A Solitary Xanthorrhoea

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A crooked solitary Xanthorrhoea species standing in open grazing land.

Thatch from the old leaves below the crown, the texture of the trunk cleared of thatch by past bush fires

Xanthorrhoea or ‘Blackboys’ are one of the most distinctive plants of Australia’s outback. The common name is said to have originated from the similarity in appearance to the trunked species bearing a flower spike to an Aboriginal boy holding an upright spear. This may be so particular after bush fires when the crown of leaves would be lost to the flames. The common name ‘blackboy’ is now seen as an offensive term by some and they are now more often than not referred to as ‘Grass Trees’. Allthough the plants leaves are distinctively grass like, it is however not a member of the grass family being a nectar producing flowering plant classified in its own family XANTHORRHOEACEAE. Some species can attain respectable tree proportions with a height of around ten metres.

Aboriginals in areas where grass trees are common value the plant for several reasons. Fishing spears are made from the long, strait dried flower spikes. The flowering spike can also be soaked in water, the nectar from the flowers making a sweet drink. The flower spike can also aid navigation in the bush as the flowers often open on the sunny, warmer, northern side of the spike first  The trunk of mature specimens can also yield a resin used in spear making, fixing leaky coolamons (water carriers) and as a useful glue.

This grass tree (top) stood alone on open grassland cleared for grazing land. It was not the most perfect specimen but certainly had character with its multiple heads, crooked trunk and missing limb. Standing around eight feet high it is possibly well over a hundred years old. Young plants are slow to develop but once establishes some species attain height relatively fast. A five metre tall grass tree of a fast growing species could be as young as 200 years or in the case of slower growing species it could be as old as 600.

Looking into the crown of the grass tree, a valuable refuge.

The grassy heads of the plants are an valuable refuge for insects during fast moving bush fires. Insects crawl as far down into the crown as possible. Although the majority of the head of the plant will be lost to the flames the tightly packed growing point offers insulation from the heat. The large amount of thatch around this grass tree sujests that it has been quite a few years since it was last exposed to a bush fire, perhaps as long ago as when the bush may have been cleared away from around it.

Specimens of wild harvested Xanthorrhoea are often sold in nurseries throughout Europe and America for significant prices due to the age and availability of mature plants. The success rate or transplanting is low and customers who have parted with large amounts of cash are left disappointed as their healthy purchase dies slowly over several years.  The species is however easily grown from seed and can produce a respectable plant with a head of leaves of more than a metre within ten years (below). You may have to wait thirty or more years for a seed raised plant to produce an appreciable trunk.

A young grass tree, yet to form a trunk growing in the Blue Mountains near Katoomba in New South Wales.

Emerging flower spike.

The grass tree stands just off a single track outback gravel road we were following to find Nudubbermere Falls at the northern tip of Sundown National Park. The road snakes through the bush out across rolling grazing land then into Eucalyptus forest (below) as the road gets ever narrower, rougher and steeper. Eventually, we to park my car up in the bush, being more of a city run-around car and not a 4x4, and walk the rest of the way. It was not too far until the roar of the falls could be heard over the cicadas. This was back on Australia day when my house mates, Alex, Ale, Mark and Aymeric and I spent the day at a swimming hole beneath the falls, jumping off the rocks, laying in a hot waterfalls heated as small stream flowed over exposed slabs of rock heated by the sun and drank a few beers. Perfect!

 

Celebrating Australia day at Nundubbermere Falls.

I recently went back to the falls to hike up the valley and explore a little further into the park. From the end of the road the well used path drops steeply down to the falls then you make your own way. Climbing up and over the rocks alongside the water falls through the gorge created by the river Severn the going is rough but fun. Further up streem the valley opens out into open woodland and bush mostly comprised of Callistemon. Like everywhere in the region the flood that roared through in the new year have left their mark, laying the trees and scrub flat in a tangled mass and erasing any path that may have existed before. Being an uninspiring weather day, chilly and grey, I gave up trying to scramble through the scrub, got fed up being covered with spider webs and turned back. The drive in and out was by far more enjoyable. 

