Dianella admixta

AUSTRALIAN PLANTS SOCIETY

SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE REGION INC. A00131128P

PO Box 8835 Armadale 3143

Email: aps.se.melb@gmail.com Or semelb@apsvic.org.au

MARCH NEWSLETTER 2020 Meetings are held on the first Tuesday of each month, February to December except November. The venue is the Hughesdale Community Hall, Cnr Poath and Kangaroo Roads, Hughesdale (MEL 69 C7) Visitors are always very welcome.

COMMITTEE: PRESIDENT: John Thompson thomme@netspace.net.au SECRETARY: Helen Appleby TREASURER: Norm Seaton normarjs@bigpond.com PUBLIC OFFICER: Helen Appleby NEWSLETTER EDITOR: Marj Seaton normarjs@bigpond.com APS VIC DELEGATE Marj Seaton COMMITTEE: Amanda Louden amandalouden@icloud.com

Please forward any newsletter contributions, comments or photos to Marj at 36 Voumard Street, Oakleigh South 3167 or to the email address above.

****** Note: Deadline for the APRIL newsletter is MARCH 23RD******

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MARCH MEETING

Tuesday 3rd March 8pm Hughesdale Community Hall

Cnr Poath and Kangaroo Roads, Hughesdale

Our speaker for March will be Miriam Ford, Leader of APS Yarra Yarra which is the group holding the 2020 FJC Rogers Seminar. This year’s topic is “Mint Bushes and Allied Genera”. Miriam has an excellent media presentation for us to view and will be keen to drum up interest in our members attending the seminar later in the year.

RAINFALL RECORDS for 2020

Already we are doing better than in 2019 – may it continue!! Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Total

Oakleigh South 98 98

Highett 114 114

Hampton 119 119

Cranbourne South

99 99

Caulfield Sth 127 127

Elsternwick 120 120

2.

FEBRUARY MEETING Speaker: Bill Aitcheson

Topic: “Small Wattles for your Garden”

As leader of the Acacia Study Group, Bill has been on many a hunting trip to find wattles in the bush and outback. He started his talk with a photo taken from a book of the (now) largest wattle known – Acacia bakeri, now 8 – 10m tall. In Australia, the number of wattles occurring naturally is: WA 638, Qld 275, NSW 237, NT 178, SA 134, Vic 109, ACT 23, Tas 21, making a total of 1057. He believes it may now 1068 after updating. Bill then gave a breakdown of the sections into which Acacias are divided: Pulchellae, Acacia, Alatae, plurinerves, Juliflorae, Botrycephalae, and Lycopodifoliae. Botryocephalae: bipinnate leaves. 46 species. WA. Flowers in racemes. Bill commented that those with bipinnate foliage are not always easy to grow from cuttings. Examples: A. debilis

A. chinchillensis 0.3 – 2m usually, but Maranoa has one 6m high. A. terminalis “Pink Sunshine”, Tas. Difficulty in propagating. No cuttings and seed unreliable.

Very pretty pink flowers. Not yet on sale. A. leptoclada Northern tablelands NSW. No seed.

Cuttings strike readily and quickly. A. cardiophylla “Gold lace”. A sport from the tree form. Introduced in 1980. Can be spectacular tumbling over a wall. (Photo right by Bill Aicheson)

A. Pulchellae: bipinnate leaves, simple inflorescences. ~27 species. All South Western Australia.

B. Examples: A. pulchella Stirling Ranges WA. Common. C. A. lasiocarpa Available. Growing in Melton BG. D. A. guinettii Available. WA E. A. drummondii ssp drummondii (4 subspecies). Most commonly requested seeds from the F. seedbank of the Study Group. G. A. varia Closely related to A. drummondii H. Acacia: phyllodes with a single nerve. Globular or oblongoid flower heads. ~421 species. Australia wide. I. Examples: A. buxifolia On the $20 note J. A. pycnantha Australia’s floral emblem. Bill showed a photo of the whipstick form which is K. smaller, has daintier phyllodes and has a white trunk. L. A. pravissima “Little Nugget” Makes a good low hedge. M. A. pravissima “Cascade” Mass planting makes an excellent show N. A. linifolia Flowers now and through March for a long time. O. A. cultriformis “Cascade” Wedge shaped phyllodes, golden flowers. This has been grafted at P. Cranbourne gardens as a standard. Grafts often on A. melanoxylon. Q. A. gordonii Glenorie NSW. Rare. Affected by urbanisation. Swamp rats have killed

