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Information about plants in flower this week

A news sheet prepared by a Gardens' volunteer, featuring the flowers, fruits and foliage of a selection of plants in the Australian National Botanic Gardens .
Numbers before each plant refer to temporary IFTW labels in the gardens.
Numbers in square brackets
[ ] refer to garden bed Sections. Featured plants are in bold type.

View past issues of 'In Flower This Week'.

8 June - 21 June 2016

Grevillea baueri
Grevillea baueri
click for larger image

Today we will start our walk from the rear of the café then continue up the hill and along the road behind the Rock Garden.

  1. On your left as you walk past the rear of the café is Elaeodendron australe var. australe [Section 125], or Red Olive Berry, a small tree with reddish orange fruits and shiny green leaves. It grows along the east coast from Moruya in southern New South Wales to the central coast of Queensland.
  2. Continuing on your left is Cyathea australis [Section 125], or Rough Tree Fern. Old specimens can have trunks 10 metres high. It grows in wet forests and rainforests of all eastern Australian states.
  3. Also on your left is Asplenium australasicum [Section 125], or Birds Nest Fern. Their clumps of long light green leaves can reach 3 metres in diameter. The leaves have a prominent midrib and the spores on the back of the leaves are in parallel rows. It is found along the coast from central New South Wales to Cape York, Queensland.
  4. Further on your left is Correa lawrenceana var. glandulifera [Section 125], a large shrub with shiny green leaves and yellow-green bell flowers. It grows on the coast near the New South Wales/Queensland border.
  5. Still on your left is Acronychia littoralis [Section 125], a small tree with shiny leaves and strongly-scented greenish-cream flowers and bunches of green berries. The Scented Acronychia or Beach Acronychia is an endangered species that grows naturally in north-eastern coastal New South Wales and a few areas in adjacent Queensland.
  6. Continuing on your left is Sarcomelicope simplicifolia subsp. simplicifolia [Section 104], a small tropical tree with shiny green leaves and lots of purple berries. It grows from southern New South Wales to northern Queensland.
  7. Acmena smithii [Section 140], on the corner on your left, is a small tree with a dense crown of shiny green leaves covered in clusters of purple berries. The best-known member of the lilly pillies, it is widespread in east coast rainforests from north Queensland to Victoria. It is also found on King Island.
  8. Further on your left is Banksia aquilonia [Section 140], a tree to 8 metres tall with long green leaves and tan young cones bearing developing pale yellow flowers. It is native to north Queensland.
  9. Turn right along the road to see on your right Chamelaucium ‘Cascade Brook’ [Section 17], or Geraldton Wax. Endemic to Western Australia, it is an open airy bush with masses of long-lasting purplish-pink 5-petalled flowers with darker centres.
  10. Further on your right is Grevillea ‘Mason’s Hybrid’ [Section 15h], a spreading bush with large spider blooms of pink, red and orange. This hybrid arose as a seedling from seed collected from an upright glaucous form of Grevillea bipinnatifida. The other parent is presumed to be G. banksii.
  11. Continuing on your right is Grevillea ‘Peaches and Cream’ [15h], with attractive deeply-divided leaves and large flower heads of pink and cream. This hybrid was developed in Queensland by Jan Glazebrook and Dennis Cox and patented in 2006.
  12. Hakea obtusa [Section 20], still on your right, is a small tree with grey-green leathery foliage and dark pink powderpuff flowers along the branches. It is native to the southwest coast of Western Australia between Albany and Esperance.
  13. Turn right downhill to see on your right Hakea scoparia subsp. scoparia [Section 26], native to southwestern Western Australia. This plant has thin linear green foliage and dense white balls of flower.
  14. Keep turning to your right to see on your right Grevillea baueri [Section 26], a low bush with close shiny green foliage and small red/cream flowers. The species is endemic to the coastal ranges of south-eastern New South Wales.
  15. Also on your right is Grevillea tripartita subsp. macrostylis [Section 26], an open, rangy plant with dark green, prickly, three-lobed foliage and large single red and cream flowers with long showy red styles. It is native to southern Western Australia.

Rosalind Walcott