Lobelia membranacea by Kathleen McArthur

Lobelia membranacea (Campanulaceae)

Kathleen McArthur (1915 - 2000)

Kathleen McArthur was a Queensland naturalist, writer, botanical illustrator and environmental activist who was influential in encouraging my interest and understanding of native plants in the late 1960's and early 1970's.

She produced a series of wildflower cards and prints to help raise funds in the campaign to stop development and sand mining at Cooloola in 1969. I purchased all that were available and hope to include some in future posts.

The "reject" card above was one I saved from our correspondence.

Midyim

22.9.75

Ian,

Bauera capitata is the colour of Boronia falicifolia and grows with it. There is great variation in the size of the leaves. This specimen is the smallest I have come across. It is growing along the side of the ditch a 100 yards off the Nicklin Way about half a mile north of the Currumundi Bridge on the west side.

The arrangement of the leaves, ie in whorls around the stem is similar to Tefiatheca thymifolia but the colours are quite different....Bauera being pure red and Tefiatheca more mauve ----- a bit of blue in the red. Of course I know colours vary but that's fairly constant around Caloundra.

Best wishes

Kathleen McArthur. 

 

Queensland Wildflowers

A Selection by Kathleen McArthur

Jacaranda Press 1959

 

A 1969 Queensland Wildflower Show

 This is a record of The 1969 Wildflower Show presented by The Caloundra Branch of the *Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland held at "Midyim" 16 Orvieto Terrace, Kings' Beach, Caloundra, Q. from the 16th to the 23rd August ,1969. Many of the plants mentioned have had their names changed.

Once again we present the public with a showing of their own living wildflowers.We do not rape the bush for this, but with permission, take from it one specimen of each species to display it to advantage. While a painting may depict the detailed form and colour of a flower, the flower itself is always more beautiful, being alive. We are not ambitious or competitive, seeking only to show the wildflowers of the Sunshine Coast. Have you ever heard of a wildflower show, other than ours, that did not import showy species from the South and the West? The wildflower enthusiast is not concerned with size and brilliance but loves them all for their individual character.

In 1968 approximately 3000 visitors enjoyed the show for which we make no admission charge. These flowers, after all, are not ours.  ----- they are Queensland's. We want Queenslanders to know them better and to help us preserve them for future generations. This can be done only through reservation of sufficiently large tracts of land where all the local species are present, not just those which lend themselves to gardening.

For instance, our ground orchids have, to date, resisted all attempts at cultivation for they are somewhat parasitic on the roots of other plants.

In our Wildflower News of 1967 we published maps of existing wildflower reserves. Since then, the laying of sewerage pipes has taken a section of No.1 and No. 2 is in line of the proposed Caloundra bypass. So, as the late Romeo Lahey said "the hardest part is not in acquiring a reserve but in keeping it"

The Currimundi Wildflower Reserve of 112 acres is being subjected to the pressures of vehicular traffic and illegal camping. We have asked the Landsborough Shire Council to close it to such use, but without success. The Council are its trustees.

We have, in the past year, asked the Maroochy Shire Council to reserve a block of wet schlerophyll forest adjoining the Sugar Road, behind Maroochydore, also without success to date.This is the type of forest that was never extensive in Queensland and is now very rare. It has an understory of flowering shrubs and is excellent habitat for many species of birds.

While agitating for more land to be reserved, the Society is also helping to revegetate devastated areas. Over the years, donations of trees have been made to the Landsborough, Maroochy and Caboolture Shires for foreshore planting. Another large project of ours is the planting of the Caloundra Water Supply Reserve (Ring Tank) with koala and pigeon feed trees.

Over 600 items have been planted there so far and hundreds more will be put in when they become available from the Forestry Department Nursery. Due to the very dry conditions following the beginning of this project in March '68, the growth of the seedlings was delayed. However, they are now putting forth excellent new growth, that is all except the hundred Cabbage Palms which may need to be replaced.

Our proudest achievement is in having influenced so many people to appreciate the value of, and to plant, native trees and shrubs. After six years of selling seedlings the rewards are obvious in the larger number of birds in our settled areas. The project is snowballing with the result that from a few hundred, we are now disposing of approximately 6000 items per annum. In no way does this compensate for the overall number of trees and shrubs destroyed by the various authorities. They all take their cut. -----  the Shire Councils, Main Roads Department, the P.M.G., and those untouchables, the block builders, and the developers. We ask the public to help us preserve our unique, national character. 

