BURR MEDIC

(Medicago polymorpha)

(Photos: E. Cousins; habit, closer view of leaves and fruit.)

This small creeping plant from the pea family can be used as a pasture crop, but it can become a weed in some habitats. It is a prostrate (flat to the ground) annual, though it can climb slightly through nearby plants. The multiple stems are green to slightly red, and can be up to 50cm long. The leaves occur in groups of 3 leaflets at the end of short stalks. The centre leaflet has the longest stalk (an identification key used for distinguishing medics from similar plants). Leaflets can be heart or wedge-shaped, as seen above, with finely toothed margins near the tip. Pea-like yellow flowers appear in spring, to be followed by the fruits. These are like little coiled pods, disc or barrel-shaped, 3-4mm wide, with hooked spines (see second photo) all over.

BUCKBUSH or ROLYPOLY

(Salsola australis)

   (Photo: E. Cousins, Cape Jervis; plant, close-up of a flower on a ridged stem)

This prickly little flowering annual can grow into a ball about knee high, bright green where a lot of the local plants are a duller colour. The hard stems are really ridged, as seen in the second photo. There you can also see the needle-like tips on the small, cylindrical leaves, making the plant feel spiky. Notice also the papery, cream disk there too? That is a fruit. It has a flattened wing all around, with 5 lobes; the fruit is protected by 3 leaves under it. The plant can break off at ground level and blow away like tumbleweed, dispersing the seeds in the fruit. These seeds then germinate from autumn to winter, with new plants flowering in spring-summer. Earlier called Salsola tragus, buckthorn has been renamed Salsola australis after some detective work by SA Herbarium experts. ‘Salsola’ itself is from the Latin word for ‘salty’.

ELEGANT SPEAR-GRASS

(Austrostipa elegantissima)

(Photo: E. Cousins, Cape Jervis; feathery fronds overhanging another bush, plant in full bloom in November)

Looking for a showy, clumping grass for a coastal garden? This one is a beauty when in bloom, normally from August to January, because of its misty look. It is a perennial, tufted native grass, growing up to 1m tall from a small rhizome underground. It often likes to grow near shrubs whose foliage will help support the flower stems and the narrow (up to 3mm) leaves, as in the first photo above. The open, diffuse flower heads seem to shimmer in sunlight, because of the long silky hairs on them (see 1st photo again). The flowers have a long, bent stalk, tipped with a bristle (or awn); the stalk itself has one very pronounced bend, and another less obvious second one. This arrangement helps the seed to bury itself in the ground, after clusters of the seed heads are dispersed by being blown off in the breeze.

AGAPANTHUS

(Agapanthus praecox subsp. orientalis)

(Photos: E. Cousins; leaves and habit, 6-petalled  blue flower, three-sided fruits.)

Here’s another fence-jumper!  This is a really hardy garden plant, with long, dense strappy leaves the whole year round, a tuberous/rhizomous root system, and lovely, lanky 1m flower stems that abound in summer. Low maintenance, showy, grows just about anywhere, drought resistant…no wonder they are so popular! Each flower stem produces up to 100 blue or white bell-shaped flowers; each flower can produce a three-sided fruit, and fruits can produce 20-100 viable seeds …that’s a lot of seeds per plant, to be spread on coastal winds! So please, dead-head the flower stems when the fruits are green (or earlier) before this lovely plant becomes another problem for the coastline!! Alternatively, buy hybridized cultivars that set very little seed e.g. miniatures, or Queen Mum.

Carolyn’s Corner – April 2016 

Local seed is best – or is it? An accepted dogma is that seed sourced locally is best for revegetation. But what is local? 10 km along the coast from Cape Jervis is very different from 10 km inland. A researcher from Adelaide University, Prof Andy Lowe, and his team have suggested that using 10-20% of seed sourced from hotter and drier areas could produce habitats with greater resilience in the face of increasingly variable weather patterns/climate change. Their reasoning is that this will promote biodiversity and prevent the “fixation” of adaptations to past environments. To read more, see the Oct 2015 edition of ReLeaf magazine (http://www.treesforlife.org.au/resources/our-publications).

Plants in the Cape Jervis area are often smaller and more drought tolerant than their Adelaide Hills counter parts, so perhaps sourcing seed from a coastal region further afield may be good for species such as the “critically endangered” Hibbertia pallidiflora. These two plants were photographed at Lands End Jan 23 (left) and were doing it really tough. February rains brought an amazing recovery for these two plants (23rd Feb), but will they be so lucky during the next drought?   

Next get together, 2 & 3 Apr 2016. Training & great cakes provided.

We welcome new volunteers.  Contact Carolyn Schultz 0448 909 881.

