Category Archives: Plants

Samphire

Plants, ,

Sarcocornia quinqueflora

“A small, erect, leafless herb with succulent stems” NPOS p. 396

I came across this field of samphire in the salt flats of Moores Creek. I was there looking for remains of a footbridge from an old photo that was supposedly built during WWI as part of a military training exercise. There was no evidence of a bridge, and the creek looked different enough from the photo that it made me doubt I was in the right place.

Samphire. A small succulent edible herb that grown in salt marshes

While poking about among the mangroves the Samphire stood out as another plant I was unfamiliar with. Samphire is a small, growing to 30cm, leafless succulent herb that grows in dense colonies on salt marshes. I can’t recall seeing it before, I’ll probably notice it everywhere now.

A field of samphire on the salt flats of Moores Creek in Garigal National Park

I’ve since learnt that it’s edible too, I must go back to try some!

Pale Sundew – Another Sundew

Plants, , , ,

Drosera peltata

“stalked semicircular leaves on a slim stem to about 20cm high”  NPOS p. 163

Funny how you can pass something a hundred times and never notice it. A few of these pale sundews were growing in exactly the same spot as a bunch of common sundews I’d known about and been passing for months.

Just like the common sundew the pale sundew grows on damp clay or sandy soil and makes up for poor nutrients by capturing small insects with sticky fluid excreted from it’s leaves.

You can see by the 10c coin that they are small, and there’s not much bulk to them so easy to miss I suppose.

Pale Sundew - Drosera peltata
Pale Sundew – Drosera peltata is a small carnivorous herb that grows on damp clay or sandy soil. You can see yesterdays dinner caught up in a leaf above and to the right of the coin.
pale sundew
Pale Sundew leaf detail. They may look delicate but those leaves are *LEAVES OF PAINFUL LINGERING DEATH!* if you’re a small insect

Resources and references

Common Sundew

Plants, , , ,

Drosera spatulata

“A small rosette herb, about 30mm wide.” NPOS p.164

The Common Sundew is a small ground herb, it has remarkable leaves that are covered in coarse red hairs and tipped with a clear sticky fluid. When small insects get stuck the leaves roll up and the insect in consumed. In this way the Sundew is able to supplement it’s diet by providing nitrogen that is lacking in sandy soils.

The Sundew is a small plant and easy to miss unless you are really looking. They are not rare but I’ve only found them growing in a few areas on sandy / clayey soil that is wet year round.

Common Sundew
Common Sundew – A small carnivorous plant that captures it’s insect prey with leaves covered in sticky fluid.
Common Sundew
Common Sundew – key for scale

Resources and references

Rock Orchid

Plants, , , ,

Dendrobium speciosum

“A spectacular epiphytic orchid with stout swollen pseudobulbs..” – NPOS p.262

While I’m on the topic of orchids these Rock Orchids grow on several rocks in the front yard. Like the Tongue Orchid they too are hardy plants ( you would have to be to survive in my garden ! ) and survive hot dry summers perched on the rocks with no watering. They are supposedly rare in the Sydney area so I wonder if they were planted by a previous owner.

Rock Orchid
Rock Orchid growing on a ( you guessed it ) rock

Resources and references