Springtime in Tasmania Pt. 2

SPRINGTIME IN TASMANIA - PART 2

DODONAEA FILIFORMIS Sapindaceae
Fine-leaved Hop Bush

Conspicuous when in fruit this small erect much-branched shrub, 1-2 metres high, has male and female flowers on separate plants. Leaves fine, narrow-linear, crowded, sticky, usually 1-2 cm long. Flowers in small terminal and axiliary groups. Male flowers with thick oblong stamens, female with 3-lobed ovary. Numerous small papery reddish-brown fruits, usually 3-winged, broader than long.
Flowering: December. (Mature fruit mostly in Spring).
Usually found on well-drained slopes and on river banks.
Tas endemic
Information courtesy of the Launceston Field Naturalists Club

DODONAEA VISCOSA Sapindaceae
Hop Bush

Erect bushy shrub 5 metres by 1.5 dia. or more. Leaves oblong or spathulate, shiny green or reddish and sticky. Insignificant flowers; fruit papery, reddish-brown and abundant.
Male and female flowers occur on separate bushes. May be propagated from seed or cuttings. Common in dry rocky situations especially near the coast in the east. Also grows in all mainland states and New Zealand.

PULTENAEA JUNIPERINA Prickly Beauty. (Fabaceae)

One of about 120 species ranging from prostrate to tall, woody shrubs. Their bright yellow and brownish/red blooms earned them the nickname of 'Bacon and Eggs'. Juniperina is a short, prickly shrub which sends up shoots from undergrouind stems and so forms dense thickets. Leaves are crowded, narrow, spreading from right angles to the stem, pointed, concave above and about 1 cm long. Flowers are large, almost 1 cm across, solitary or several together but often numerous and showy. Widespread from sea-level to mountain plateaux

EPACRIS IMPRESSA
Common Heath
(Epacridaceae)

A very variable shrub with few branches, usually under 1 m tall. It has showy red, pink or white tubular flowers and hard sharp leaves. It can flower all year but is at its best in spring. Common in many situations from sandy heathlands to moist but well-drained sites on quartzite mountains in the west of Tasmania. It is considered difficult to propagate from cuttings but seed is said to germinate better when fresh. The red flowering form is the floral emblem of the state of Victoria.

DAVIESIA LATIFOLIA

Native Hop, Bitter Leaf

(Fabaceae
-Faboideae)

A common pea flower with very numerous small brown and yellow flowers in axilliary racemes, and broad leathery leaves. A shrub 1-2 m high with angular and spreading branches . Leaves broadly elliptical or obovate, dark olive green, network of veins visible on both surfaces, margins crenate. Racemes of flowers 3-6 cm long, 2-3 cm across, each flower small, purplish-brown and yellow about 4 mm across, subtended by a small bract. Pod triangular and flat, up to 10 mm. The name Native Hop may have arisen from the papery appearance of masses of flat young developing pods and the bracts beneath them. Leaves and heads of flowers were used to make infusions in the early days of settlement, used as medicine, or a bitter tasting substitute for hops, reported to have a purgative effect. Flowering October-November. Widespread and common on roadside banks. (Tas, Vic, NSW, Qld) (Information courtesy Launceston Field Naturalist Club)

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