1969 ------ A Good Wildflower Year

The Winter of 1968 was cold and the flowers were late in opening, we showed fewer species than in 1967.  1969 has given us little cold weather, and already there is good showing of colour on the wildflower plains. Visitors to our wildflower show will be told where to go and see our coastal flowers. Actually almost anywhere along the Nicklin Way one can stop and wander amongst the wealth of blooms. Remember! Most wildflowers are protected and for taking plants or flowers one can be prosecuted. Take wildflowers away in your camera ----- not your hands.

*The Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland Inc.

The Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland was formed in 1962. Its aim is one which grows more urgently important as the development of this country proceeds: to preserve by all means possible the flora and fauna which are uniquely characteristic of this country, and to educate all sections of the population, especially the young, in their responsibility for the survival of Australian wildlife.

List of Native Plants available at the Show

Abrus precatorious ----  Crab's Eyes  Gilli Gilli

Acacia cunninghamii ---- Lamb's Tail Wattle

Acacia adunca

acacia dentifera

Acacia fimbriata   Brisbane Wattle

Acacia glaucocarpa

Acacia harveyi

Acacia ixiophylla

Acacia myrtifolia --- Myrtle wattle

Acacia O'Shannessii --- Feather Wattle

Acacia plagiophylla ----- Prickly Moses

Acacia pilligaensis ----- Pilliga Wattle

Acacia podalyriaefolia ----- Queensland Silver Wattle

Acacia penninervis ----- Mountain Hickory

Acacia polybotra

Acacia suaveolens ---- Sweet Wattle

Acacia spectablis ------ Mudgee wattle

Acacia sophorae ------ Dune Wattle

Alcetryon coriaceum ----Native Quince

Aluerites moluccans ------ Candlenut

Archontophoenix cunninghamiana -----  Piccabeen Palm

Aruacaria cunninghamii ----- Hoop Pine

Aruacaria bidwilli ---- Bunya Pine

Artenema fimbriatum

Austromyrtus dulcis ----- Midyim

Banksia aemula ---- Old Man Banksia

Banksia collina ------ Golden Candlesticks

Banksia ericifolia

Banksia integrifolia ------ Coast Banksia

Banksia oblongifolia ------ Rusty Banksia

Banksia robur --------- Wallum Banksia

Banksia spinulosa -------- Black--style Banksia

Blandfordia flammea ------Christmas Bells

Baeckea virgata

Bauhinia hookeri

Brachychiton acerifolium ----- Flame Tree

Brassia actinophylla ------ Umbrella Tree

Buckinghamia celissima

Bursaria spinosa

Canavalia maritima --- Beach Bean

Callistemon formosus

Callistemon pachyphyllus ------Wallum Bottlebrush

Callistemon rigidus  ------ Stiff Bottlebrush

Callistemon salignus -----Willow Bottlebrush

Callistemon viminalis ------ Red Weeping Bottlebrush

Calostemma luteum --------  Garland Lily

Casuarina equisetifolia ----- Beach Sheoak

Casuarina glauca ------- Flinder's Pine

Casuarina suberosa ------ Black Sheoak

Casuarina torulosa ------Forest Oak

Cassia tomentella

Castanospermum australe ------- Black Bean

Canthium coprosmoides ---------- Kooni Berry

Cedrela toona var australis --------- Red Cedar

Crinum pedunculatum ---------- Spider Lily

Clerodendron floribundum

Commersonia fraseri -------- Brown Kurrajong

Cordyline sp.---------- Palm Lily

Cupaniopsis anacardiodes --------- Tuckeroo

Clematis glycinoides

Dillwynia floribunda -------- Parrot Pea

Eucalyptus acmenioides ------ White Stringybark

Eucalyptus caesia

Eucalyptus citriodora ---------- Lemon Scented Gum

Eucalyptus crebra ---------- Grey Ironbark

Eucalyptus curtissii --------Brisbane Mallee

Eucalyptus lehmanni

Eucalyptus melanophloia ------ Silver leaved Ironbark

Eucalyptus microcorys -------- Tallowwood

Eucalyptus pilularis --------- Blackbutt

