Flora
Within a few weeks now Draba, the smallest flower that blows, will sprinkle every sandy place with small blooms.He who hopes for spring with an upturned eye never sees so small a thing as Draba. He who despairs of spring with downcast eye steps on it, unknowing. He who searches for spring with his knees in the mud finds it, in abundance.Draba asks, and gets, but scant allowance of warmth and comfort; it subsists on the leavings of unwanted time and space. Botany books give it two or three lines, but never a plate or portrait. Sand too poor and sun too weak for bigger, better blooms are good enough for Draba. After all, it is no spring flower, but only a postscript to a hope.Draba plucks no heartstrings. Its perfume, if there is any, is lost in the gusty winds. Its color is plain white. Its leaves wear a sensible woolly coat. Nothing eats it; it is too small. No poets sing of it. Some botanist once gave it a Latin name, and then forgot it. Altogether it is of no importance – just a small creature that does a small job quickly and well.– Aldo Leopold A Sand Country Almanac |
White root (lobelia purpurescens) – Wordwood’s alternative to American draba |
This page records some of our favourite photos of Wordwood’s flora. Our Flora Species List is at the end of the page.
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Wildflowers
In the years that we have owned Wordwood, we have never been to it and not been able to pick a bunch of native wildflowers.
Grasses
Lichen
In May 2016, we noticed some particularly pretty lichen (see the photos below). It made Margie think of a funny passage from a favourite book (see below).
When, after ages and ages, you finally reach the tell-tale world of truly high ground, where the chilled air smells of pine sap and the vegetation is gnarled and tough and wind-bent, and push through to the mountain’s open pinnacle, you are, alas, past caring. You sprawl face down on a sloping pavement of gneiss, pressed to the rock by the weight of your pack, and lie there for some minutes, reflecting in a distant, out-of-body way that you have never before looked this closely at lichen, not in fact looked this closely at anything in the natural world since you were four years old and had your first magnifying glass.– Bill Bryson A Walk in the Woods |
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Flora Species List (Last updated March 2018)
Notes
WATCH THIS SPACE FOR PETE’S DESCRIPTION OF WORDWOOD’S GEOLOGY AND VEGETATION MAPPING INCLUDING HISTORICAL AERIAL PHOTOS
We finds the webpage Toowoomba Plants useful for plant identification (see the link on the right).
Scientific Name |
Common Name |
Form |
Indigenous | ||
Acacia falcata | Sickle-leaf wattle | Tree |
Acacia fimbriata | Brisbane wattle | Tree |
Acacia irrorata | Green wattle | Tree |
Acacia melanoxylon | Black wattle | Tree |
Acacia penninervis | Mountain hickory wattle | Tree |
Acacia neriifolia | Oleander wattle | Tree |
Allocasaurina littoralis | Black sheoak | Tree |
Allocasaurina torulosa | Forest sheoak | Tree |
Angophora subvelutina | Broad leaved apple | Tree |
Brachichiton populneus | Kurrajong | Tree |
Corymbia intermedia | Pink bloodwood | Tree |
Eucalyptus crebra | Narrow leaf ironbark | Tree |
Eucalyptus microcorys | Tallowwood | Tree |
Eucalyptus mollucana | Gum topped box | Tree |
Eucalyptus propinqua | Grey gum | Tree |
Eucalyptus tereticornis | Queensland blue gum | Tree |
Ficus coronata | Sandpaper fig | Tree |
Grevillea robusta | Silky oak | Tree |
Lophostemon confertus | Queensland brush box | Tree |
Lophostemon suaveolens | Swamp Box | Tree |
Melia azedarach | White cedar | Tree |
Trochocarpa laurina | Tree heath or waddy wood | Tree/Shrub |
Bursaria spinosa | Black thorn | Shrub |
Cassinia laevis | Cough bush | Shrub |
Cryptandra longistaminea | Shrub | |
Davesia ulicifolia | Native gorse | Shrub |
Dodonaea viscosa | Sticky hop bush | Shrub |
Hakea florulenta | Shrub | |
Hibbertia linearis var obtusifolia | Shrub | |
Hovea lorata | Shrub | |
Jacksonia scoparia | Dogwood | Shrub |
Lespedeza juncea | Shrub | |
Maclura cochinchinensis | Cockspur | Shrub |
Maytenus bilocularis | Orangebark | Shrub |
Maytenus silvestris | Orangebark | Shrub |
Notelaea linearis | Native olive | Shrub |
Ozothamnus diosmifolius | Sago bush | Shrub |
Persoonia sericea | Geebung | Shrub |
Pimelea latifolia (?) | Shrub | |
Pimelea neo-anglica | Poison pimela | Shrub |
Psydrax odorata | Shiny-leaved canthium | Shrub |
Rubus parvifolius | Pink flowered native raspberry | Shrub |
