This post will cover a wide variety of topics, but all come under what used to be referred to as the Vegetable Kingdom. With one exception that may still be the case!
Lichen etc revisited
A few days ago I posted some images of the various
mosses around the place. They were variations on the theme of grey-green. In the last couple of days I have found some nice specimens of
lichen (if I can remember my A-level Botany correctly from 40+ years distance). As usual with my botanical posts if any one wishes to correct any of what follows please educate me!
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| A basic orange lump! |
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| Orange lump plus some other stuff |
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| I think this shows the fruiting bodies of the fungus |
A fungal interuption
In many cases it appears that the colour and shape of spores are a distinguishing feature for species of fungi, In an attempt to move in that direction I have tried taking a spore print of Laccaria sp. This was successful in showing that the spores are white:
To try to get a handle on the species within that genus I attempted to use Frances' digital microscope at peak power (200X magnification). This does not seem to be adequate for looking at spores that are 7 microns in diameter as I couldn't pick out anything other than 'round' about the shape of the spores.
Other native flowers The native flowers around the block are beginning to emerge. I will start with an image of a heath (family
Epacridaceae)
Lissanthe strigosa the Peach Heath. What a little ripper: I use the term little advisedly as the flowers are very small, but well worth taking a good hard look at!.
Next we have both forms (the species is sexually dimorphic) of
Wurmbea dioica or Early Nancy. These are beginning to form their usual carpet and are slated for a great year after all the rain. The first image is of a female (although the colour of the ring is more pronounced than usual if it is a male it has got mumps).
The next one is definitely a male. It only needs a can of VB in its androecium to put the matter beyond any doubt.
We noticed, on a walk with the ANPS yesterday, that there was an enormous growth of Sundews (
Drosera sp). Then this morning we found a good growth of them on our block: needless to say in a nice damp area where a dam is running over. This image clearly shows the "dew". I hope to capture the flowers later in the season.
Current exotic garden flowers
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| Prunus detail |
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This part of the post covers some of the cultivated flowers around the garden. It is (sort of) an update on a
previous post. I have put small images here as much of the detail is covered earlier.
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| Prunus comes good |
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| Camellia (pink) |
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| Camellia (white) |
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| Snowdrops | | |
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| Daffs | | | |
Future Exotics
Friends in Canberra with a large pond in their garden have found that their water lilies have got to needing extreme discipline. Thus they gave us a bagful.
The first image shows the tubers (? swollen roots) laid on our lawn, which in its current condition approaches good water lily habitat. The second shows them inserted in pots ready for lobbing into a dam. Future photos will show the growth. It seems they might flower before Christmas!
To try to get a handle on the species within that genus I attempted to use Frances' digital microscope at peak power (200X magnification). This does not seem to be adequate for looking at spores that are 7 microns in diameter as I couldn't pick out anything other than 'round' about the shape of the spores.
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