Chloanthes parviflora

Chloanthes parviflora at the Sandstone Caves

Family - Lamiaceae

Common name - Nil

Flowers and fruit - Tubular flowers are 15 to 30mm long, pale mauve - small purple spots and short hairs inside the tube. I have not observed the fruit. Flowering period is mainly September to November.

Leaves and stems - Leaves are linear with upper surface wrinkled and lower surface white and woolly often concealed due to revolute margins. Leaves are upright, sometimes pressed against the stem. Stems are concealed by leaves - woody at base of shrub.

Habit and habitat - A shrub less than a metre tall growing in poor sandy and gravelly soils in heath.

Distinctive leaves of Chloanthes parviflora

Chloanthes parviflora in The Pilliga

Hemigenia cuneifolia

Delicate mauve tubular flowers of Hemigenia cuneifolia

Family - Lamiaceae

Common name - nil

Flowers - Mauve tubular flowers (8mm long) with upper lip 2-lobed, lower lip longer and 3-lobed [differs from Prostanthera in having 5-toothed calyx, not 2-lipped]. Flowers occur in leaf axils. Can flower from Aug to Apr. I have seen them flowering in Oct.

Leaves - Flat, wedged-shaped leaves in whorls of 3, up to 3cm long and 4mm wide, with a pointed apex. The central vein on the upper surface of the leaf is depressed.

Habit and habitat - Hemigenia cuneifolia is recorded to grow up to 2mt tall, but at this time I have only seen it growing to about 70cm high, and very spindly growth habit. It grows in dry sclerophyll forests on sandstone derived soils

Positioning of flowers in leaf axils

Leaves of Hemigenia cuneifolia

Spindly, straggly habit of Hemigenia cuneifolia in The Pilliga

Prostanthera granitica

Prostanthera granitica

Family - Lamiaceae

Common name - Granite Mintbush

Flowers - Prostanthera flowers are tubular with an erect 2-lobed upper lip, and a spreading 3-lobed lower lip. The calyx is divided into 2 lips. Prostanthera granitica flowers are deep violet to purple, 8 to 10mm long, with dots in the throat extending onto the lower lobes. Flowering period is Aug to Dec.

Leaves and stems - Leaves are 6 to 15mm long and 2 to 5mm wide, with margins rolled strongly downward, moderately to densely hairy (especially on lower surface). Branches are densely covered in short curled hairs.

Habit and habitat - a spreading or spindly shrub to 1mt high, non-aromatic  or only faintly so. Prostanthera granitica grows in heath and dry sclerophyll forest on shallow rocky soils.

Notice the 2-lipped calyx, a characteristic of all Prostanthera species

The leaf margins roll downward, and stems and leaves are densely hairy

Typical habit and habitat of P. granitica in The Pilliga

Papaver somniferum subsp. setigerum

4 large pinkish mauve petals with purple-black spots at the base

Introduced plant - origin: native of Europe and the Mediterranean

Family - Papaveraceae

Common name - Opium Poppy, Wild Poppy

Flowers and fruit -  Cup-shaped flowers, 4 paper thin pink to pale violet with purple-black spots at the base. Two hairy green sepals shed as the flower opens. The fruit is a hairless globose capsule 1 to 1.5cm wide with 7 or 8 ray-like ridges at the top. On maturity, pores beneath the ridges open, releasing the seeds. Flowering period is spring.

Leaves and stems - Leaves are spear-shaped with toothed margins, a basal rosette and stem-hugging leaves higher on the plant. Leaves are light green to blue-green with scattered hairs. Stems have long stiff white hairs.

Habit and habitat - Papaver somniferum subsp. setigerum is a bluish-green fast growing erect annual herb up to about 1mt tall, but more often to 70cm. It is a widespread weed on roadsides and disturbed areas.

Stiff white hairs on stems

Growth habit of Papaver somniferum subsp. setigerum

Solanum cinereum

Spines and woolly purple hairs on inflorescences

Family - Solanaceae

Common name - Narrawa Burr

Flowers and fruit - Flowers are mauve to purple, in groups of 2 to 7, about 35mm across, with spines on stalks and calyx - can also have dense woolly purple hairs on inflorescences and upper stems. The dark brown globular fruit is usually between 15 and 20mm diameter. Main flowering time is January to April, but flowers can occur at any time.

