors, Professor Jeremy Bruhl and Dr Rose Andrew, and I <a href="http://www.publish.csiro.au/SB/SB18037">visited the mystery trees</a> near Dalveen in southern Queensland, we knew immediately they were something exciting. They just looked different to everything else we’d seen.</p>
<h2>Eucalyptus that smells sweet and fruity</h2>
<p>To find out, I’d been sampling eucalyptus (collecting, pressing and drying specimens) and had spent the past two days with my supervisors. With our heads craned back, we stared through binoculars to search the tree canopy at dozens of sites on the Northern Tablelands looking for the buds and fruits that enable eucalypt identification. </p>
<p>Not only did these trees at Dalveen look unlike anything else we’d seen on the trip, they also had a different smell. When we crushed a leaf, the aroma was sweet, mild and fruity, quite unlike the familiar eucalyptus oil.</p>
<p>Back at the university, I could compare the different collections. I examined and recorded differences in the size and shapes of the leaves, buds and fruits. I grew seedlings of my field collections and saw that seedling leaves were also consistently different.</p>
<p>And I extracted the mixture of aromatic chemicals in the leaf oils collected during fieldwork. Then, I used a chemistry laboratory technique, called Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry, to compare their concentrations with closely related species, such as <em>E. baueriana</em> and <em>E. polyanthemos</em>. </p>
<p>The results clearly explained why the leaves had a unique scent. That sweet and fruity aroma was due to larger molecules, called sesquiterpenes, which dominated the leaf-oil. There were only traces of the familiar-smelling cineole molecule common to most eucalypts.</p>
<h2>A new species, or just an uninhibited sex romp?</h2>
<p>Sequencing the DNA of the tree added another piece to the puzzle. </p>
<p>We had collected samples from all of the closely related common species. We had strong evidence from the shape of the leaves, fruits and flower buds suggesting the Dalveen trees were different. But the possibility remained that they were just hybrids.</p>
<p>Eucalyptus trees can be wickedly promiscuous and hybrid trees with similar characteristics are common. In some parts of eastern Australia, for instance, eucalypts naturally form hybrid swarms, the botanical equivalent of a wildly uninhibited sex romp!</p>
<p>But the DNA told us the trees from Dalveen were genetically distinct, and with no suggestion of shared ancestry. </p>
<p>Now, with three very different data sets all supporting the same conclusion, it became imperative we publish our findings and describe the new species, which we named <em>Eucalyptus dalveenica</em>, or the Dalveen Blue Box.</p>
<p>New species have to be named using a universal and internationally accepted naming system. Names and descriptions must be published, and a pressed and dried specimen must be nominated to be the representative that other collections can be compared to. </p>
<p>Most importantly, convincing evidence must be presented that persuades the botanical community the newly named species should be accepted.</p>
<p>But naming a new species is only the first step in knowing what it is. Importantly, naming tells us what it isn’t. The trees at Dalveen are not <em>Eucalyptus magnificata</em>, nor do they belong to another more common species, <em>E. baueriana</em> or <em>E. conica</em>.</p>
<p><em>Eucalyptus dalveenica</em> is a rare and endangered part of Australia’s natural heritage. Taxonomic description of new species (classifying, describing and naming) provides the framework for ongoing accurate identification, species conservation and further study.</p>
<p>We are fortunate to live in a beautiful part of the world, with diverse and unique wildlife. Describing biodiversity and communicating new discoveries develops connections between people and their local environment, leading to a broader understanding of our home.</p>
<p><br></p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=199&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=199&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=199&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
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<p><em><a href="https://confirmsubscription.com/h/r/9AE707FA51C4AC1B">Sign up to Beating Around the Bush, a series that profiles native plants: part gardening column, part dispatches from country, entirely Australian.</a></em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/115561/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tim Collins receives funding from the Australian Biological Resources Study (ABRS). He is also a member of the Australian Greens. </span></em></p>There are more than 850 different species of eucalypts in Australia, and possibly many more we don’t know about.Tim Collins, PhD candidate , University of New EnglandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1133702019-05-17T05:52:20Z2019-05-17T05:52:20ZVic Stockwell’s Puzzle is an unlikely survivor from a different epoch<p><em>Sign up to the Beating Around the Bush newsletter <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/newsletters">here</a>, and suggest a plant we should cover at batb@theconversation.edu.au.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>On the western side of Mount Bartle Frere, the tallest mountain in Queensland, grows a tree that shares an ancient link to Australia’s most dominant plant group.</p>
<p>To get there, you must find a track hidden by rainforest and then walk for around an hour up and down a dirt path, until you reach cathedral-like giant red barked trees. This is <em>Stockwellia quadrifida</em>, also known as “Vic Stockwell’s puzzle”: a close but anciently separated relative of the eucalypts.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-detailed-eucalypt-family-tree-helps-us-see-how-they-came-to-dominate-australia-113371">A detailed eucalypt family tree helps us see how they came to dominate Australia</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<p>This ancient tree is best suited for wetter and warmer environments, a throwback to when this continent was still connected to South America and Antarctica 40-50 million years ago, in the supercontinent Gondwana.</p>
<p>But this rare plant is now at risk by an introduced threat, myrtle rust, a plant disease that was accidentally introduced to Australia from South America.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/275079/original/file-20190517-69169-1sg02sa.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/275079/original/file-20190517-69169-1sg02sa.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/275079/original/file-20190517-69169-1sg02sa.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275079/original/file-20190517-69169-1sg02sa.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275079/original/file-20190517-69169-1sg02sa.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275079/original/file-20190517-69169-1sg02sa.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275079/original/file-20190517-69169-1sg02sa.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275079/original/file-20190517-69169-1sg02sa.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Photos courtesy of Stuart Worboys and CSIRO.</span>
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<hr>
<h2>Sister to the eucalypts</h2>
<p>In my opinion, <em>Stockwellia</em> trees are in the same league as California Redwoods – they’re both old, with very few close living relatives. In fact, they are probably more special, as only around 400 <em>Stockwellia</em> trees remain.</p>
<p>Some of the trees I saw in Queensland have large buttressed roots and are hollowed out so you can walk inside the tree and stare upwards. Their bark is strikingly red, and their enormous size means you have to crane your neck to see the top.</p>
<p><em>Stockwellia</em> takes its name from a Queensland forest ranger named Victor Stockwell who worked in the Boonjee area on Mount Bartle Frere where the trees grow. While the species wasn’t officially scientifically <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1046/j.1095-8339.2002.00062.x">described</a> until 2002, it had been known to botanists for many decades. </p>
<p>The trees were first identified using <a href="http://www.asbs.org.au/newsletter/pdf/02-dec-113.pdf">aerial photography</a>. For Vic Stockwell, the tree was a “puzzle” because despite his vast experience in the forests of Far North Queensland, he was surprised to come across a species of tree he didn’t recognise. </p>
<h2>Ancient rainforest groups</h2>
<p>In the early 2000s, a DNA <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/4118780?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">study</a> found <em>Stockwellia</em> belonged to a group of rainforest trees called the “mesicalypts”, <a href="http://www.publish.csiro.au/sb/SB18015">a name coined by</a> my colleagues and I. </p>
<p>Mesicalypts are a sister group to Australian eucalypts, and are made up of four species of rainforest plants, including <em>Stockwellia</em>. Eucalypts, on the other hand, have more than 800 species growing all over Australia, in much drier conditions.</p>
<p>DNA results suggest there is also another evolutionary group in between mesicalypts and eucalypts which only grows in New Caledonia, a species called <em>Arillastrum gummifera</em>. We have informally named this single species group “newcalypt” – New Cal-(edonian) (eucal)-ypt – because we didn’t want to make it feel left out from getting a new informal name.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/275085/original/file-20190517-69169-2bc9jp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/275085/original/file-20190517-69169-2bc9jp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/275085/original/file-20190517-69169-2bc9jp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275085/original/file-20190517-69169-2bc9jp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275085/original/file-20190517-69169-2bc9jp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275085/original/file-20190517-69169-2bc9jp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=541&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275085/original/file-20190517-69169-2bc9jp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=541&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275085/original/file-20190517-69169-2bc9jp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=541&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Conversation/Andrew Thornhill</span></span>