Eucalyptus propinqua ------ Grey Gum

Eucalyptus seeana var constricta ------- Tumble-down Grey Gum

Eucalyptus tereticornis -------- Forest Red Gum

Eucalyptus tessellaris ---------- Moreton Bay Ash

Eucalyptus woodwardi 

Eurycles cunninghamii --------- Brisbane Lily

Eugenia leuhmanni ----------- Red Water Gum

Eugenia wilsoni

Eustrephus  latifolius --------- Wallaby Berry

Erythrophloeum chlorostachys -------- Cooktown Ironwood

Evodia accuminata ---------- Evodia

Elaeocarpus reticulatus -------- Blueberry Ash

Elaeocarpus obovatus ---------- Blueberry Ash

Ervatamia angusticephala

Grevillea banksii ------- Red Grevillea

Grevillea glauca

Grevillea longistyla

Grevillea robusta ------- Silky Oak

Goodenia stelligera ---- Spike Goodenia

Glochidion ferdinandi ----- Cheese Tree

Geitonoplesium cymosum -------- Scrambling Lily

Gompholobium virgatum ------ Wedge Pea

Gmelina leichardti --------- White Beech

Hakea florulenta ------Sweet Scented Hakea

Hakea gibbosa ----- Wallum Hakea

Hakea purpurea -------- Crimson Hakea

Hardenbergia violacea ---- False Sarsaparilla

Hardenbergia violacea var alba --- White Sarsaparilla

Harpulia pendula ----- Tulipwood

Hibbertia scandens ----- Twining Guinea Flower

Hibiscus heterophyllus ------ Native Rosella

Hibiscus radiatus

Hibiscus splendens 

Hymenosporum flavum --- Queensland Frangipani

Hovea acutifolia

Hovea linearis

Indigofera australis ---- Indigo

Jasminum species

Kennedya rubicunda ----- Creeping Postman

Keraudrenia hilli ----- Hill's Keraudrenia

Kunzea baxteri

Lagunaria patersoni ----- Norfolk Island Hibiscus

Leptospermum citratum ---- Lemon Scented Tea Tree

Leptospermum flavescens var grandiflora ---- Wyberba Tea Tree

Leptospermum flavescena var minutifoila ----- Tantoon Tea Tree

Leptospermum myrtifolium --- Myrtle Tea Tree

Livistona australis ---- Cabbage Tree Palm

Melaleuca armillaris --- Bracelet Honeymyrtle

Melaleuca hypericifolia ----- Red Honeymyrtle

Melaleuca linarifolia ------ Snow-in-Summer

Melaleuca quinquernervia --- Paperbark

Melaleuca quinquernervia ---  Red Paperbark

Melaleuca sieberi

Melaleuca styphelioides ------- Prickly Paperbark

Melaleuca thymifolia ------- Thyme Honeymyrtle

Melastoma polyanthum ------- Nunyi-um

Mirabelia reticulata ----- Mirabelia

Macadamia ternifolia ---- Queensland Nut

Myoporum ellipticum

Milletia megasperma ---- Native Wisteria

Oxylobium ellipticum ---- Golden Shaggy Pea

Pandanus pedunculatus ---- Pandanus

Pandorea pandorana ------ Wonga Vine

Pandorea jasminoides ---- Bower of Beauty

Pavonia hastata ----- Pavonia

Petalostigma pubescens ----- Quinine Berry

Pittosporum revolutum ----- Brisbane Laurel

Pittosporum phillyraeoides ---- Berrigan

Pittosporum undulatum ------- Mock Orange

Pithcellobium sp.

Plectranthus sp. ------- Cockspur

Podocarpus elatus ------ Brown Pine

Scaevola suaveolens --- Scented Fan Flower

Stackhousia spathulata -----Beach Stackhousia

Tristania conferta ----- Brush Box

Tristania suaveolens ----- Swamp Box

Viminaria denudata ------ Broom

Viola hederacea ------ Ivy-leaf Violet

Westringia sp. ------- Rosemary

Xanthorrhoea hastile ------ Grass Tree

Additional information from the Show:

A Bush Garden In The Shortest Possible Time

100 trees and shrubs (total cost $20.00) will provide a bushland garden on the average sized house block which has been thoroughly cleared ------- conditions all too common! If planted and established as a single project, labour is reduced to a minimum. According to your situation, we can recommend a selection of species that are fast growing, will blend well together and establish a habitat for birds in the shortest possible time.     Have a go?

