7 - 20 December, 2016
Featuring the plants of the Australian
National Botanic Gardens, Canberra, ACT
written and illustrated by Friends Rosalind
and Benjamin Walcott
Today we will visit the Rock Garden,
starting at the top and working our way
down the hill.
1. On your left as you enter the Rock Garden
from the top is Scaevola albida, a
prostrate
shrub native to a range of habitats in
Queensland, NSW, Victoria
, Tasmania and
South Australia (photo above). It
is a
groundcover with mauve fan flowers on
light green foliage.
2.
Also on your left is Anigozanthos
flavidus, or Tall Kangaroo Paw, with rusty
orange paw flowers on thin stems above
tall clumps of strappy green foliage (photo
next page top left). All kangaroo paws are
native to Western Australia and the flowers
are bird pollinated.
14. On your right in front of the waterfall is
Eremophila christopheri with mauve bells
on a small bush with bright green leaves (photo
below). It is found in the wild in southern
Northern Territory. It is named after
Christopher Giles who first collected this
species.
12. On your right is
Hibbertia pedunculata
with bright yellow flowers and fine creeping
foliage (photo below left) The species name
‘pedunculata’ refers to the flower having a
peduncle or long stalk. This plant grows in the
wild in coastal NSW and eastern Victoria.
13. On your left is
Dianella caerulea with short
grass-like foliage and pale blue sheaths of
flowers (photo above right). This plant is native
to the eastern states of Australia including
Tasmania.
15. Also on your right is the striking
Doryanthes excelsa or Gymea Lily (photo
below). This plant is
indigenous to the coastal
areas of New South Wales near Sydney. It has
sword-like leaves more than a metre long and
flower spikes 2-4 metres high.
A publication of the Friends
of the Australian National
Botanic Gardens
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8,9,10
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4. Bear left to see on your right
Xanthorrhoea
johnsonii or Grass Tree which has been
burned to stimulate new growth (photo below
left). The spikes are covered with many tiny
white flowers whose nectar is attractive to birds
and insects. The trunk of this Grass Tree can
grow up to 5 metres tall and the plant is found
in Queensland and New South Wales.
5. On your left is Prostanthera cuneata or
Alpine Mint Bush, a small shrub with wedge-
shaped, dark green aromatic foliage and white
trumpet flowers (photo above right). This plant
occurs in southeastern Australia, including
Tasmania.
6.
On your right is Verticordia galeata, a
showy plant with small, bright yellow, honey
scented flowers in profusion (photo below).
IIt is found naturally near Geraldton,
Western Australia.
8. Bear left across the plank bridge to see on
your right Grevillea plurijuga in a pot with
fresh green upright foliage and long stems
ending in purplish pink flowers (photo below).
It grows naturally near Esperance, Western
Australia.
9. Turn right down the steps to see on your left
in a pot Hakea victoria or Royal Hakea with
stem-clasping, green veined foliage with
prickly edges (photo below). This remarkable
foliage develops different colours of cream,
yellow, orange and red .This plant is found in
a restricted area on the south coast of Western
Australia.
10. Further on your left is
Verticordia
pennigera in a pot
showing bright pink
terminal clusters of fringed flowers on tiny
grey-green
foliage
(photo
below
left).
Verticordia in Latin means ‘turner of hearts’.
This beautiful genus comes mostly from
southwestern Western Australia.
11. Also on your left is
Alyogyne huegelii
‘Misty’, a very attractive selection of
A.
huegelii with pale mauve flowers with maroon
centres and coarse green foliage (photo above
right)
.
7. Also on your right is Pileanthus
vernicosus, or Copper-cups, an erect small
shrub with tiny light-green foliage and salmon
flowers (photo above ). It can be found naturally
in Western Australian coastal heathlands, sand
dunes and plains between Geraldton and
Carnarvon.
3. Still on your left is
Grevillea ‘Mason’s
Hybrid’, a spreading bush with large spider
blooms of pink, red and orange (photo above
right). This hybrid arose from seed collected
from an upright glaucous form of Grevillea
bipinnatifida. The other parent is presumed to
be G. banksii.