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<h2>Puzzling history</h2>
<p>Molecular dating of these groups revealed some even more enigmatic things about the divergence of the mesicalypts and the newcalypt from the eucalypts. </p>
<p>The sole New Caledonian species is estimated to have had a common ancestor with the eucalypts around 59 million years ago. This poses an interesting question. How did a plant that old end up on a land mass that we think is only 30 million years old?</p>
<p>We don’t really know yet, and botanists still debate about where it came from and how it got there. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-earths-continents-became-twisted-and-contorted-over-millions-of-years-116168">How Earth's continents became twisted and contorted over millions of years</a>
</strong>
</em>
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<p>Mesicalypts are also around 60 million years old and we estimate <em>Stockwellia</em> diverged from its nearest living relative around 30-40 million years ago. This was in an epoch called the late Eocene when the world was much wetter and warmer, and when Australia was still connected to South America and Antarctica. </p>
<p>With no fossil record of any ancient mesicalypts, it’s unclear how diverse and widespread they were back then. If we assume more species of mesicalypts once existed, then the ones we see today are the last living survivors from a very different past. </p>
<p>Their history is also the tale of two different fortunes. </p>
<p>The mesicalypts are better suited to live in wetter and warmer environments, and their relatives – the eucalypts – are better suited to drier and hotter conditions. </p>
<p>When Gondwana finally split and Australia started drifting north, one group had to hang on as their suitable growing conditions began to shrink, while the other hit the jackpot and became the dominant vegetation of the continent.</p>
<h2>An extinction threat</h2>
<p>Once, the <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1046/j.1095-8339.2002.00062.x">main threat</a> to the small number of <em>Stockwellia</em> populations appeared to be only white cockatoos eating their seeds.</p>
<p>But now they are menaced by something more sinister than birds. More than a decade after the species was officially named, I was taken to see the <em>Stockwellia</em> by Stuart Worboys from the Australian Tropical Herbarium. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/invasive-species-are-australias-number-one-extinction-threat-116809">Invasive species are Australia's number-one extinction threat</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>On this trip Stu found leaves of <em>Stockwellia</em> with myrtle rust on them – the first such recording for the tree. </p>
<p>Myrtle rust is a disease of the Myrtaceae family, and was accidentally introduced from South America in the late 2000s. It attacks plant leaves, fruit and, in some cases, kills the plant outright. </p>
<p>The Australian Myrtaceae have had no time to adapt to myrtle rust. What is happening now could cause the extinction of some extremely unique Australian plants – including <em>Stockwellia</em>. </p>
<p>It is sad to think a plant group that has hung on for so long, in a secluded part of Australia, minding its own business, now faces an introduced threat. </p>
<p>The hunch is that the myrtle rust was introduced to <em>Stockwellia</em> from the shoes of one of its human visitors. Unfortunately, we may have loved the tree to death. </p>
<p>Let’s hope it’s tough enough to withstand the rust and live for many more millions of years. If it is lost, it would take with it 40 million years worth of evolutionary history in Myrtaceae. And after surviving so much tumultuous history of changing continental climates, cyclones, and everything else that a tropical environment could throw at it, that would be a very sad thing.</p>
<p><br></p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=199&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=199&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=199&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
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<p><em><a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/BeatingAroundTheBush">Sign up to Beating Around the Bush, a series that profiles native plants: part gardening column, part dispatches from country, entirely Australian.</a></em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/113370/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew receives or has received funding in the past from the Australian Research Council (ARC), the US National Science Foundation (NSF), and Australian Biological Resources Study (ABRS).</span></em></p>Stockwellia has links back to the epoch before Australia separated into its own continent and was mostly covered in rainforest.Andrew Thornhill, Research botanist at the Botanic Gardens and State Herbarium of South Australia/Environment Institute, University of AdelaideLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1156312019-05-10T06:15:46Z2019-05-10T06:15:46ZHow I stumbled on a lost plant just north of Antarctica<p><em>Sign up to the Beating Around the Bush newsletter <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/newsletters">here</a>, and suggest a plant we should cover at batb@theconversation.edu.au.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>Sunny interludes punctuate showers of rain, hail and sleet as furious winds sweep clouds across the sky. It’s a <a href="http://www.antarctica.gov.au/living-and-working/stations/macquarie-island/location/climate-weather-tides">typical summer day</a> on Macquarie Island, <a href="https://www.parks.tas.gov.au/fahan_mi_shipwrecks/infohut/geology.htm">a sliver of ocean floor</a> that rose more than 2.5 km from the depths of the Southern Ocean, halfway between Tasmania and Antarctica, around 12 million years ago.</p>
<p>On this February day in 2013, my colleague Jennie Whinam and I are visiting monitoring sites for the critically endangered Macquarie Island cushion plant, <em><a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicspecies.pl?taxon_id=21846">Azorella macquariensis</a></em>, which has been suffering extensive dieback. </p>
<p>It is a short walk from our cosy field hut to Skua Lake on the opposite side of the island – a mere four kilometres of steep off-track walking, head-first into the icy wind. </p>
<p>We make a small detour to the shoreline of Skua Lake, the only known location for perhaps the rarest plant on the island, the subantarctic bedstraw (<em>Galium antarcticum</em>). This small herb had not been seen since it was first recorded on Macquarie Island in the <a href="http://www.antarctica.gov.au/news/2017/chance-discovery-triples-critically-endangered-plant-population">early 1980s</a>, despite several searches in the subsequent 30 years. </p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/273776/original/file-20190510-183103-11r2a9n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/273776/original/file-20190510-183103-11r2a9n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/273776/original/file-20190510-183103-11r2a9n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273776/original/file-20190510-183103-11r2a9n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273776/original/file-20190510-183103-11r2a9n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273776/original/file-20190510-183103-11r2a9n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273776/original/file-20190510-183103-11r2a9n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273776/original/file-20190510-183103-11r2a9n.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Conversation</span></span>
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<p>It seemed likely the humble bedstraw was extinct on Macquarie Island, and we weren’t confident we’d see one that day. It is a small herb, growing to a few centimetres in size, with reddish leaves clustered on sprawling stems and tiny inconspicuous white flowers. Not the easiest plant to spot amongst the lush growth of a subantarctic meadow. </p>
<p>But within five minutes of arriving at the shoreline of Skua Lake, we spotted a reddish-coloured herb unlike any other plant there, partly hidden among dense mosses and grasses. </p>
<p>Excitedly, we set about searching for others, finding hundreds of the tiny plants!</p>
<p>But our celebratory feeling was soon blown away by a flurry of horizontal snow carried across the lake. Skua Lake is perched on the top of an escarpment 130 metres above the ocean with no shelter from the winds that travel unimpeded around the globe at these latitudes. </p>
<p>We were so cold we had to start moving again. And turning our backs to the wind, we marched across grassy hills dusted with fresh snow.</p>
<h2>Hidden for three decades</h2>
<p>Our rediscovery of this critically endangered species raised a couple of questions. Where had it been hiding for 30 years? And, given the abundance of apparently suitable habitat on the island, why was it restricted to one location?</p>
<p>These questions remain unanswered. But four years later, in 2017, botanists Cath Dickson and Alex Fergus stumbled upon a <a href="http://www.antarctica.gov.au/news/2017/chance-discovery-triples-critically-endangered-plant-population">second population of subantarctic bedstraw</a> on the opposite side of Skua Lake, comprising an estimated 1,000 plants. But why it is not even more widespread remains a mystery. </p>
<p>Perhaps the bedstraw was preferentially grazed by invasive rabbits, which have had a <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/260410584_Thirty_years_of_vegetation_dynamics_in_response_to_a_fluctuating_rabbit_population_on_sub-Antarctic_Macquarie_Island">dramatic impact on the vegetation of Macquarie Island</a>. Or, the plant could be a <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225815575_Restricted_plant_species_on_sub-Antarctic_Macquarie_and_Heard_Islands">recent immigrant</a> to the island yet to expand its range. </p>
<p><em>Galium</em> is a large and widespread genus of herbs (commonly called bedstraw) in the Rubiaceae family, with several native and introduced species in Australia including the familiar garden weed <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galium_aparine">cleavers or sticky weed</a>. Many species have distinctive bristly hairs, whereas <em>G. antarcticum</em> is hairless.</p>