Moonrise over the sea ........ Seen through Sheoaks

Sheoaks (Casuarina equisitifolia for ocean fronts and Casuarina glauca for river banks and estuaries ) do not block a view they enhance it. Grow She-oaks, keep your view and encourage visits of our colourful Lorikeets and Rosellas, which feed on the seed.

Red Flowering Tea -Tree

Melaleuca quinquenervia (red)

The Aboriginal meaning of Nambour is given as "red flowering Tea Tree". There are various colour forms of tea-trees but the red one is no longer seen in these southern parts of Queensland, although there apparently was such a stand near Nambour.  Sentimentalists can re-introduce red flowering tea-trees to this area now we have a stock of seedlings, small, but ready for planting.

The Garland Lily       Calostemma luteum

This plant has a wide distribution in Australia yet is surprisingly little known for such an attractive lily. It is a rich yellow and in form like a miniature daffodil. It is hardy, likes full sun for part of the day and withstands wet conditions. Our stocks are strictly limited. It may bear twenty flowers with four open at a time.

Midyim........Austromrtus dulcis

Midyim is as characteristic of our foreshores as are the She-oaks ........  the unspoilt foreshores that is ! It is a low growing shrub, seldom more than four feet in height, with pink tinged, white flowers, followed by edible spotted berries. The most colourful stage of its growth is when it puts out its crimson new leaves.

Its correct pronunciation puts emphasis on the "Y".     Mid - Yim. A less attractive interpretation occurs in the place name Mudjimba...... the place of Midyim berries. James Backhouse, who, in 1843, recorded Pavonia at Eagle Farm, had this to say of Midyim on Moreton Island ---- "Some steep sandhills, the latter were overgrown by Myrtus tenuifolia (since reclassified), a myrtle of low stature, with narrow leaves and sweet, aromatic, white berries, spotted with purple. They are the most agreeable native fruit I have tasted in Australia; they are produced so abundantly as to afford an important article of food to the Aborigines."

Pavonia hastata

Pavonia hastata (no common name) is a shrub growing to four feet, with very pale, tinted, hibiscus type blooms with purple centres. Historical notes of our early settlement reported it growing at the women's prison at Eagle Farm. Very good garden subject as it flowers for six months of the year.

The Brisbane Lily

There is no doubt that The Brisbane Lily has claim to be the floral emblem of our capital. Found first in 1824, by the botanist, Allan Cunningham, growing in abundance under the pine trees along the shores of the Brisbane River, it was sent to England, was painted and printed in the Botanical Register of 1832. It appeared again in 1835 in Curtis's Botanical Magazine ------ called for the first time, at least in print------ The Brisbane Lily. Its natural occurance is restricted to the eastern side of the Dividing Range in southern Queensland, possibly only south of the Tropic of Capricorn. No where else in this world does it occur. Queensland has a second species of Eurycles ----- E. amboinensis which grows in the tropical coastal section and further north into the Indies where it was first found about the sixteenth century, described and named The Amboina Lily. In Queensland it has various names following its distribution ----- Cardwell Lily, Cairns Lily, and Cooktown Lily.

The Brisbane Lily is easily grown, either in a pot or in the ground, but it flowers best when root-bound, so, when planted in the ground, flowering is more frequent if its roots are restricted by a container such as a medium large terracotta pot or possibly a plastic bucket. In other words put pot and all into the soil. The flowering season is in the first half of summer, as early as October at Midyim. While the blooms are not as large as the exotic Eucharist Lily to which it is related, they are more numerous. As it prefers half shade or even full shade it is also suitable for indoors.

The Brisbane Lily is worthy of our acknowledgement and we should be very proud of it. Let us sell you one or many.!

