Tag Archives: garigal national park

Scaly phebalium

Plants, , ,

Phebalium squamulosum

“An open slender lightly foliaged shrub” – NPOS p. 120

This plant was hard to identify, as best as I can tell it’s a Scaly Phebalium.

Scaly Phebalium – flowing in winter, they’re meant to flower in spring.

The  Scaly Phebalium is a small woody shrub growing to about 1.5m. It’s leaves are narrow, less that 10mm wide, deep green with lighter coloured dots on the top side. The undersides are lighter in colour and covered in small scales, which is where the common name comes from. It’s found in standsone landscapes and is common in the Sydney area.

NPOS describes it as aromatic, it does have a smell but it’s not nearly as strong as a tea tree, it could be that I have a bit of a blocked nose at the moment and am trouble smelling too.

Leaf underside showing the small scales. The leaf is about 8mm wide

Sources and more info

 

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!