<p>With a total known population of 1,500 plants confined to a few square metres of windswept tundra, <em>Galium antarcticum</em> remains <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicspecies.pl?taxon_id=68775">critically endangered</a> in Australia. </p>
<h2>Travelled across vast seas</h2>
<p>Macquarie Island is a young and very remote landmass with an unusual cold maritime climate. Its flora was born from <a href="https://farsouthecology.wordpress.com/2015/05/08/a-one-way-ticket-to-a-remote-island/">long-distance dispersal</a> and largely composed of subantarctic specialists. </p>
<p>Subantarctic bedstraw is one such specialist, and is also found in Patagonia, South Georgia, the Falklands, Crozet and Kerguelen islands. This wide distribution throughout most of the Subantarctic, including islands separated by thousands of kilometres of ocean, suggests this species has been dispersed by seabirds.</p>
<p>The future prospects for the species on Macquarie Island are uncertain. It may benefit from the recent <a href="https://newzealandecology.org/nzje/3266">eradication of rabbits</a>, expanding its range, or it may struggle to compete with <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1442-8903.2011.00611.x">taller growing plants</a> as the short grassland transitions to a more closed vegetation community in the absence of grazing pressure. Or it may continue to be a mystery.</p>
<p><br></p>
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<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=199&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=199&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=199&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em><a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/BeatingAroundTheBush">Sign up to Beating Around the Bush, a series that profiles native plants: part gardening column, part dispatches from country, entirely Australian.</a></em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/115631/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nick Fitzgerald does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>This small herb hadn’t been seen on Macquarie Island since it was first recorded in 1983, despite several searches over the next 30 years.Nick Fitzgerald, PhD candidate, University of TasmaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1151212019-05-03T03:24:26Z2019-05-03T03:24:26ZThe tasty, weed-like desert raisin plant is as big as a carpark<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272394/original/file-20190503-103053-1phtxae.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The desert raisin is a member of Australia’s native bush tomato family. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source"> Mark Marathon/Wikimedia, CC BY</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Sign up to the Beating Around the Bush newsletter <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/newsletters">here</a>, and suggest a plant we should cover at batb@theconversation.edu.au.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>The species <em>Solanum centrale</em>, also known as kutjera in several Aboriginal languages, or the desert raisin in English, stands out in Australia’s wild bush tomato family in more ways than one.</p>
<p>A typical desert raisin plant in the wild looks fairly unimpressive from the surface, and certainly a lot less striking than the photos which pop up in an internet search. </p>
<p>In fact, if you don’t know what you are looking for, you may miss them. They are fairly scrawny with greeny-grey hairy leaves and grow no taller than to the bottom of your shin. </p>
<p>You might only spot a shoot every few metres between other shrubs. Each shoot only has a handful of leaves, and it typically carries three to 10 sultana-sized fruit. Like sultanas, they’re unappealingly brown and shrivelled. And you’ll only see them if they have escaped hungry desert fauna.</p>
<p>But its humble appearance belies its significance to both people and the environment. </p>
<p>The fruit from this plant has been a staple in desert communities for thousands of years. It resembles a raisin but tastes like a piquant or smoky sun-dried tomato, and because it dries on the plant it has a long storage life relative to other fruit. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/can-we-be-australian-without-eating-indigenous-food-53742">Can we be Australian without eating indigenous food?</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<p>Its cultural significance and ability to grow in sandy arid areas where almost no other domesticated plants survive makes this species a prime target for an enterprise based in remote Aboriginal communities, producing a unique fruit with <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=vyduivlx4kwC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ViewAPI&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false">plenty of health benefits</a> to consumers.</p>
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<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272421/original/file-20190503-103049-12n7261.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272421/original/file-20190503-103049-12n7261.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272421/original/file-20190503-103049-12n7261.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272421/original/file-20190503-103049-12n7261.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272421/original/file-20190503-103049-12n7261.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272421/original/file-20190503-103049-12n7261.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272421/original/file-20190503-103049-12n7261.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272421/original/file-20190503-103049-12n7261.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Conversation</span></span>
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<h2>What makes the desert raisin unique?</h2>
<h3>Iceberg-like growth</h3>
<p>Like an iceberg which is much bigger under the surface than appears from above, the desert raisin plant is much bigger under the surface of the ground than it appears. A single plant in the wild can span <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2011-07-06/the-biggest-bush-tomato-plant-in-the-world/6183662">dozens of metres</a> through hardy underground connections. The <a href="http://www.nintione.com.au/resource/Waycott_GeneticDiversity_DKCRC_CP2.1_FinalReport_04Oct2010.pdf">largest confirmed</a> single plant was about one quarter of a hectare – but who knows how big these plants can really grow?</p>
<p>It expands in multiple directions from the seed plant over successive rains via roots which grow roughly parallel to the surface, producing new shoots as it expands.</p>
<p>Root sprouting allows a plant to grow a new shoot many metres away from the previous shoot while avoiding a vulnerable seedling stage. This feature is common among many unrelated desert plant families. </p>
<p>For example, a single <em>Populus euphratica</em> tree in the hyper-arid Taklamakan Desert of China was found to <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21622383">produce clonal shoots</a> over an area of 121ha. </p>
<h3>Unabated resilience</h3>
<p>Desert raisins are known to grow vigorously following a disturbance, either natural or man-made. It is quite common, for instance, when driving through Australia’s arid interior to find piles of sand beside freshly graded roads covered in bush tomato shoots after rain. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-black-wattle-is-a-boon-for-australians-and-a-pest-everywhere-else-100529">The black wattle is a boon for Australians (and a pest everywhere else)</a>
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</em>
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<hr>
<p>This is because a grader, a tool that smooths the surface of a road, cuts dormant roots and throws them, mixed with sand, onto the side of the road. The roots are ready to re-sprout as soon as they get wet. </p>
<p>And its not only chopping roots that appears to stimulate growth – <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3566388?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">targeted fires</a>, fruit collection <a href="https://www.agrifutures.com.au/wp-content/uploads/publications/07-030.pdf">by Indigenous groups</a> and grazing by <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2399203?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">desert marsupials</a> have all been known to increase the vigour of patches of wild bush tomatoes over the long term. </p>
<p>The traditional custodians of this country knew how to manage this species for sustainable production, and people from Aboriginal nations which span the large range of edible bush tomato species have passed this knowledge down for centuries.</p>
<h2>Cultivation</h2>
<p>Do the unique root properties of the desert raisin remind you of a weed? </p>
<p>Well, yes. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/268904/original/file-20190412-44805-lusm7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/268904/original/file-20190412-44805-lusm7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/268904/original/file-20190412-44805-lusm7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/268904/original/file-20190412-44805-lusm7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/268904/original/file-20190412-44805-lusm7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/268904/original/file-20190412-44805-lusm7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/268904/original/file-20190412-44805-lusm7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/268904/original/file-20190412-44805-lusm7f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">When cultivated, desert raisin plants are large and thick, sometimes as high as the knee, with dozens of flowers per plant.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Other root sprouters in the <em>Solanum</em> family from temperate areas are vigourous weeds in cropping regions <a href="http://clopla.butbn.cas.cz/public/05Evol&Ecol04-4B.pdf">around the world</a>. </p>
<p>Colonies are very difficult to eradicate as the viability of roots is not affected by cultivation and most herbicides. In fact, <a href="http://agris.fao.org/agris-search/search.do?recordID=JP2005002075">cultivation stimulates</a> sprouting from root fragments.</p>
