Alpine Raspberry
Photos: Launceston Field Naturalists Club
| RUBUS GUNNIANUS
Rosaceae Alpine Raspberry
|
Photos: Launceston Field Naturalists Club |
| A small alpine perennial herb with rosettes
of stalked usually trifoliate leaves and white flowers, producing new plants
from underground runners. Leaves dark green, shining, leaflets lobed and
margins serrate; flowers shortly stalked with 5 sepals, 5 white narrow
tongue-shaped petals, stamens numerous. Edible fruits 1 cm diameter,
4-5 red juicy segments, clustered as in raspberry. Flowering November-December. Forms mats in open mountain areas 1000 - 1750 m. Cultivation - Would require ample moisture and some overhead shade in warmer areas and peaty soil. Tas endemic. |
| RUBUS PARVIFOLIUS
Rosaceae Native Raspberry 
|
Slender straggling plant with erect or spreading pubescent branches, armed with hooked prickles. Leaves compound, with 3-5 leaflets with lobed margins, upper surface green and wrinkled with impressed veins, lower surface white tomentose. Flowers in short panicles or solitary in axils of upper leaves, with 5 round reddish pink petals, shorter than the hairy lanceolate sepals. Fruit small clusters of 4-10 orange-red drupelets, edible. Flowering December-January. Widespread on rocky hillsides and near coasts. Tas, Vic, NSW, ACT Information courtesy of the Launceston Field Nauralists Club |
| PODOCARPUS LAWRENCEI Podocarpaceae (Plum Pine) 
|
Photo of fruits, and information courtesy of Launceston Field Naturalists Club Photo of new growth J & R Coghlan |
| A small tree at moderate altitudes and
in sheltered positions but reduced to a low ascending shrub between boulders
near the summit of mountains. The 'leaves' are flattened stalks,
6-12mm long, dark green, linear-oblong, flat, hard and leathery. Male cones
are small pinkish-red, rather long, one or two together on very short stalks
in terminal axils. Female cone of a single-stalked fleshy scale carrying
a blackish green seed. When mature the seed scale and its stalk become red
and succulent. Grows on stabilised talus at altitudes between 1000m and 1500m and at lower altitudes along the banks of some rivers such as the Mersey. Tas, Vic, NSW |
| OZOTHAMNUS HOOKERI
Asteraceae (syn. Helichrysum hookeri) One of several plants commonly called "Kerosene bush" as it produces a pleasantly sweet aroma if the leaves are rubbed. A compact, rounded shrub to about 60 cm with minute leaves to 3 mm long, resembling a conifer when not in flower. Clusters of insignificant white flowers appear en masse during summer. It grows in rocky terrain in temperate areas on composted soil in full sun. Occurs in alpine areas in Tas. NSW. ACT. Vic. |
|
| ASTELIA ALPINA var. ALPINA
Liliaceae (Pineapple Grass)
|
A densely tufted or mat-forming plant with coarse
erect leaves which have a silvery appearance. The leaves are covered
with long hairs, especially underneath. The flower spikes, which are either
male or female, are insignificant and largely hidden in the leaf tufts.
The red fruit is more easily seen. Flowering period is variable and it
is widespread and abundant in wet Photo: Christine Howells |
A small rhizomatous perennial blue-flowered lily
of alpine herbfields, creeping and forming grass-like mats in swampy
areas.Leaves linear, stiff, grey-green 3-4cm and 2-4mm wide. The shortly
stalked flowers, nestling among the leaves, are blue or bluish-white,
large, 2cm across with 6 stamens and 3-celled ovary. Capsule spherical with
few smooth black seeds. |
HERPOLIRION NOVAE-ZELANDIAE
Liliaceae (Sky Lily - growing among Pentachondra pumila)
|
| MICROCACHRYS TETRAGONA
Podocarpaceae (Strawberry Pine)
|
This prostrate creeping pine appears to have square
stems because the tiny, thick opposite leaves overlap closely, each pair
fitting into notches between the previous pair as if in a square plait.
Male and female cones are on different plants, the male very small at
the end of the branchlet, little wider than the foliage. The female cone
of about 24 scales is ovoid, a little less than 1cm long, red and fleshy
when ripe, the seeds buried beneath the red scales, one seed per scale.
Ripe cones are found in January-February. On central, western and south-western
mountains between 1350 m and 1500 m, on ridges and in high moorland.
Tas.endemic. |
Tufted plant with wide grass-like leaves 15-30cm
long, 2.5cm wide, clustered at the base of the flowering stalk.
Flower stalk covered with felted hairs; underside of leaf base,
floral bract and perianth densely hairy. Flower stalk 15-30cm high, bearing
one or two bracts, inflorescence branched. Flowers cream, numerous, tubular
with 6 blunt lobes about 1cm long, 6 stamens and 3 lobed ovary. Flowering
November-December. A plant of mountain hillsides and rocky banks. Tas
endemic. Photo: Christine Howells |
MILLIGANIA DENSIFLORA (Liliaceae)
|
| EUPHRASIA COLLINA ssp. DIEMENICA
Scrophulariaceae (Eyebright)
|
A herb with lilac flowers having faint striations on the lower three petals. The massed flowering stems are very showy, especially on a well-developed plant. Flower colour varies from white through to dark lilac; sometimes very attractive two-toned flowers are found. Plants are fairly inconspicuous when not in bloom. They are root parasites on surrounding plants. Flowering early summer, but a few will often be found later. They are locally abundant on a few mountains; many different forms occur in alpine areas. The seed is easily collected but difficult to propagate due to its parasitic nature. |
| BELLENDENA MONTANA
Proteaceae (Mountain Rocket)
|
(Mountain Rocket Fruits)
Photo: Launceston Field |
| Small sub-alpine shrub 10-60cm high with erect or low spreading branches. Leaves stalked, obovate or cuneate, 2.5cm long, entire or with 3 blunt lobes bright green or blue-green. Cream flowers in pyramid terminal racemes 4-6cm long on 4-6cm stalks. Individual flowers have 4 segments, 3-4mm long, at first spreading, then curling back. Fruit brilliant red or yellow, obovate, flattened and hanging, giving rise to the common name of Rocket. Flowering December-January. Widespread on montane grasslands and on mountains. Tas. endemic. |
