Spring flowers and fruits

[Pteropus]

Spring is just around the corner, and it is already warming up! Well here in south-east Qld it is
In some parts the Acacias and other pea flowering plants have already begun to blossom, and over the next few months the bush will be flowering its head off!

I have recently taken a few pics already but encourage people to post interesting flower and fruit photos from their bushwalking adventures here.

No need to ID if you are unsure on species. Feel free to correct any mistakes on my ID if you see any.
Enjoy

Hardenbergia violaceae

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Hovea acutifolia

Hovea tholiformis

Acacia fimbriata

003 Acacia sp.

[Pteropus]

Some more

Eucalyptus sideroxylon

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Callistemon viminalis

Eustrephus latifolius

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[phan_TOM]

Heres a small selection of flowers from 3 consecutive Springtime trips to Girraween, '09 - '11, hoping to add to my collection for '12

September at Girraween

[Graham51]

This hakea was actually blooming in May/June at Lucky Bay WA, but is one of the prettiest wild flowers I have seen.

[gayet]

Wildflowers will have to wait till the weekend but....

[MickyB]

Great photos Pteropus

[phan_TOM]

The Davidson's Plum in my backyard is busily flowering, pity the fruit aren't as tasty as they look!

Last years plums

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[Pteropus]

Nice one Tom. I concur that they don't taste as nice as they look (which is the case for many native fruit imho). However, several years ago I tasted some Davidson's Plum wine (or perhaps it was port?) up at the Yungaburra Market on the Atherton Tablelands. I remember it being quite nice too!

On the wildflower front, I had hoped to get out to Mainrange yesterday to see the bush in blossom, but ended up waking up half-dead...I hope it wasn't due to Spring allergies! (Never been allergic to a plant in my life and am not about to start!! Touch wood...<-possible irony? haha)

[phan_TOM]

They are incredibly sour and, being a bit of a practical joker, I get a kick out of offering them to any unwary visitors Their cheeks do a very similar thing to one of Julius Sumner Millers atmospheric pressure experiments on 44 gallon drums

Saying that though, an organic farmer friend of mine makes a syrup out of them (he must use a ton of sugar) which is delicious especially on pancakes or icecream, I'd love to try the wine or port!

but ended up waking up half-dead

You didn't have a craving for brains on toast by chance?

[stepbystep]

This hakea was actually blooming in May/June at Lucky Bay WA, but is one of the prettiest wild flowers I have seen.

One of my favourites from the homeland, so much so I planted one in my garden in Hobart 5 years ago. This year it flowered for the first time. Beautiful!

The birds like them too

[phan_TOM]

They are spectacular, even the leaves are pretty amazing.

[whynotwalk]

Some beautiful shots in this lovely thread. Well done Dan, Tom, Gay, pteropus, Graham and anyone I missed.

It's been an amazing wattle season in Tassie. Here are some pix from South Hobart and around Lilydale (northern Tas). I also put some words around it here http://www.naturescribe.com/2012/09/somebody-turned-on-lights.html

cheers

Peter

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[Graham51]

This hakea was actually blooming in May/June at Lucky Bay WA, but is one of the prettiest wild flowers I have seen.

One of my favourites from the homeland, so much so I planted one in my garden in Hobart 5 years ago. This year it flowered for the first time. Beautiful!

P1120183.jpg

The birds like them too

P1120192.jpg

We have recently moved to the Old Beach area - well away from the river - where we get some serious frosts. I had planted some of the hakeas at our old house but I'm not sure they will cope with the cold winters here. Any idea?

[stepbystep]

This hakea was actually blooming in May/June at Lucky Bay WA, but is one of the prettiest wild flowers I have seen.

One of my favourites from the homeland, so much so I planted one in my garden in Hobart 5 years ago. This year it flowered for the first time. Beautiful!

P1120183.jpg

The birds like them too

P1120192.jpg

We have recently moved to the Old Beach area - well away from the river - where we get some serious frosts. I had planted some of the hakeas at our old house but I'm not sure they will cope with the cold winters here. Any idea?

I'm not much of a gardener. Well drained soil, sunny, wind protected position. I'm in Lindisfarne, we get the odd frost and these guys should cope. You get plenty of frosts in the SW of WA.

[phan_TOM]

Some beautiful shots in this lovely thread

Those wattles are pretty spectacular Peter, I especially like the second shot, what a show-off!

Heres a couple more, I'm not exactly sure what they all are though...