<p>So how does this influence the way this species can be used as a food crop? </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/warrigal-greens-are-tasty-salty-and-covered-in-tiny-balloon-like-hairs-112307">Warrigal greens are tasty, salty, and covered in tiny balloon-like hairs</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<p>There are currently several cultivated stands in regional and remote Australia, and the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-15/native-bush-food-helping-remote-nsw-community-thrive/9870698">benefits</a> of growing the species are becoming clearer, particularly for Aboriginal communities. </p>
<p>With water and nutrition in their natural habitats, bush tomatoes can become incredibly productive. When cultivated, the plants are large and thick, sometimes as high as the knee, with dozens of flowers per plant. But over the seasons they respond less to water and fertiliser. </p>
<p>It is at this point that perhaps a disturbance can be used to stimulate production from underground lateral roots – although if they pop up in the space between beds, it can create havoc for other operations!</p>
<p>It is no wonder that a plant, which normally hides its massive size so it can persist in harsh conditions, becomes a showy, vigorous plant when given the same kind of treatment as horticultural plants. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-aboriginal-people-need-autonomy-over-their-food-supply-41812">Why Aboriginal people need autonomy over their food supply</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>One final note. Much of the knowledge on how bush tomato and other food plants native to this country work is held by the traditional custodians of the species, the Aboriginal people. </p>
<p>We must all learn from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, listen, and work together so the amazing fruits of this land return to their place in human diets and landscapes, including the mighty desert raisin.</p>
<p><br></p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=199&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=199&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=199&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
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<p><em><a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/BeatingAroundTheBush">Sign up to Beating Around the Bush, a series that profiles native plants: part gardening column, part dispatches from country, entirely Australian.</a></em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/115121/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Angela Pattison received funding from the Desert Knowledge CRC and CSIRO to complete her research on the root systems of bush tomatoes. </span></em></p>Tasting like a smoky sundried tomato, the desert raisin has been a staple for Australian desert communities for thousands of years.Angela Pattison, Research scientist at Plant Breeding Institute, University of Sydney, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1152392019-04-25T20:12:36Z2019-04-25T20:12:36ZBizarrely distributed and verging on extinction, this ‘mystic’ tree went unidentified for 17 years<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/269729/original/file-20190417-139116-1303ckl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Flowers of the mystical _Hildegardia australiensis_. I.D. Cowie, NT Herbarium.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided (No reuse)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Sign up to the Beating Around the Bush newsletter <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/newsletters">here</a>, and suggest a plant we should cover at batb@theconversation.edu.au.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>Almost 30 years ago, the specimen of a weird tree collected in the southern part of Kakadu National Park was packed in my luggage. It was on its way to the mecca of botanical knowledge in London, the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. </p>
<p>But what was it? </p>
<p>With unusual inflated winged fruits, it flummoxed local botanists who had not seen anything like it before. To crack the tree’s identity, it needed more than the limited resources of the Darwin Herbarium.</p>
<p>Later, <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/274841442_Hildegardia_Sterculiaceae_New_to_Australia">we discovered</a> a fragmentary specimen hidden in a small box at the end of a little-visited collection vault in the Darwin Herbarium. And it had been sitting there quietly since 1974. </p>
<p>Most of the specimens inside this box just irritate botanists as being somewhat intractable to identify. It’s known as the “GOK” box, standing for “God Only Knows”. </p>
<p>Together with the resources of Kew Gardens, the species was finally connected with a genus and recognised as a new species. </p>
<p>A year later, it was named <em>Hildegardia australiensis</em>. </p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/269727/original/file-20190417-139091-50gucx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/269727/original/file-20190417-139091-50gucx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/269727/original/file-20190417-139091-50gucx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269727/original/file-20190417-139091-50gucx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269727/original/file-20190417-139091-50gucx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269727/original/file-20190417-139091-50gucx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269727/original/file-20190417-139091-50gucx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269727/original/file-20190417-139091-50gucx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Conversation</span></span>
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<hr>
<h2>Mysterious global distribution</h2>
<p>The species is the only Australian representative for an international genus, <em>Hildegardia</em>. Under Northern Territory <a href="http://eflora.nt.gov.au/factsheet?id=5665">legislation</a>, it’s listed as “near threatened”, due to its small numbers and limited distribution.</p>
<p>The genus <em>Hildegardia</em> was <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/264318697_PLANTS_IN_PERIL_20_HILDEGARDIA">named in 1832</a> by Austrian botanists Schott and Endlicher. They named it after <em>Hildegard</em>, the 11th-century German abbess and mystic, the “Sybil of the Rhine”.</p>
<p>The genus retains some of this mystical and elusive nature. It’s rare with small isolated populations, traits that seem to dominate for all bar one of the species in the genus. </p>
<p>Twelve species of <em>Hildegardia</em> are recognised: one from Cuba, three from Africa, four from Madagascar and one each from India, the Philippines, Indonesia and Australia. </p>
<p>This bizarre global distribution is even more unusual in that almost the entire generic lineage seems to be verging on extinction. </p>
<p>The Australian species fits this pattern of small fragmented populations and, despite being a reasonably sized tree at up to 10 metres tall, remained unknown until 1991.</p>
<h2>Rarely seen and hard to find</h2>
<p>Generally, <em>Hildegardia</em> species are tall, deciduous trees of well-drained areas, often growing on rocky hills. </p>
<p>Their trunks have a smooth, thin bark, which smells unpleasant and exudes a gum when wounded. Most species have heart-shaped leaves and bear a profusion of orange-red flowers when leafless. These are followed by strange, winged fruits with one or two seeds.</p>
<p><em>Hildegardia australiensis</em> would have to be one of the most rarely seen trees in Australia in its natural habitat. It is native to the margins of the western Arnhem Land Plateau with scattered populations on limestone and sandstone scree slopes.</p>
<p>These are all difficult locations to visit, so if you really want to see it, a helicopter is recommended. Fortunately it is easy to grow and has found its way into <a href="https://nt.gov.au/leisure/parks-reserves/george-brown-darwin-botanic-gardens">limited cultivation</a>.</p>
<p>Several trees have been in the Darwin Botanic Gardens since the early ’90s and a few are known to have been planted in some of the urban parks in greater Darwin. The plantings have been more to showcase a rare and odd-looking tree rather than any great ornamental value.</p>
<h2>Growing on ‘sickness country’</h2>
<p>In the NT the tree is so poorly known that it has no common name other than the default generic name of <em>Hildegardia</em>. </p>
<p>It appears to have no recorded Indigenous uses, which is perhaps not surprising as much of its distribution is in “<a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/pages/3f3a19ff-9007-4ce6-8d4f-cd8ade380804/files/chap02.pdf">sickness country</a>”. </p>
<p>This is country with uranium deposits and was avoided by the traditional owners. Rock art showing figures with swollen joints has been <a href="http://www.artistwd.com/joyzine/australia/abr_culture/sickness_country.php">interpreted as</a> showing radiation poisoning.</p>
<p>But it does have one claim to fame. A <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/pages/3f3a19ff-9007-4ce6-8d4f-cd8ade380804/files/chap02.pdf">heated debate</a> between conservationists and miners was sparked during a proposed development of the Coronation Hill gold, platinum and palladium mine in Kakadu National Park. </p>
<p>The main population of <em>H. australiensis</em> is only a stone’s throw from Coronation Hill and the species became one of the key identified biodiversity assets that could have been threatened by development of the mine. </p>
<p>The area around Coronation Hill, or Guratba in the local Jawoyn language, is also of considerable spiritual significance to the Jawoyn traditional landowners and forms part of the identified “sickness country”. A creation deity, Bula, rests and lays dormant under the sickness country and should not be disturbed. </p>
<p>Eventually, these concerns culminated in the Hawke government decision on June 17 1991 to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/jan/01/cabinet-papers-1990-91-hawkes-fight-to-keep-mining-out-of-kakadu-helped-unseat-him">no longer allow</a> the mine development.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-price-of-god-at-coronation-hill-49235">The Price of God at Coronation Hill</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>So are the seeds edible?</h2>
<p>While there appears to be no known uses of the Australian species, the tree may have hidden potential. </p>