Cranbourne plants. R. A. maxwellii Flat growing. Creamy globular flowers. S. A. heterochroa Small phyllodes, yellow flowers, reddish stems. Usually not very long lived

though John commented that his is ~15yo. 1.5 x 2.5m A. nervosa WA yellow, perfumed. Flowers well A. handonis Good plant, yellow. Maranoa’s 2m high A. rossii Open habit, WA. Golden balls, hard to grow. A. sedifolia Esperance Flowers terminal. Small phyllodes. A. sporadica Rare. Found in three disjunct locations. One, near Wangaratta was recently burnt. Doesn’t set much seed but might sucker. A. brownii Wide distribution (including local). Prickly. A. sertiformis. Open growth. At Maranoa. Flowers Jan/Feb. In the Acacia uncinata group which has seven members. A. cremiflora Flowers in summer/autumn. Wide pods.

3. A. pulviniformis Flat growing, prickly, open flowers.

T. A. idiomorpha Shark Bay. Prickly and hairy. Wriggly purplish hairy seedpods (below right, photo by Wendy and Neil Marriott)

A. delphina “Plunging Dolphins” (above left - photo by Bill Aicheson). U. A. leptospermoides Usually upright, but there is a prostrate form. Fleshy grey phyllodes V. A. acinacea Bendigo. Grows readily. W. A. granulicarpa Little Desert. Another with hairy pods. X. A. cretacea Cowall, Eyre Peninsula, SA. Rare. White trunk, grey phyllodes. At Melton BG Y. Alatae. Winged phyllodes, globular flower heads. 23 species.

Examples: A. glaucoptera. ‘Clay wattle’(Right) Several forms eg small and large leaf. Often red new tips.

Z. A. restiacea Rush like foliage AA. A. willdenowiana The Grass Wattle because of its

grass-like habit. 50cm BB. Plurinerves: Several nerves. Globular flower heads, 226 sp CC. Examples: A. cognata “Limelight” 17 or 18 cultivars twelve

months ago. Not so good in drought conditions. “Mini cog” smallest or “Fettucine”. Photo: Bill Aicheson

DD. A. sp. aff farinosa Dadswell Bridge. Unnamed at this stage. Rare. At risk of road widening. EE. A. declinata Prickly. Porongorups. Unnoticed until it flowers. FF. A. redolens Grown a lot in the USA (California). Spreads well eg width 4 – 6m, not prickly. A

good one for the garden. GG. A. enterocarpa “Jumping Jack” named for its wriggly seed pods. HH. Juliflorae: Phyllodes, 290 sp. Cylindrical flower heads. II. Examples: A. hilliana North WA, Sold by Cranbourne Friends. JJ. A. fauntleroyi Not so small but has Minnie Richie bark. KK. A. denticulosa ‘Sandpaper wattle’. 2 - 3m high but not wide. LL. Lycopodifoliae: Whorled phyllodes, globular flower heads. 24sp. North and Central Australia.

Example: A. spondylophylla. ‘Curry Wattle’ named for the smell of its crushed leaves. Small flat topped wattle good for arid area gardening.

Bill finished with a comical expose of our recent Prime Ministers relating to Wattle Day, which we all enjoyed. Q&A:

1. Which wattle can be used to clean hands? – A. redolens. 2. Can blackwood (A. melanoxylon) be used in residential properties? Needs room.

Grows quickly. A very useful identification guide can be found at: https://apps.lucidcentral.org/wattle

4.