 

The aptly named Falls road winding its way through the bush to Nundubbermere Falls.

The bush on the valley floor laid flat by the recent floods.

Callistemon species in the river valley and a lone red flower among the rocks of the path down to the falls.

Crossing sheep country there are many grids and opening and closing of gates. I found this old rusted beer cap resting in the deep grain of a silver, weathered gate post.

The Botanical Gardens of the Western Woodlands

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There was no apple picking to be done the other day due to the rain so I took a 400km round road trip (not far in Aussie terms) to the inland boarder town of Goondiwindi (pronounced gunned-a-windy) to take a look at the Botanic Garden of the Western Woodlands. On first appearance they were sparse, dry and not particularly colourful. Unlike the majority of Australia’s botanic gardens located on the coastal fringes and displaying a wide variety of species and cultivated plants from around the world, Goondiwindi Botanic Garden features only native plants from the local regions of southern outback Queensland and northern outback New South Wales. The plantings in the garden represent 27 defined botanical habitats from ranging from the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range across the dry planes to deserts of the interior. All of the plants from these regions have adapted to endure prolonged periods of drought and on rare occasions may be submerged of weeks or months at a time when deluges from the tropics slowly make their way down the dry inland creek systems flooding their way slowly south to Lake Eyre and some years all the way to the Southern Ocean, as has happened this year. The town of Goondiwindi received very little rain from the skies though the Macintyre river rose to 10.63 meters above normal levels coming within a few inches of the top of the towns levies.

Goondiwindi Botanic Garden of the Western Woodlands

The grass in the garden was golden, crisp and fissured with cracks as the soil dries and contracts. The plantings are more like that of an arboretum, as the spacing of the plants is critical for the survival of the collection. This is how they would occur in habitat as there wouldn’t be enough moisture in the ground in dry times to maintain a continuous canopy. The garden was conceived in 1986 and it was envisaged right from the very start that it would be a showcase for native floras. The first plants went in the ground in 1988 and several thousand trees and shrubs have been planted since that time. A large percentage of plants have been lost to drought and replaced. Drought cycles may be ten years or more and young plants don’t make it through these times. Young plants are mulched and are helped with trickle irrigation but the loss of some plants, it seems, is the reality of gardening in this region. The original time scale for the evolution of the garden was planned in decades as apposed to years as many under story shrubs and delicate ephemeral plants will only be able to survive once a mature over story has been established.

The drought in Goondiwindi persists in any regions beyond the towns flood levies.

The main canopy colour is silver to glaucus green although some trees like the Queensland Lacebark Brachychiton discolor with its swollen bottle shaped trunk to act as a reservoir looked distinctly glossy, lush and green among it’s counterparts. Being high summer now there were no trees or shrubs putting on grand floral displays as blousy water hungry petals would get burned to a crisp in no time. On closer inspection there were plenty of species in flower, filling a niche, the majority of which are comprised of  only the bare essentials.

Callostemma purpureum (Garland Lilly) and (Bauhinia) Latin name unknown

Eremorphila neglecta 'Olive' and Callistemon 'Injume Pink'

Acacia salicina (Doolan) and Acacia species

Eremorphila polyclada and Eucalyptus species

The main foliage type is schlerophyll (tough leaved) like those of Eucalyptus species and often their colour is glaucus or silver. Eremorphila glabra 'Compacta' has small hairy leaves held close to the stems. Others like Cassia artemesioides (Silver Cassia) have reduced their leaves to needles and Hakea purpurea has done away with leaves all together photosynthesising through the green stems.

Cassia artemesioides (Silver Cassia) and Eremorphila glabra 'Compacta'

Hakea purpurea and silver foliage, plant unknown

Many of the more showy early flowering trees are now shedding their seeds. The flowering of Brachychiton species are supposed to be spectacular and it is often used as an ornamental in parks and gardens. I’ve yet to see one in full bloom.