<p>The closely related trees <em>Sterculia</em> and <em>Brachychiton</em> are well known as bush tucker plants and good sources of fibre. The local Top End species <em>Sterculia quadrifida</em>, for instance, is commonly known as the Peanut Tree and is a highly favoured <a href="http://eflora.nt.gov.au/factsheet?id=5687">bush tucker plant</a>. </p>
<p>The fibre potential of <em>H. australiensis</em> is being explored by internationally acclaimed Darwin-based papermaker, <a href="https://www.magnt.net.au/winsome-jobling-art-paper-exhibition">Winsome Jobling</a>. Cyclone Marcus whipped through Darwin in 2018 and one of the casualties was a planted tree of <em>H. australiensis</em> in the Darwin Botanic Gardens. </p>
<p>Thankfully, material was salvaged. Winsome has material stored in her freezer awaiting extraction and processing to see what the fibre potential is.</p>
<p><em>H. barteri</em>, an African species in the <em>Hildegardia</em> genus, has a broad distribution through half-a-dozen African countries. And the West African locals have a number of uses for it, from eating the seeds to using the bark as <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FBF02862225?LI=true">fibre for ropes</a>. But we don’t know just yet if the flesh or seed in the Australian species is edible.</p>
<p>Whether the Australian species might also harbour such useful properties still awaits some testing and research. Fortunately, with the creation deity Bula watching over the natural populations, the species, unlike many of its close relatives, appears secure in the wild.</p>
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<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=199&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=199&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=199&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em><a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/BeatingAroundTheBush">Sign up to Beating Around the Bush, a series that profiles native plants: part gardening column, part dispatches from country, entirely Australian.</a></em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/115239/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Greg Leach received funding from the Australian Government to take up the appointment of the Australian Botanical Liaison Officer at the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew where this work was undertaken.</span></em></p>With unusual inflated winged fruits growing on “sickness country”, the tree flummoxed local botanists who had not seen anything like it before.Greg Leach, Honorary Fellow at Menzies School of Health Research, Charles Darwin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1153632019-04-12T05:23:55Z2019-04-12T05:23:55ZThe sexy gum: a love story<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/268924/original/file-20190412-44773-1vclst9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Dr Michael Whitehead is campaigning to rename the Gimlet Gum to the Sexy Gum. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided (No reuse)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It is perhaps poetic that a region most famous for its lack of trees lies so close to one of Australia’s greatest tree-based spectacles. The Nullarbor Plain, our famous, flat, featureless expanse is literally named for its absence of trees (“arbor” being Latin for tree). </p>
<p>And if you ever get to drive west along the longest stretch of dead-straight road across this iconic landscape, you will come to know the highlights that characterise the experience: the cliff-top views of the Great Australian Bight and the idiosyncratic roadhouses.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-detailed-eucalypt-family-tree-helps-us-see-how-they-came-to-dominate-australia-113371">A detailed eucalypt family tree helps us see how they came to dominate Australia</a>
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<p>Then finally, a landscape of low shrubs gives way to mallee trees and woodland vegetation. Somewhere between Caiguna and Fraser Range you’ll see your first <em>Eucalyptus salubris</em>, also known as a gimlet gum, or joorderee by the Ngadju people.</p>
<p>It was on a recent botanical research trip chasing scraggly emu bushes that I stumbled upon, and fell in love with, <em>Eucalytpus salubris</em>. The trunks were what instantly caught my eye, slender with graceful twists, all the more observable for the brilliantly shining coppery bark.</p>
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<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/268938/original/file-20190412-76843-1culw3f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/268938/original/file-20190412-76843-1culw3f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/268938/original/file-20190412-76843-1culw3f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/268938/original/file-20190412-76843-1culw3f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/268938/original/file-20190412-76843-1culw3f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/268938/original/file-20190412-76843-1culw3f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/268938/original/file-20190412-76843-1culw3f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/268938/original/file-20190412-76843-1culw3f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Conversation</span></span>
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<h2>The sexy gum</h2>
<p>The tree <a href="https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Journal_of_another_Expedition_to_the_Eastward_of_the_Darling_Range,_under_the_direction_of_Ensign_Dale;_commenced_on_the_25th_October,_and_concluded_on_the_7th_November,_1830">first appears</a> in European record during early explorations crossing east of the Darling Range. Then, it was called “cable gum” after the gently twisting grooves in the trunks. </p>
<p>Later the tree was given the common name of “gimlet” after a form of hand drill. Unfortunately this name stuck and today the species remains “gimlet” – a wholly unattractive moniker for such a splendid tree. </p>
<p>But our imaginations need not be held hostage by the stubborn colonialists who named our flora after such dreary things. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/stringybark-is-tough-as-boots-and-gave-us-the-word-eucalyptus-100528">Stringybark is tough as boots (and gave us the word 'Eucalyptus')</a>
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<p>That’s why I’m campaigning to update the common name to something more universal, more marketable, something truer to its sensual twists and smooth, glowing bronze surface. </p>
<p><em>Eucalytpus salubris</em> is the Sexy Gum.</p>
<h2>Love goes where my eucalypt grows</h2>
<p><em>E. salubris</em> is a dominant species forming woodlands on deep soils east of the Darling Range. And while much of its former range in the Wheatbelt of Western Australia has been cleared, extensive populations of <em>E. salubris</em> remain in the astonishing stronghold of the Great Western Woodlands. </p>
<p>Those who have walked in a mature woodland understand the pleasure of wandering unimpeded in the shade of widely spaced trees. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/268920/original/file-20190412-44785-1v3l6ml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/268920/original/file-20190412-44785-1v3l6ml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/268920/original/file-20190412-44785-1v3l6ml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/268920/original/file-20190412-44785-1v3l6ml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/268920/original/file-20190412-44785-1v3l6ml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/268920/original/file-20190412-44785-1v3l6ml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/268920/original/file-20190412-44785-1v3l6ml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/268920/original/file-20190412-44785-1v3l6ml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Widely spaced trees of the Great Western Woodlands.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Keren Gila/Wikimedia</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>The Great Western Woodlands offers this experience on a grand scale. At around 16 million hectares they are <a href="https://cdn.wilderness.org.au/archive/files/the-great-western-woodlands-report.pdf">the largest tracts</a> of intact temperate woodlands on Earth, occupying an area larger than England and Wales combined.</p>
<p>And it is not just size that is impressive about these woodlands. </p>
<p>The Great Western Woodlands are a renowned hotspot for eucalypt diversity, home to around <a href="https://rdcu.be/bwhgA">30% of Australia’s eucalypt species</a> in just 2% of its land area. </p>
<p>As one of the more common species throughout the area, <em>E. salubris</em> plays a critical ecological role, providing habitat for several threatened bird species including the rotund and charismatic <a href="http://www.birdlife.org.au/documents/GWW-Final-Report.pdf">Mallee fowl</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-need-to-think-about-fire-in-tasmanias-forests-12349">We need to think about fire in Tasmania's forests</a>
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<p>Due to its remoteness and unreliable rainfall, the Great Western Woodlands has avoided the widescale grazing and clearing that has degraded neighbouring areas to the south and west. </p>
<p>But despite the value of this untouched landscape, most of the area is “orphan country” with no formal management policies in place. Some <a href="https://cdn.wilderness.org.au/archive/files/the-great-western-woodlands-report.pdf">60%</a> of the Great Western Woodlands is unallocated crown land, unmanaged and open access. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1108166786388615168"}"></div></p>
<p>This is a plus for visitors wanting to experience it now, but raises important concerns about the long-term security of the area. </p>
<p>While remote, threats to the Great Western Woodlands do exist. Chief among them is the increasing frequency and intensity of bush fires. </p>
<p>Most eucalypts are resprouters with the ability to regenerate burned canopies from buds under the bark. There are, however a number of species, such as Mountain Ash, that will die following canopy fires and can only regenerate from the soil seedbank (called “reseeders”). </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/mountain-ash-has-a-regal-presence-the-tallest-flowering-plant-in-the-world-96021">Mountain ash has a regal presence: the tallest flowering plant in the world</a>