FEBRUARY SPECIMEN TABLE A few of the offerings on the table -

Ray: as usual, a basketful of beauties. His Corymbia ficifolia, orangey pink (right), has just flowered after 11 years. Now is a good time for Croweas and Ray had both C. saligna (broader leaves) and C. exalata (narrower leaves).His Verticordias are the envy of many of us – here we saw V. grandis (dark red, left) and V. mitchelliana (pinkish red). He has also grown a

Persoonia pinifolia from a cutting which took about 18 months, so don’t despair if you are trying this. Mandy: has pruned her Eucalyptus macrandra (buds right) which is a small tree growing in her nature strip. Greyish foliage and creamy yellow flowers. Mandy had a piece of Acacia uncinata (mentioned in Bill’s talk). This is a bush which flowers all summer, has a weeping form and yellow ball flowers. A variegated form of Chorilaena quercifolia (she also had the green form) is hard to propagate. Her Backhousias, both citriodora and myrtifolia, are growing in tubs and doing well. The latter has no scent. Marj: Veronica arenaria (below) has flowered all summer and is

another blue flower to attract the blue banded bees. Xerochrysum “Lemon Monarch” has done very well but sadly doesn’t produce seeds as it is a hybrid.

However, the Xerochrysum bracteatum seeds sent out with the APS Vic give-away last year have all flowered profusely (right) and are producing seeds so hopefully there will be more next year. Rhododendron lochiae has kicked on wonderfully since we had a couple of good rainfall events during January. Finally, Marj brought in flower spikes from Themeda triandra, Kangaroo grass, the blue form which seems to be slightly taller than the usual green form. Mandy also has a small blue version named ‘Mingo”. John: His Grevillea globosa is grafted and quite old. Sadly the globular flowers go black with age so can’t be used inside. John is very keen on the Proteaceae genus Lambertia of which there are eleven species. His specimen at this meeting was of L. uniflora (right) which has single red flowers. Unlike Mandy’s, John’s Backhousia citriodora is in the ground, currently flowering. He expects it could grow to 8m in Melbourne. It attracts insects and responds well to hard pruning.

5. Olearia passerinoides, a mallee daisy bush, is rare in Victoria but otherwise widespread. White flowers are sparse. The bush is drought, lime and frost tolerant. Pam too showed Xerochrysum “Lemon Monarch” and appreciates its long flowering. Her Goodenia ovata grows well with her correas, She has three different correas, one sharp leaved, one fleshy and

big, another ‘starved’. Grevillea “Lady O” has been a disappointment as the flowers are always closed so that the birds ignore it. Ptilotus divaricatis, one of John’s, has globular flowers and scrambles naturally in the garden. It originates from Shark Bay.

Pick of the Bunch February 2020 Acacia sertiformis A. Cunn.

Specimen grown by Amanda Louden Acacia sertiformis is an open branched shrub to 2 metres tall with its branches arching gently downwards. The grey-green phyllodes have bases that are truncate to asymmetrically cordate (heart shaped). It is member of the Acacia uncinata group, a group which comprises of A. aureocrinita, A. clandullenensis, A. cremiflora, A. piligera, A. sertiformis, A. uncinata and A. undulifolia.

A. sertiformis is easily identified by its pendulous growth habit, the shape of its leaf bases and its deep yellow flowers. Flowering occurs throughout the year. It occurs in Eucalypt and Callitris woodland in stony, sandy loams from Putty in NSW to SE Queensland. In areas of the Hunter Valley it grows with A. piligera and it may be possible that the two species hybridise in places.

A. sertiformis will grow in most well drained soils in a sunny or partially sunny aspect. Propagation is from seed that requires pretreatment (scarification - damaging of the hard outer seed coat or pouring very hot, not boiling water, over the seeds and leaving to soak for 12 - 24 hours.) Acacia is a member of the Fabaceae family commonly known as the legume, pea, or bean family, a large and economically important family of flowering plants. The group is the third largest land plant family, behind only the Orchidaceae and Asteraceae, with 730 genera and over 19,400 species. The genus Acacia consists of about 1100 species mostly occurring in Australia. The name, Acacia, comes from ‘Akakia’ a name given to an Egyptian species (A. arabica). It is derived from the Greek, akis; a sharp point. The specific name, sertiformis, refers to the long curved and ‘wreath-like’ inflorescences formed by the arching branches. The common name of wattle is an old Anglo-saxon word for interwoven flexible rods. Early settlers used the branches of a local tree they called ‘black wattle’, to form the walls of their dwellings, which were then plastered over with mud in a technique known as ‘wattle and daub’. The tree they used was not a wattle but one with similar flowers, Callicoma serratifolia and from this association the name ‘wattle’ was adopted for all Australian acacias.