QLD Silver Wattle

A lilly Pilly?

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[phan_TOM]

& heres a few shots of a Coolamon Syzygium moorei before and during flowering. They don't seem to flower every year, or even every second year but when they do it is a spectacular sight. Thanks to the huge effort that went in to deforestation combined with their limited natural distribution the Coolamon is listed as Vulnerable, more here.

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[Pteropus]

Some flowers from the Steamers, Main Range National Park

Prostanthera ovalifolia

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Leucopogon lanceolatus

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Dendrobium kingianum

Dendrobium kingianum

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Trochocarpa laurina (I think)

[phan_TOM]

Bloomin' lovely Pteropus. I love those rock orchids, they add such a splash of colour to the rocks they grow on.

[Pteropus]

Clearly this photo wasn’t taken in the bush, but I think it is a nice one for this album since it is one of our most spectacular flowering plants and one of my favourite trees. A flame tree, Brachychiton acerifolius flowering its head off at the University of Queensland. Flame trees are relatively common in sub-tropical/tropical rainforests of eastern Australia, from the Illawarra region south of Sydney (it is often called an ‘Illawarra Flame Tree’) to north Queensland. They generally drop their leaves prior to flowering, like this one has. If I find one flowering in a rainforest I will try to get a photo. It is quite spectacular to see them, bright red, in a sea of green on the side of a rainforested valley! Inspiration for a walk in the forest me thinks!

Brachychiton acerifolius

[beachcruiser]

I've been lurking around this forum for a while now but this is my first post since my intro post.

Saw lots of spring colour while walking around the Mt Bushwalker area in Morton National Park, NSW on the weekend, I'm no botanist so don't know the names but always keen to learn if someone can identify them for me, here are a couple of shots I thought worth sharing:

Purple - Morton National Park 21 October 2012

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Pink - Morton National Park 21 October 2012

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Yellow - Morton National Park 21 October 2012

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[eggs]

Not up with flower names I am afraid, but there were some out on our Heysen Trail walk:
http://bushwalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=7641&p=147803&hilit=cottage+at+Cape+Jervis#p147803

Loved how this valley looked like a glacier of Lillies [Yeh - its a weed :(]

There were lots of lillies covering valley floors

A Native orchid [Edit: Bull Dog Orchid]

[eggs]

Being a coastal walk - there was some pig face out.

Pig Face on the hillside

A rare couple of pines had their "flowers" out

Lots of these in an area recovering from fires

[eggs]

Our friends called this ground cover a Running Postman

Running Postman [aka Kenedia prostrata ]

Spider orchid found in the Adelaide Hills

ps - Running Postman is Kenedia prostrata
And there was one more quite striking flower I meant to add:

[Pteropus]

Hi beachcruiser, welcome. Nice photos. I am very rusty on my Sydney-region sandstone flora but I can give you some names.

1. Patersonia sericea – native iris/purple flag
2. The second flower could be an Epacris of some sort, but I am not sure. Will check later.
3. This is most likely Isopogon anemonifolius - drumsticks

Eggs, great photos! Even if all those Arum lilies are chocking that creek. I think your 'running postman' is a Kenedia prostrata perhaps?

[beachcruiser]

Thanks Pteropus, I'll try to remember those names, "drumsticks" should be easy to remember that's exactly what they look like!
I took many more photos but it was quite windy so hard to get nice clear pics...

[Pteropus]

Thanks Pteropus, I'll try to remember those names, "drumsticks" should be easy to remember that's exactly what they look like!
I took many more photos but it was quite windy so hard to get nice clear pics...

No worries beachcruiser. Yeah, it can be hard to get your subjects to stay still in even the slightest breeze!

And there was one more quite striking flower I meant to add:

Eggs, this looks like a Myoporum. Possibly M. insulare?

[eggs]

Yes Pteropus
Very likely Myoporum - maybe insulare or perhaps acuminatum?

[Pteropus]

A couple of flowers from Mt Barney

Coronidium (Helichrysum) lindsayanum

Melaleuca pallida - lemon bottlebrush

[Pteropus]

It's spring and the wild flowers are out. Some photos from Heathcote National Park this morning

I am sure this is Daviesia corymbosa

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Grevillea longifolia

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Epacris longiflora

Hakea salicifolia

Doryanthes excelsa

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[MickyB]

Nice photos Pteropus. You are correct - the first photo is Daviesia corymbosa.