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<p><em>E. salubris</em>, the sexy gum, is one such <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/aec.12613">reseeder</a>. While the traditional occupants of the land used fire as a land management tool, they also knew <em>E. salubris</em> woodland took hundreds of years to regenerate and were careful to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/aec.12377">never burn the canopy of old growth forests</a>. </p>
<p>The eye-pleasing spectacle of mature open <em>Eucalytpus salubris</em> woodland above red soil and blue-bush therefore exists today thanks to careful management from this era, and deserves careful handling to ensure its ongoing future.</p>
<h2>An ambassador for the Great Western Woodlands</h2>
<p>Late in the day, when the Sun’s glancing rays light up the bark of <em>E. salubris</em>, punctuating a pastel blue-green woodland with glowing streaks like molten metal, it’s hard to not stop for at least a moment and be impressed. </p>
<p>And while <em>E. salubris’</em> role as keystone species might be important ecologically, I think the Sexy Gum can be similarly important as ambassador and draw-card for the Great Western Woodlands. </p>
<p>Its golden tones and metallic lustre conjures just the appropriate impression for the WA Goldfields. It is totally Instagram-able, and I don’t think it’s a hard sell to convince people <em>E. salubris</em> is a spectacle worth getting off the beaten track for.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/115363/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Whitehead receives funding from The University of Melbourne and the Hermon Slade Foundation. </span></em></p>The Instagram-able Eucalyptus salubris, better known as the Gimlet Gum, is well worth getting off the beaten track for.Michael Whitehead, Research Fellow in Evolutionary Ecology, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1147312019-04-08T01:07:26Z2019-04-08T01:07:26ZThe swamp foxtail’s origin is hidden in its DNA<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/267731/original/file-20190405-123431-tb8724.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Swamp foxtail is prized in ornamental gardens across Australia.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/31031835@N08/8667567151/">John Tann/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Sign up to the Beating Around the Bush newsletter <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/newsletters">here</a>, and suggest a plant we should cover at batb@theconversation.edu.au.</em></p>
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<p>Swamp foxtail (<em>Cenchrus purpurascens</em>) is a delightful grass that forms a neat tussock up to a metre tall with a distinctive fluffy spikelet that resembles a fox’s tail.</p>
<p>Foxtails are widely used in horticulture. The purple forms are particularly popular in ornamental gardens and some have even become invasive weeds. </p>
<p>The foxtail grasses are more commonly seen in these cultivated settings, which has led to much confusion about swamp foxtails’ origins in Australia. The species is simultaneously an exotic weed from Asia, the dominant grass in an endangered Australian ecosystem and a rare native species in isolated desert springs.</p>
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<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/267760/original/file-20190405-180023-pgimq5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/267760/original/file-20190405-180023-pgimq5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/267760/original/file-20190405-180023-pgimq5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267760/original/file-20190405-180023-pgimq5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267760/original/file-20190405-180023-pgimq5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267760/original/file-20190405-180023-pgimq5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267760/original/file-20190405-180023-pgimq5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267760/original/file-20190405-180023-pgimq5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Conversation</span></span>
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<h2>Is it native?</h2>
<p>It was uncertain for a while whether swamp foxtail is actually native to Australia. Although Europeans collected it near Sydney, it was possible the seeds had come with livestock on the early ships.</p>
<p>This theory was put to rest by <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ddi.12751">genetic studies</a> that found small populations have existed in inland Queensland for hundreds of thousands of years. </p>
<p>The species spread southward and was first recorded in Victoria in the 1970s. </p>
<h2>European records</h2>
<p>Robert Brown, the botanist who accompanied Matthew Flinders as he <a href="http://www.publish.csiro.au/BT/BT18168">circumnavigated the continent</a>, made the the earliest European collections of the swamp foxtail near Sydney in 1802. </p>
<p>Despite the early date of the collections, it is feasible that the swamp foxtail was brought to Sydney within 14 years of settlement as a byproduct among grain or hay. However, while the species occurs naturally in Asia, the Javanese ports were not on the typical travelling route from Europe.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/spinifex-grass-would-like-us-to-stop-putting-out-bushfires-please-105651">Spinifex grass would like us to stop putting out bushfires, please</a>
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<p>The intrepid adventurer Ludwig Leichardt later collected this species near the Gwydir River region. This collection provides more convincing evidence the swamp foxtail is <a href="http://www.publish.csiro.au/BT/BT18168">native to Australia</a>. It seems unlikely that, in the early years of colonisation, the swamp foxtail had been transported overland with the squatters who were spreading out from their successful properties in the Hunter Valley.</p>
<h2>The spread southward</h2>
<p>The history of herbarium records, from collections in the late 1800s and early 1900s, suggests swamp foxtail might have been native to Queensland and New South Wales. </p>
<p>Collections south of these locations happened after 1940. The species was not recorded in Victoria until the 1970s. It seems almost certain the swamp foxtail spread southward during the 20th century, in some places as an undesirable weed.</p>
<h2>Unusual and isolated habitats</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00049180120100040">Aboriginal fire management</a> possibly maintained natural grassy openings among the northern NSW rainforests. The curious “grasses”, as they were named, are well documented on early survey plans of the Big Scrub country. Many a place name, Howards Grass Road and Lagoon Grass Road among them, bear testament to their existence.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/268021/original/file-20190408-2898-1soxym9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/268021/original/file-20190408-2898-1soxym9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/268021/original/file-20190408-2898-1soxym9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/268021/original/file-20190408-2898-1soxym9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/268021/original/file-20190408-2898-1soxym9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/268021/original/file-20190408-2898-1soxym9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/268021/original/file-20190408-2898-1soxym9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/268021/original/file-20190408-2898-1soxym9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">An extremely isolated population of the swamp foxtail at Elizabeth Springs in western Queensland.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rod Fensham</span></span>
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<p>The surveyors provided detailed recordings of the dominant grass on the valley floors: the “foxtail”. The swamp foxtail is now rather rare on the valley floors of the Richmond and the Tweed River valleys, replaced by crops on prime agricultural land. It managed to survive in a few locations west of Murwillumbah and on springs, but large expanses of the foxtail grasslands have succumbed to the plough.</p>
<p>A particularly unusual habitat for the swamp foxtail is the artesian springs that feed permanent wetlands in the semi-deserts of inland Queensland. The swamp foxtail occurs there in very local populations <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ddi.12757">separated by hundreds of kilometres</a>. </p>
<p>This raises the question: is the swamp foxtail a recent arrival on these tiny, strange and isolated ecosystems, or are these ancient populations? </p>
<p>Genetic studies have provided conclusive evidence of an ancient origin. The oldest lineage is the population at Elizabeth Springs to the south of Boulia. Its molecular signature suggests this population has been <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ddi.12751">isolated for hundreds of thousands of years</a>. </p>
<p>Where swamp foxtail does occur at springs, it is always accompanied by rare species that are seen only in those unusual wetlands.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/grass-trees-arent-a-grass-and-theyre-not-trees-100531">Grass trees aren't a grass (and they're not trees)</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Crossing continents and climates</h2>
<p>Swamp foxtail demonstrates the complexity of defining a species’ origin. This species probably evolved in Asia, because this is where most of its relatives are found. It found its way to Australia, possibly through a migratory bird that dropped a seed in a desert spring. </p>
<p>It then had a second migration, either from the springs or from a repeat dispersal from Asia, and found a niche in the valley floors of subtropical landscapes. It was abundant in these moist and fertile habitats when Europeans colonised the continent in 1788. </p>