6. DIARY FOR 2020

March 3 Miriam Ford: FJC Seminar “Mint Bushes and Allied Genera” April 7 Trevor Blake: “Malvaceae” May 5 John Thompson: “Historical Collectors other than Banks and Solander” June 2 Chris Long: “Boronia Oil” July TBA August AGM and members’ slides September Dr Sandy Webb and Dr Marilyn Olliff: “The Jawbone Sanctuary” October Marg and Ivan: “South Western Australia” November TBA December Christmas wind-up, “Clear the Decks” plant sale and members’ slides. Plant Sales and Shows 2020 February 17 – April 17 “Australian Plants Revealed” Maroondah Federation Estate Gallery, 32 Greenwood Avenue, Ringwood (See below and Sept ‘Growing Australian’ pp 26, 27) March 14, 15 Cranbourne Gardens Friends Autumn Plant Sale, 10am – 4pm March 25 – 29 Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show, Carlton Gardens March 28 APS Vic COMM and quarterly, hosted by APS Maroondah March 28 Keynote address by Bruce Pascoe and Prof. Tim Entwistle as part of “Australian Plants Revealed” exhibition. April 4 APS Geelong native plant sale, “Wirrawilla”, 40 Lovely Banks Road, Lovely Banks. BBQ, refreshments, book sales, children’s activities, great native plants. April 18 APS Yarra Yarra Native Plants and Book Sale. Eltham Community and Reception Centre. 801 Main Road, Eltham. 10am – 4pm May 2 APS Mornington Plant Sale, Seawinds, Arthurs Seat State Park, Purves Road, Arthurs Seat. 10am – 3:30pm July 25, 26 Cranbourne Gardens Friends Winter Plant Sale, 10am – 4pm APS-Vic Exhibitions and Lectures 2020 Marking the Collection of Australian Plants by Banks and Solander April 2020 will mark the 250th Anniversary of Lieutenant James Cook and crew reaching the east coast of Australia in HMS Endeavour. During the voyage up the east coast, naturalist Joseph Banks and botanist Daniel Solander made collections of Australian plants which were taken to London for classification and scientific study. Accordingly, the Australian Plants Society-Vic has organised three significant events. events: Ringwood Exhibition 17th February to 17th April 2020 at the Maroondah Federation Estate Gallery, 32 Greenwood Avenue, Ringwood. Open 9 – 5 Mon – Fri, Sat 12 noon – 4pm Karwarra Exhibition 18th February to 18th April 2020 Free admission, Tues – Fri 10 – 4, Sat, Sun 1 – 4. Note the gardens are closed on days of Total Fire Ban and extreme weather. 1190 – 1192 Mount Dandenong Tourist Road, Kalorama. Ringwood Keynote Lectures Saturday 28th March 2020 2pm by Prof Tim Entwisle and Bruce Pascoe. The Ringwood exhibition will feature six of the actual plant specimens and 30 images of other plants collected by Sir Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander in 1770. The exhibition will also recognise the vast Indigenous uses of these plants and celebrate 65000 years of traditional plant use and 250 years of science. The display at Karwarra is being held in conjunction with the Ringwood exhibition, highlighting Banksias and our unique Australian flora. Karwarra is set on two hectares at picturesque Kalorama in the Dandenong Ranges and is devoted to displaying a diverse range of Australian plants in a landscaped setting. There is a well-stocked nursery and helpful staff to assist you in choosing plants suitable to your needs.

7.

MARCH MEETING Write-up: John Thompson

Supper: Marg Margitta

PROMOTIONS

PHOTO GALLERY

From Ray: love the markings.

8.

From Helen. Marj caught ‘at it’.