Sat 2^nd and Sun 3^rd April – Next working bee

New visitors / helpers always welcome.

Training, tools and cakes provided.

Sat AM 10.00, tree guard collecting

On the erosion ditch between ferry terminal and trig point

• Meeting point A. Just south of the start of the Heysen Trail near picnic table (see map below). If you are late, walk south along the Heysen Trail for about 10 mins, until you see us.
• morning tea provided

   Lunch, approx  1.30, at Lot 3 Sorata St (Carolyn’s house),

• BYO lunch

Sat PM  (approx. 2.30) – Tidying the “lower loop”

Meeting point A

Removing a few tree guards (some plants are growing out over the top)

and hand weeding around plants, tip pruning

Sun AM,  9.00 AM – 12.00 Noon – Making Seed/Daisy bombs

Meeting point – Lot 3 Sorata St – Morning tea provided

This year we will be trialing seed/daisy bombs to see if

1) this low effort revegetation method works

2) we can get some of the pretty daisies/lilies to grow

To learn more – http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/stories/s4210404.htm

http://www.ecocitizenaustralia.com.au/seed-bombs/

email: carolyn.schultz165@gmail.com

LEAFLESS BLUEBUSH

(Maireana aphylla)

(Photo: E. Cousins, Cape Jervis; habit, spiky stems, papery fruit)

We found this rare plant recently on the cliffs overlooking the lighthouse at Cape Jervis. Not a plant you would want to fall into if walking on those cliffs… it has no leaves but hard spines, or spikes, instead. (In Latin, ‘a’ means ‘without’, and ‘phylla’ means ‘leaves’, explaining the ‘aphylla’ in its name.) In the tough conditions it is living in, any defences probably help! The dull green shrubs we found were small, no more than knee high, though some sources say they grow to 1.5m!  The fruit are actually those small, pale apricot-coloured wings that look like flowers in the last picture above. The stems are striated, or grooved. You might be able to make these out in the centre picture. Let us know if you find them anywhere else on the peninsula!<

HARE’S TAIL GRASS

(Lagurus ovatus)

(Photos: E. Cousins; plant and habitat, leaves with short hairs, feathery seed head. Fishery’s Beach)

You will often see this plant in dry, coastal areas, particularly in disturbed sites. Originally from northern Africa but now naturalized around much of SA, it has spread through many conservation areas. Look for a short-lived and short-statured grass, up to about 50cm tall. In the second photo, you can see the leaf sheath hugs the stem of the plant before the blades bend outward. The sheath parts are very hairy and occur on alternate sides up the stems; the leaf blades are flattish and have a finer hair covering. The really feathery seed-heads, containing many flower spikelets, are what you will spot first, though. These are whitish with an attractive elongated shape. Seed-heads are visible from September until well after the tiny flowers themselves have detached and blown away. Don’t confuse these with the native Echinopogon !

REFLEXED, or COMMON CORREA

(Correa reflexa)

(Photo: from https://www.anbg.gov.au/gnp/gnp7/correa-reflexa.html)

‘Correa’ comes from the name of a Portugese botanist of the 1700s, but maybe ‘variable correa’ would be a good name for this one: very erect, or semi-prostrate; dense or open in habit; leaves narrow or round, hairy or almost smooth, with flat or curled-back edges (hence reflexa)! Enough options??? It is still fairly easily identified though, by its pendulous, bell-shaped flowers which have two small leaves sitting along the top of the bells. The flowers themselves are a bit woolly, with tips that are turned back a little.  You should be able to spot yellow anthers on the 8 stamens sticking out from the red and yellow/green flowers. A group of 3-5 of these correas would look good in your coastal garden. They like light sandy soils with good drainage, with sun or shade. Protect them from the wind, and they will reward you with many lovely flowers from May to November.

RED VALERIAN

(Centranthus ruber ssp ruber)

(Photos: E. Cousins; plant in flower, and flower cluster; Cape Jervis)

This prolifically-flowering, showy perennial is native to southern Europe. However it is now a common environmental weed in SA, invading dry coastal areas, wastelands, roadsides, etc., equally. It is easily spotted with those profuse heads of dull purplish-red flowers in spring! Individual flowers are tiny at 2mm, but occur in large clusters, or inflorescences, as in the photo. The flowers attract insects such as bees and butterflies, and have a fairly strong (not necessarily pleasant) smell.  The 5-8cm long leaves along the tall stems sit opposite each other; these have a short stem (petiole) while those at ground level have none. Often confused with Valeriana officinalis, which has healing properties, this plant has no medicinal value. Leaves and roots can be eaten (no promises made that it’ll be tasty though!!).