<p>Since then, the swamp foxtail has spread to temperate climates where it has become invasive and, in some situations, <a href="http://www.aabr.org.au/images/stories/resources/ManagementGuides/WeedGuides/wmg_pennisetum.pdf">a minor pest</a>. Quite a journey.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/114731/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Roderick John Fensham does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Present in Asia and Australia, the origins of swamp foxtails have not always been clear. Genetic studies put uncertainties to rest.Roderick John Fensham, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1134592019-03-22T06:49:02Z2019-03-22T06:49:02ZSilver moss is a rugged survivor in the city landscape<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/265256/original/file-20190322-195118-r0j7kt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Silver moss can survive almost total dehydration. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">HermannSchachner/Wikipedia</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Sign up to Beating Around the Bush, a series that profiles native plants: <a href="https://confirmsubscription.com/h/r/9AE707FA51C4AC1B">part gardening column, part dispatches from country, entirely Australian.</a></em></p>
<hr>
<p>Chances are you’ve walked over silver moss (<em>Bryum argenteum</em>) countless times without giving it a second glance. This moss, at home in moist environments as well as hot and cold deserts, is also a common denizen of cities worldwide and finds shelter in our pavement cracks.</p>
<p>Also known as silvery thread moss and silvergreen bryum moss, it grows in all states and territories of Australia, particularly in towns and cities.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/antarcticas-moss-forests-are-drying-and-dying-103751">Antarctica's 'moss forests' are drying and dying</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/265263/original/file-20190322-36270-n9pp5b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/265263/original/file-20190322-36270-n9pp5b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/265263/original/file-20190322-36270-n9pp5b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/265263/original/file-20190322-36270-n9pp5b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/265263/original/file-20190322-36270-n9pp5b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/265263/original/file-20190322-36270-n9pp5b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/265263/original/file-20190322-36270-n9pp5b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/265263/original/file-20190322-36270-n9pp5b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Conversation</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>To the naked eye, it appears as a tiny silvery green ribbon or small cushion, with stems up to 1.5cm tall, but often only a few millimetres high. With a hand lens, its crowded, tight buds are visible, while a microscope reveals the reason for its silvery appearance: cells in the top portion of its minute leaves do not have chloroplasts (and therefore no chlorophyll) and do not appear green, but instead make a transparent silvery tip. This portion of the leaf protects the chloroplasts deeper down from harsh sunlight. </p>
<p>Like many others in its genus, the leaves have a rounded appearance with a central rib, or costa, that ends well before the tip. As with most moss, these simple leaves are only one cell layer thick, so it exchanges gases and water with the exterior by diffusion.</p>
<p>The silver moss is a survivor. We remove native vegetation from our cities and clear forest canopies but it can cope with this new version of home. We swap forest floor for hard, impervious surfaces that utterly change how water moves across the landscape – for instance, evaporating much more quickly – but this moss makes use of water when it can, switching on its photosynthesis processes when there’s enough water, and hunkering down when there’s not. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-behind-japans-moss-obsession-50500">What's behind Japan's moss obsession?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>This cycle can occur over the duration of a day, with photosynthesis starting in the early morning light when there’s a little dew on the leaves, and closing down as the day progresses and the moss dries, but it can also play out over much longer periods, even years.</p>
<p>It can do this thanks to its particularly strong tolerance for desiccation, a trait which varies <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-07297-3">across moss species</a>. This isn’t just the ability to withstand drought. It’s more radical than that. It is the ability to shut down all metabolic processes in the absence of water, and start them up again when water is available. This might not sound too impressive, but in the majority of plants drying out totally involves serious damage at the cell level, with membranes and cell organelles becoming brittle and breaking and macromolecules such as DNA being damaged beyond repair. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/265266/original/file-20190322-36248-103s86q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/265266/original/file-20190322-36248-103s86q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/265266/original/file-20190322-36248-103s86q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/265266/original/file-20190322-36248-103s86q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/265266/original/file-20190322-36248-103s86q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/265266/original/file-20190322-36248-103s86q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/265266/original/file-20190322-36248-103s86q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/265266/original/file-20190322-36248-103s86q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Silver moss growing on a Wollongong basketball court.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alison Haynes</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Silver moss uses sugars to create protective glass-like compounds to protect its cells from irreparable damage. Because of its tough nature, the silver moss is <a href="https://www.biogeosciences.net/15/1161/2018/bg-15-1161-2018.html">widely studied</a> to further understanding of how plants cope with a range of other stresses too, from UV-B radiation and sand burial to trace metals and excessive light. </p>
<p>Silver moss is not showy and quite often looks rather dusty in city environments, but it’s nice to know that the 19th century botanist <a href="http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/mueller-sir-ferdinand-jakob-heinrich-von-4266">Ferdinand von Mueller</a> collected it twice in 1852, in Adelaide, five years after his arrival from Germany. He moved to Melbourne that year, was appointed government botanist, and founded the National Herbarium of Victoria a year later, in 1853. These two samples must have been among the first deposited there, making them our oldest specimens of this species in Australia. </p>
<p>While I don’t know exactly what species were used, Aboriginal Australians took advantage of the <a href="https://www.dnrme.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/1408282/aboriginal-peoples-manage-water-resources.pdf">moisture that moss collects</a>. In Queensland, for instance, Indigenous people used to squeeze out water from a moss clump then replace it carefully, to use again.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/war-and-peat-how-bog-moss-helped-save-thousands-of-lives-in-world-war-i-106630">War and peat: how bog moss helped save thousands of lives in World War I</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>For me, moss is on the cusp of the macro and micro world. Just big enough to see with the naked eye, it nonetheless draws you in and down to a smaller world. I’ve become a moss tourist. Whenever I go to a city, I don’t just look up at the sights, I also look down! Mosses like <em>Bryum argenteum</em> remind me of the wild even within the depth of a city landscape. They are a reminder that we may remove native forests, but still the most minute spores of living organisms will come in and find a place to live, if not thrive.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=199&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=199&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=199&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>Sign up to Beating Around the Bush, a series that profiles native plants: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/BeatingAroundTheBush">part gardening column, part dispatches from country, entirely Australian.</a></em>. Read previous instalments <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/beating-around-the-bush-54029">here</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/113459/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alison Haynes receives an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship. </span></em></p>The moss that grows in pavement cracks and on the edge of basketball courts in every town and city in Australia has a secret superpower.Alison Haynes, PhD Candidate, University of WollongongLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1091892019-03-15T05:34:20Z2019-03-15T05:34:20ZGuinea flowers are fierce and golden<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263830/original/file-20190314-28471-1nj878u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">This guinea flower is called 'fierce' after its sharp, painful needles. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Conversation/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Welcome to Beating Around the Bush, a series that profiles native plants: part gardening column, part dispatches from country, entirely Australian. Read more about the series <a href="https://theconversation.com/welcome-to-beating-around-the-bush-wherein-we-yell-about-plants-96993">here</a> or get in touch to pitch a plant at <a href="mailto:batb@theconversation.edu.au">batb@theconversation.edu.au</a>.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>I first became interested in guinea flowers when I heard of a plant growing in Queensland’s White Mountains nicknamed “excruciating” by all who handled it, because of the pungent needle-like leaves which attached themselves to fingers and clothes.</p>
<p>This species is a guinea flower, now scientifically named <em>Hibbertia ferox</em>, meaning “fierce”. Guinea flowers grow across Australia, from the rainforest to semi-arid areas. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/sandpaper-figs-make-food-fire-medicine-and-a-cosy-home-for-wasps-96404">Sandpaper figs make food, fire, medicine and a cosy home for wasps</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Guinea flowers belong to the genus Hibbertia, which dates back to Gondwana. Members of the genus are easy to recognise, but individual species are hard to tell apart. Their brilliant yellow (or sometimes orange) flowers have petals with a notch at the apex, and they were thought to resemble the appearance of the 18th-century coin known as a golden guinea. As usual there are a couple of exceptions – at least two species have petals that lack a notch.</p>
