Crassula Gollum is a south African native that is popular nurserys. It is a small shrub growing to only 1m tall with thick spongy branches The leaves are tube shaped succulent terminating with a red tipped suction cup like structure at the tips.
The name “Gollum” is in reference to J.R.R Tolkein’s charcter from the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings. I’ve also seen them refered to as “Shrek’s ears”, it’s a pretty good description.
They must be pretty hardy, the one in our garden survives well with no watering in a shallow sandy soil bed on top of a sandstone slab. Will regularly gets in behind it and breaks of a branch or two as well.
Crassula Ovata "Gollum" - A hardy plant, it's still doing well after regular beatings from Will, and no watering or any other care.Crassula Ovata "Gollum" - Leaves are thick and tubular with suction cup shape at the ends.
“A tall shrub usually to 3m, with a stout trunk and papery flaky bark” – NPOS p.55
Jess and I took a trip down the back to inspect the sewer on the weekend, all looking good, there is no smell now. This Tea Tree was growing on the large flat sandstone outcrop near to the Broadleaf Grass tree. With it’s distinctive flowers and scented leaves I’m certain it’s a tea tree but I’m not so sure about the species. My guess is it’s a Paperbark Tea Tree, it’s flowers, leaves and habitat are consistent. The scientific name “trinervium” is in reference to the 3 prominent veins in each leaf, you can see them in the photo. At the time I took the picture I didn’t take note of it’s distinguishing feature though, it’s bark, I’ll have to go back to check it out.
Distinctive flowers of a tea tree.Paperbark tea treeClose up of the leaves of the Paperbark tea tree, the 3 veins in the leaves are visible
These ants have turned up at a few different places around the garden, the seem to occupy a nest for a few months and then move on. They are semi aggressive and will swarm on you if you stand on their nest or get in their path. They don’t seem to bite though.
The photos are from the 3rd location I’ve seen them, and the first time I’ve seen them swarm in such a dense cluster. There was a lot of movement going on but it seemed ordered, like they were going about a task, some of the ants were carying white sacks around. I dropped a matchstick next to them to give a bit of scale in the photos and all hell broke loose. The ants swarmed so agressively that it made a sound, like a soft crunching. The matchstick was swamped. With all the new movement I got a better look deeper into the mound and could see many more white sacks underneath.
Whatever they were doing they had finished by the next day. The nest is still there and there are still lots of ants around, but nothing like the dense arrangement in the pictures.
I’ve got no idea what was going on, or what type of ants they are. I’ve been browsing CSIRO’s Ants Down Under page to try to identify them but it’s not proving to be an easy task. I don’t know what I’m looking for and the site is so painfully slow it’s not suitable to explore or browse about.
Nothing else to do but keep looking and post an update when I find out what these are.
Ants swarm in the back yardA bit closer. You can see the white sacks they were carrying about.I dropped the matchstick in to provide some scale in the photo. The moment it hit the ground it was swamped by then ants, I didn't dare pick it up again, it was gone the next day.
“A grass tree to 4m tall, with an aerial trunk” – NPOS p.278
Another unique and distinctive plant of the Australian bush. Grass trees have a short stout trunk that is often burned black from previous bush fires terminating with a dense tuft of long grass like leaves radiating from the crown. They are very slow growing at a rate of only 1cm per year, that makes a little 30cm tall plant almost as old as me! They make up for it in life span living up to 600 years old. Every year grass trees sprout a large ( up to 2m ) woody spike from the center of their leafy crown. The top section of the spike is densely covered in small nectar rich flowers.
They were a very useful plant to Aboriginies, the nectar from the flowers can be licked off, or the entire flower head soaked in water to make a sweet drink, enjoyed fresh or slightly fermented. The flower spikes were uses as spear shafts and resin could be collected from the trunks and the leaf basses and processed to be used for tools and weapons.
I’ve always wanted a grass tree in the garden, I recently bought one from a local nursery. It’s a Xanthorrhoea johnsonii which I’ve now learned is more of a Northern NSW and Queensland species, I hope it does ok here. But not too well, don’t want it colonizing the bush and competing with the native ones!
Broadleaf Grass Tree growing in the bush behind the house. The trunk is hidden by the leaves but it's probably 60cm tall, making this plant about 60 years old.Close up of the leaves of the grass tree. The grey colouring on the underside is a powdery resiny coating that can be wiped off.The dense leafy crown of the grass tree
