Some mysteries and a buncha beanz beginz

This post begins when I set off for a recent run.  Just beside Whiskers Creek Rd I spotted what looked somewhat like a Thelymitra pauciflora.  This more than somewhat surprised me as the weather hadn't been warm enough for them to emanate.  I returned with my camera to gather some evidence.

On looking more closely I found the least likely 'Thely' leaf ever.  That is a Glossodia leaf.

However the flower was tiny - about 1cm across.  Could it be G. minor?   On consulting polite experts the answer was that it was G. major and also- my words not the experts - an Orchid With a Disability and will fill out as it matures.  (Alas it didn't, unlike some other small ones I found later.)

Heading back towards home I noticed the first flowers on Daviesia mimosoides.

The next morning as we headed off on our dog walk we noticed a good lot of blossom on Pultenaea procumbens .

There was also a large clump of yellow flowers visible.

 On getting closer this turned out not to be flowers at all, but the sporangia of a clump of moss.

The main clump of Kunzea parvifolia is just beginning to flower.

A couple of days later we took ourselves off to Tallaganda State Forest to see what was happening there in the way of orchids.  The short answer was: zip: presumably the extra 400m elevation means that the season is not yet happening for that family.

Unfortunately the trail bike season is happening and quite a lot of them were about.  I'd have taken photographs of their number plates but unfortunately of the 10 bikes we saw not one had any evidence of registration.  It could be good if Mr Plod could cease worrying about motorists exceeding the speed limit by trivial amounts and go and nail a few of these hoods.

The first - and for a time it seemed only - flowers we found were Leucopogon lanceolata.

This was quite a sensory experience as the warm (~25C) day meant they were filling the air with beautiful scent.  In some areas the bush was covered with large bushes of this species.

The bean in flower up here was Daviesia ulicifolia.

A few Exocarpos strictus gave a shimmery appearance as they were covered with flowers.

To say the least these flowers are tiny: perhaps 2mm across!  But they are pretty when peered at closely.

In the upper parts of the area a few straggly Acacia dealbata were also around.

Somewhat lower down (in a swamp on Mulloon Creek) were some rather large (perhaps 10m high) Acacias.  I took a sample to identify

.. and it turned out to be Acacia melanoxylon (aka - in the furniture  trade - as Blackwood).  I didn't get a photo in the field as I was more concerned about watching where I was putting my feet.  High swamps full of grass and frogs are generally good habitat for slithering things and they are emerging from hibernation  at present.

On the roadside by the Creek were some more purple flowers.  Tetratheca sp 

 and Viola betonicifolia.

We headed home by a more scenic route down Bald Hill FT.  This was a Bad Idea as the track was very rough.  I'd guess it hasn't been graded for a couple of years but is suffering the attentions of the trail bikes.