<p>All too often these small shrubs and woody climbers grow in areas likely to be razed for urban sprawl or mining. </p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/264059/original/file-20190315-28487-1w13881.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/264059/original/file-20190315-28487-1w13881.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/264059/original/file-20190315-28487-1w13881.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/264059/original/file-20190315-28487-1w13881.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=802&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/264059/original/file-20190315-28487-1w13881.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/264059/original/file-20190315-28487-1w13881.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/264059/original/file-20190315-28487-1w13881.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1008&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Conversation</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<h2>What we know about Hibbertia</h2>
<p>English merchant and amateur botanist Henry Charles Andrews named the genus Hibbertia after his friend George Hibbert (1757-1837). Andrews was an artist and engraver as well as a botanist, and the first species he named was based on a plant collected around Port Jackson.</p>
<p>Around 200 species are recognised but there are many unnamed varieties, particularly in tropical areas. Probably the most widespread species and one of the few cultivated is the climbing guinea flower (<em>Hibbertia scandens</em>). It can be grown readily from cuttings but germinates slowly from seeds. </p>
<p>Most species have hairs covering the leaves, which can be critical for identifying a species. Under a good hand lens or a simple microscope their variety and beauty is obvious. In some species the hairs are straight. In others they are branched with arms resembling the spokes on a star, the so-called “stellate hairs”. </p>
<p>Some species have scales – flat, plate-like structures – on their leaves and flowers. Sometimes there are large and small scales on the one surface. </p>
<p>The leaves are also diverse in shape and form: some leaves are shaped like spear and thick, as in <em>Hibbertia banksii</em> of the eastern Cape York area, others are needle-like with margins rolled towards the lower midrib, with a sharp, blood-drawing tip, as in <em>Hibbertia ferox</em>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263831/original/file-20190314-28487-8gdca6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263831/original/file-20190314-28487-8gdca6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263831/original/file-20190314-28487-8gdca6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=276&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263831/original/file-20190314-28487-8gdca6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=276&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263831/original/file-20190314-28487-8gdca6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=276&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263831/original/file-20190314-28487-8gdca6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=347&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263831/original/file-20190314-28487-8gdca6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=347&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263831/original/file-20190314-28487-8gdca6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=347&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A 1795 guinea coin from the reign of George III.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikipedia</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The flowers are usually solitary and roughly 2cm in diameter, but in some of the northern species they grow in spikes roughly 4-5cm across.</p>
<p>Five sepals surround the five petals, which are broadest towards the top. The flowers usually close at night and reopen the next day. </p>
<p>A distinctive feature is the arrangement of the stamens (the male parts). These may be all on one side of the carpels (the structures containing the unfertilised seeds at the centre of the flower) or may form a form a ball in the centre. The number varies between species from fewer than 10 to more than 100. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263546/original/file-20190313-86703-1b0ca79.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263546/original/file-20190313-86703-1b0ca79.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263546/original/file-20190313-86703-1b0ca79.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263546/original/file-20190313-86703-1b0ca79.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263546/original/file-20190313-86703-1b0ca79.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263546/original/file-20190313-86703-1b0ca79.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263546/original/file-20190313-86703-1b0ca79.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263546/original/file-20190313-86703-1b0ca79.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"><em>Hibbertia ferox</em> was nicknamed ‘excruciating’ because of its needle-like leaves.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/confirm/697501909?size=huge_jpg">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Floral frolics</h2>
<p>For a plant to be involved in sex of a floral kind it needs to offer rewards for services rendered. Sometimes guinea flowers grow sterile stems, which add to the floral display and provide a food source, particularly for beetles. They are messy eaters, chewing on various plant tissues as they wander around the flower’s surface, but they do help to transfer pollen to the stigmas, or female parts (and no doubt are involved in sex with their own kind).</p>
<p>Guinea flowers don’t produce nectar to tempt pollinators, but people have reported them producing weak fragrance. There’s some dispute over how pleasant the smell is, with some describing it as sweet and others insisting it smells like cow dung. There have been only a couple of reports of what this smell resembles, so we need you to go and stick your nose in a freshly open flower. (Make sure to check – is the fragrance there all day or only in the morning?)</p>
<p>However, there is plenty of pollen. If you look closely at the anthers, those yellow sacs on the top of a thin stalk, you will see either an opening or pore at the top, or a slit down the side through which pollen can escape. Whether the marauding bug causes the pollen to spray out through the top or it accidentally falls on the bug through the slit, the bug gets dusted in pollen and then this can get brushed off on the female parts or stigma. Bees and flies are the most common bugs seen around guinea flowers.</p>
<p>The fruit is composed of 2-5 loosely adhering capsule-like follicles, surrounded by the five sepals, which remain and do not fall off. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263549/original/file-20190313-86682-2wbf2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263549/original/file-20190313-86682-2wbf2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263549/original/file-20190313-86682-2wbf2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263549/original/file-20190313-86682-2wbf2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263549/original/file-20190313-86682-2wbf2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263549/original/file-20190313-86682-2wbf2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263549/original/file-20190313-86682-2wbf2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263549/original/file-20190313-86682-2wbf2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"><em>Hibbertia scandens</em>, a climbing guinea flower, is commonly known as snake vine.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/golden-guinea-flower-hibbertia-scandens-genus-489298318">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The fruit contains one or two seeds that are covered by a reddish coating or aril. This nutritious tissue is a valuable food source for dispersers such as ants and birds; birds have been recording spreading the seeds of <em>Hibbertia scandens</em>. However, in the drier areas where these plants are commonly found, ants appear to be the common dispersers.</p>
<p>So next time you are in the bush don’t just ignore that small shrubby plant with yellow flowers and notched petals. Stop and admire their beauty. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/sustainable-shopping-your-guilt-free-guide-to-flowers-this-valentines-day-91387">Sustainable shopping: your guilt-free guide to flowers this Valentine's Day</a>
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</em>
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<p>Note if there are any bugs visiting and what they might be doing. Why not record their presence on iNaturalist – an app that lets us record and share your nature encounters – particularly if you are off the beaten track?</p>
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<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=199&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=199&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=199&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238283/original/file-20180927-48650-1veiqyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
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</figure>
<p><em>Sign up to Beating Around the Bush, a series that profiles native plants: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/BeatingAroundTheBush">part gardening column, part dispatches from country, entirely Australian.</a></em>. Read previous instalments <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/beating-around-the-bush-54029">here</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/109189/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Betsy Jackes does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The guinea flower grows right across Australia.Betsy Jackes, Adjunct professor, James Cook UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.