Trema tomentosa | Poison peach | Shrub |
Swainsonia galegifolia | Darling pea | Shrub/Vine |
Acianthus fornicatus | Pixie caps | Herb |
Adiantum aethiopicum | Maidenhair fern | Herb |
Adiantum hispidulum | Rough maidenhair fern | Herb |
Brachyscome microcarpa | Herb | |
Bulbine Bulbosa | Bulbine lilly | Herb |
Caesia parviflora var. vittata | Herb | |
Calochlaena dubia | Soft bracken fern | Herb |
Calotis cuneata | Mountain burr daisy | Herb |
Chorizema parviflorum(?) | Herb | |
Chrysocephalum apiculatum | Yellow buttons | Herb |
Commelina diffusa | Wandering Jew | Herb |
Crotalaria mitchellii | Yellow rattlepod | Herb |
Desmodium brachypodum(?) | Large tick trefoil | Herb |
Dianella caerulea | Paroo lily | Herb |
Dianella longifolia | Flax lily | Herb |
Dichondra repens | Kidney weed | Herb |
Dioscorea transversa | Native Yam | Herb |
Dipodium variegatum | Blotched hyacinth orchid | Herb |
Diurus chrysantha | Donkey orchid | Herb |
Eremophila debilis | Winter apple | Herb |
Gahnia aspera | Saw sedge | Herb |
Glossocardia bidens | Native cobbler’s pegs | Herb |
Goodenia rotundifolia | Herb | |
Hybanthus stellarioides | Spade flower | Herb |
Hydrocotyle acutiloba | Pennywort | Herb |
Hydrocotyle laxifolia | Stinking pennywort | Herb |
Lobelia purpurescens | White root | Herb |
Lomandra laxa | Herb | |
Lomandra longifolia | Mat rush | Herb |
Lomandra multiflora | Many flowered mat rush | Herb |
Plectranthus parviflorus | Herb | |
Poranthera microphylla | Herb | |
Pteridium esculentum | Bracken fern | Herb |
Pterostylis spp | Greenhood orchid | Herb |
Ranunculus lappaceus | Buttercup | Herb |
Schenkia australis | Spike centaury | Herb |
Schoenoplectus mucronatus | Triangular clubrush | Herb |
Stackhousia viminea | Herb | |
Tephrosia bidwillii | Fire pea | Herb |
Thysanotus tuberosus | Fringe lily | Herb |
Tricoryne eliator(?) | Yellow lily | Herb |
Vigna vexillata var angustifolia | Wild cowpea | Herb |
Viola betonicifolia | Arrow-leaved violet | Herb |
Wahleneergia queenslandica | Bluebell | Herb |
Xerochyrsum bracteatum | Paper or golden everlasting daisy | Herb |
Billardiera scandens | Apple berry | Vine |
Clematis glycinoides | Headache vine | Vine |
Eustrephus latifolius | Wombat berry | Vine |
Geitonoplesium cymosum | Scambling lily | Vine |
Glycine clandestina | Twining glycine | Vine |
Hardenbergia violacea | Native sarsparilla | Vine |
Kennedia rubicunda | Red kennedy pea | Vine |
Neoachmandra cunninghamii | Slender cucumber | Vine |
Pandorea pandorana | Wonga vine | Vine |
Parsonsia eucalyptophylla | Gargaloo | Vine |
Stephania japonica | Tape vine | Vine |
Carex gaudichaudiana | Tea tree swamp sedge | Grass |
Cymbopogon refractus | Barbed wire grass | Grass |
Echinopogon | Hedgehog grass | Grass |
Entolasia stricta | Wiry panic | Grass |
Heteropogon contortus | Black speargrass | Grass |
Imperata cylindrica | Blady grass | Grass |
Oplismenus hirtellus | Pademelon grass | Grass |
Ottochloa gracillima | Graceful grass | Grass |
Pennisetum alopecuroides | Foxtail grass | Grass |
Poa labillardieri | Tussock grass | Grass |
Themeda triandra | Kangaroo grass | Grass |
Planted by us for revegetation | ||
Araucaria bidwillii | Bunya pine | Tree |
Melaleuca viminalis | Weeping, red or dropping bottle brush | Shrub |
Planted by us for farm forestry | ||
Acacia decurrens | Green wattle | Tree |
Acacia melanoxylon | Black wattle | Tree |
Acacia neriifolia | Oleander wattle | Tree |
Alphitonia excelsa | Red ash | Tree |
Araucaria cunninghamii | Hoop pine | Tree |
Callitris baileys | Bailey’s Cypress pine | Tree |
Castanospermum australe | Black bean | Tree |
Ceratopetalum apetalum | Coachwood | Tree |
Corymbia intermedia | Pink bloodwood | Tree |
Dysoxylum fraserianum | Rosewood or Australian rose mahogany | Tree |
Dysoxylum rufum | Hairy rosewood | Tree |
Eucalyptus grandis | Flooded gum or rose gum | Tree |
Eucalyptus tereticornis | Forest red gum | Tree |
Flindersia australis | Crows’ash | Tree |
Flindersia xanthoxyla | Yellowwood | Tree |
Gmelina leichhardtii | White beech | Tree |
Grevillea robusta | Silky oak | Tree |
Lophostemon confertus | Brush box | Tree |
Melia azedarach | White cedar | Tree |
Podocarpus elatus | Brown pine | Tree |
Rhodosphaera rhodanthema | Deep yellowwood | Tree |
Toona ciliata | Red cedar | Tree |
Weeds | ||
Ligustrum lucidum | Broad-leaf privet | Tree |
Opuntia stricta | Prickly pear | Tree |
Lantana camara | Lantana | Shrub |
Lantana montevidensis | Creeping lantana | Shrub |
Baccharis halimifolia | Groundsel | Herb |
WATCH THIS SPACE FOR PETE’S UPDATES |