After the Cairns/Tablelands Conference concluded, the bus was going to do a plant-seeing excursion around the Irvinebank area, and I opted for the trip. We had Peter and Ann Radke and Gary and Nada Sankowsky to lead the way to the best plant sites, as well as Ann's booklet, "Flora of the Irvinebank Area", to assist with identification and to make it all the more interesting.
The Irvinebank area is well known for its plants, two endemic species in particular - Acacia purpureopetala, Grevillea glossadenia. While G. glossadenia is fairly well known and has been grown by some members, A. purpureopetala the only purple-flowered wattle, is not so often seen and, to date, has defied attempts to cultivate it with any great success. This acacia is a small plant with prostrate habit and grey phyllodes. It grows in disturbed areas, such as road side cuttings and mined areas. This was the second time that I had the good fortune to see real live flowering plants. My first introduction to it was by way of a photograph of a particularly floriferous specimen shown to me years ago. Although the plants seen on this latest excursion were not in quite the same league as the one in the photo, they were, nevertheless, well worth seeing.
At a stop near Jumna Creek we were able to see a variety of plants and also to collect some seed. These included the white flowered daisy, Helichrysum newcastleanum, Grevillea dryandri, G glauca, G. glossadenia, Acacia leptoloba, A. humifusa, Jacksonia thesioides and a particularly interesting eucalypt, E. pachycalyx, the Pumpkin Gum. This was a very attractive tree and young Andrew Radke obligingly cut a small blaze in the trunk to reveal the bright pumpkin coloured underlayer.
Being woodland vegetation, there was a variety of eucalypts to be seen, but two that impressed me most are old favourites - E. shirleyi, a silver-leafed Ironbark, and E. abergiana, a large-fruited Bloodwood.
Lunch was consumed beside the Walsh River and, being a very hot day, the sound of running water was music to the ears. On the walk down to the river Petalostigma banksii, a tree laden with bright orange fruit, was much admired and a curious Bossiaea armitii, with its flattened stems and yellow pea flowers, was also seen. Once at the Walsh, one could be pardoned for feeling 'at home' when confronted with plants such as Euroschinus falcata, Pouteria sericea, Planchonia careya and Exocarpos latifolia. The Queensland form of Leptospermum brachyandrum and L. flavescens were growing side by side.
Returning to the bus we were met with a flat tyre that the men laboured in the heat (with timely instructions from the opposite sex) to change before we journeyed on for a visit to Gary & Nada Sankowsky's garden.
Having visited the Sankowsky garden just three years earlier, it was amazing to look up at trees where there hadn't even been garden beds on the previous occasion. Gary has brought many 'new' plants into cultivation and the garden has species from far-away places, such as Mt. Lewis, Iron Range and Cape Flattery.
All too soon the hours had flown and it was time for camp duties back at the Mareeba Country Club Caravan Park.
Grevillea glauca and Eucalyptus shirleyi
Clothes-peg Grevillea and Shirley's Silver-leaf Ironbark
Top |Home | You & SGAP | Getting Involved with SGAP | SGAP Qld Region | SGAP Publications
Local Branches | Study Groups | Study Group List | Queensland Nurseries | Special Articles