Pelargonium 'Mallee Magic'

Pelargonium 'Mallee Magic' (Geraniaceae)

Sometimes you have to grow a plant for a couple of years to find out how it behaves and responds to different seasonal conditions. This native Geranium is possibly an inland form of G. australe and puts most of its energy into growing during winter and early spring before fading and "going off" during summer. In August it is smothered in flowers which stand proud of a low mound of tightly held leaves. Then in the first days of summer it starts to shrink back underground and though still producing a few flowers, the tight compact foliage is gone and growth is sparse. It hardly looks like the same plant. Like other species of Pelargoium, many of which originate from South Africa, it has a spreading root system consisting of swollen nodes or food storage segments to help it through harsh summer conditions . New shoots resurface a bit like suckers do on a shrub or tree around the original parent plant when conditions become favourable such as after rain and when temperatures are cooler. So the upshot of all this is that to propagate it you have to do so in winter usually by division when growth is rapid.

Mid winter foliage

Small new plants with sparse growth but still with flowers are waiting in the wings for potting on in winter 2014

Brachyscome iberidifolia, Swan River Daisy

Brachyscome iberidifolia , (Asteraceae) Swan River daisy

This little daisy is from Western Australia and is spring flowering, responding in the wild to winter rainfall and then flowering for about six weeks until the hot weather sets in. Normally the flowers are blue but pink ,white or mauve flowering forms also occur. It is fairly easy to grow from seed sown during winter but the resulting seedlings need pinching back to produce bushy plants with more flowers. It eventually reaches a height of about 40cm and is quite wiry in appearance having only tiny leaves. The only drawback to growing it is that it only has a small shallow root system which means it is subject to wind damage and may topple over and continue growing in a lop-sided way. Easy to forgive this habit as it is such a pure and simple lovely plant.

Indigofera australis Austral Indigo

 Indigofera australis var. australis (Leguminosae)

This under-shrub (1.5 metre tall) of forests and open woodland has a wide range of distribution from Tasmania to Queensland, and, at this time of year, right through until December, it is a mass of rosy purple pea flowers which stand above the foliage in axillary sprays. The compound leaves are comprised of many smokey blue leaflets which expand or contract depending on how much soil moisture is available. I have one specimen in a pot which is waiting to be planted out and the leaves have become quite small from a lack of water, whereas these local species are lush by comparison.

The inland sister plant to this species ,var. signata has almost done away with leaves entirely and they appear as tiny wedges along the stems.

Austral Indigo is very adaptable to home garden use in either native or exotic gardens. Early in the new year, masses of seed pods appear and these are equally decorative.

Found locally in scrub on the higher slopes around Lake Illawarra

Monotoca elliptica, Broom-heath

Coastal shrub Monotoca elliptica (Family: Epacridaceae)

Flower detail

Quiet and unassuming would be a way of describing this shrub and perhaps because of this, it has never made the crossover to mainstream horticulture and become a familiar garden plant. It certainly has all the attributes to make it in the garden scene and would be ideal as low hedge in a sea side garden. Limited horticultural use is usually attributed to difficulty of propagation and slow growth potential and I suspect the latter may be the case here. In the instant gratification garden world, no one is prepared to wait for twenty years for a shrub to reach 2 metres and form a dense and compact shape, and in my estimate this is probably how long it would take. The given genus name is interesting for its derivation and comes from the floral parts of its 1 celled ovary, hence mono and 'tokos' meaning birth. I enjoy coming across this shrub on coastal walks, because, at all times of the year, it is appealing but especially now when it is smothered in tiny white flowers. Often I come across specimens which have become victims of rough seas and coastal erosion and their trunks have taken on a gnarled and twisted appearance which would make any Japanese bonsai enthusiast long to have a similar specimen in a container and in pride of place in a collection or displayed on a table.

Callistemon salignus 'Great Balls of Fire'

Red new growth on Callistemon 'Great Balls of Fire' with silver Westringea 'Smokie'

The parent plant Callistemon salignus is a fairly ordinary native tree which is very much prone to sooty mould after being infested with scale insects as well as producing insignificant flowers. 

This low growing cultivar which has been on the garden scene for a few years now is proving to be terrific plant for use as a low hedge or good solid rounded shrub to 1.5 metres. It produces continual flushes of new pinky red leaves throughout the year and benefits from a bit of shearing to keep it looking good. It grows well across a range of climates and is versatile enough to do the cross-over thing of mixing well with native plants and exotics. I have not come across any advanced nursery specimens so you may have to start with a small pot plant. Given a good start with some fertilizer or soil improvement it is quick to establish however and growth is fairly rapid if given supplementary irrigation.