Brachychiton discolor (Queensland Lacebark) and Senna circinnata (Spring Pod Cassia)

Pittosporum phylliraeoides (Native Apricot) and black seeds, unknown plant

Another adaptation to cope with the harsh environment is to develop symbiotic relationships like the ants living inside the galls on the Acacia pendula which help defend the tree against browsing and aid pollination. Unfortunately not all the ants live in the trees and I seem to have developed the knack stopping to take photos right on top of their nests.

Acacia pendula (Myall) with ant gall and Brachychiton discolor (Queensland Lacebark) leaf and Shield Bug

Brachychiton rupestris (Bottle Tree) leaves made into spider nests and a row of eggs on a leaf

Here is a bit about Lake Eyre. 

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There is still a few months of apple picking to be done, then my plan was to travel inland to the Simpson Desert for a week or so then double back and head north to the tropics of northern Queensland. These plans may change and I may now turn south and follow the inland creeks down to Lake Eyre to see the transformation of the floods, the greening of the desert and the accompanying boom in wildlife. Not having a four wheel drive I'm not yet shore how feasible this plan would be, but there is still plenty of time to research and make a decision.

Place of Flowers

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Girraween National Park in the very south of Queensland’s Granite Belt is 11,800 hectares of rugged granite peeks, precariously balanced boulders, Eucalyptus forest and open sedge and heath land. The name ‘Girraween’ is Aboriginal for ‘place of flowers’, and is an apt name as there are said to be spectacular displays of wild flowers through out he spring. Now in March, late summer, the hot dry weather has seen an end to the main floral show. Though there has been higher than average rainfall and the many fallen trees and piles of grass, twigs ad branches heaped up against the rocks are testament to the floods that swept through the park earlier in the year, the heath land and forest floor is now dry.

One of the precariously balanced boulders silhouetted against the sun and a shadow on the granite face of the dominant feature of the park ‘The Pyramid’, a large granite dome rising high above the canopy of the surrounding Eucalyptus forest

One of the open areas of heath land and the exposed rocky summit of Mount Norman in the distance.

The thin coarse soil dries out fast in the heat but there were still a few tough flowers in bloom. The most prominent were the bright golden daisy flowers of Bracteantha bracteata (Golden Everlastings) a perennial herb growing in the open forested areas of the park. Also flowering among the open Eucalyptus forest the silver flowers of Actinotus helianthus (Flannel Flower). It is called the ‘Flannel Flower’ as the plant is entirely covered with soft woolly hairs, a likely adaptation to dry conditions. Creeping through the boulders on the higher slopes, the tiny yellow flowers a Goodenia species.

Bracteantha bracteata ASTERACEAE (top), Goodenia species GOODENIACEAE (bottom left) and Actinotus helianthus APIACEAE (bottom right).

It was a hot and particularly humid afternoon and by the time I’d hiked up the 45^o sheer granite face of the Pyramid rock I was suitably knackered. Cracks in the rock erode over time leaving behind balancing boulders, some stacked two or three high. The silhouetted rock at the top of this blog is a good five metres high and is perched on the summit of the pyramid; but for how much longer? The summit offers views over the forest canopy to the bulk of near by Bald Rock to the East in New South Wales, the state line running between the two peeks. I sat for a while watching thunder clouds building on the horizon in the humid air. By the evening these had build into a large storm and produced some spectacular lightning for a good few hours.

Looking up to the summit of the Pyramid (left) and a tenacious black cypress clinging to a crack in the rock.

Several of the rock formations throughout the park have been given names such as ‘The Sphinx’ with a small stretch of the imagination does vaguely resemble its namesake. Others, like the rock formation named ‘The Turtle’ in my opinion may require a little something in addition to just your imagination to fully appreciate their form.

The Sphinx and building thunder clouds.

Twenty five species of Eucalyptus are present in the forest surrounding the pyramid and I’m afraid my Euc ident skills aren’t up to much and many are only distinct and identifiable when in flower. None of the trees were in flower but one of the species stood out from the others with bright amber/orange peeling bark glowing in the low, late afternoon light. A few trigger orchids were flowering  among the leaf litter.

 

Trigger Orchid and Eucalyptus species.

A couple of empty cicada grub exoskeletons clinging to the underside of a tree.