Leaves and stems - Dark green shiny leaves are irregularly shaped and up to about 12cm long. The underside of leaves is white to pale yellow and densely hairy. There are spines on all parts of leaves and stems of Solanum cinereum.

Habit and  habitat - An erect or bushy, prickly undershrub to about 1mt tall, and can occur singly or in colonies. Grows in a variety of habitats, commonly in Eucalypt forest or disturbed areas.

 

Shiny, prickly leaves and stems of Solanum cinereum

Large, dark brown fruit of Solanum cinereum

Understory habitat of Solanum cinereum

Hardenbergia violacea

Attractive flowers of Hardenbergia violacea in The Pilliga

Family - Fabaceae (Faboideae)

Common name - Purple Twining Pea, False Sarsaparilla

Flowers and fruit - Flowers are violet with a yellow centre, and are borne in racemes which are often very numerous and conspicuous making it an attractive bush plant. Seed pod is up to 45mm long, and maturing to dark brown. Flowering mostly in spring.

Leaves - Leaves are alternate, simple (not divided into 3 leaflets like other twining pea-flowers), firm, broadly ovate, strongly veined and up to about 9cm long.

Habit and habitat - Hardenbergia violacea is a common and vigorous twiner found in a variety of habitats and soil types. It may be a wiry trailing plant with long stems which twist through the undergrowth, over rocks and roadside banks, or it may scramble over shrubs and ascend small trees.

Numerous flowers and vigorous climbing habit of Hardenbergia violacea

Prominent veins in leaves, and dark brown seed pods

Hardenbergia violacea scrambles over shrubs

Hybanthus monopetalus

Hybanthus monopetalus in The Pilliga

Family - Violaceae

Common name - Slender Violet

Flowers - Flowers are borne on racemes on long stalks at the end of stems or in axils. The conspicuous lower petal is blue-mauve 7 to 20mm long, and the upper petals are minute (2 to 3mm). Flowering period is summer. The round seed capsule is 3 to 6mm wide.

Leaves and stems - This slender plant has weak stems up to 60cm tall. Narrow leaves are widely spaced along the stems, slightly recurved, opposite on the upper plant.

Habit and habitat - Hybanthus monopetalus is a spindly perennial herb that is rarely noticed when not in flower. It grows mostly on sandy soils or rocky outcrops in dry sclerophyll forest. It also occurs in Qld, Vic and SA.

Long, narrow, slightly recurved leaves of Hybanthus monopetalus

Fruit of Hybanthus monopetalus

Murdannia graminea

Delicate, pretty mauve flower of Murdannia graminea

Family: Commelinaceae

Common name: Blue Murdannia

Flower: 3 rounded mauve to mauve/blue petals each about 10mm, on a branched terminal inflorescence.

Leaves: Leaves are grass-like forming a sheath around the erect but weak stem.

Habit and habitat: An erect, slender perennial herb to about 60cm tall, growing in sclerophyll forest and grassy areas after rain. Flowering Dec to Apr.

Notice the leaf enclosing the stem, and notice the sheath beneath the flower

Growth habit of Murdannia graminea

Linaria arvensis

Linaria arvensis

Introduced plant (origin: garden escapee)

Family: Scrophulariaceae

Common name: Linaria

Flower: many tubular flowers of mauve, blue, purple or white - upper lip pointed up, larger lower lip recurved, curved spike from back of tube. Sepals hairy. Spring is the main flowering period.

Leaves and stem: 10 to 40cm tall plant, simple or multi-branched. Lower leaves are whorled, upper leaves alternate, linear up to 3.5cm long and 4mm wide.

Habit: Erect annual herb, usually massed.

Habitat: In the Pilliga, the introduced plant Linaria arvensis grows chiefly in disturbed areas along roadsides and abandoned railway tracks, and pastures. It also occurs in Vic, but not in coastal areas.

Whorled lower leaves of Linaria arvensis

A multi-branched example of Linaria arvensis in sandy soil on roadside

Single-stemmed Linaria arvensis

Common habitat of Linaria arvensis in the Pilliga is in pastures

Thelymitra pauciflora

Thelymitra pauciflora - Slender Sun Orchid in the Pilliga Forests

Family: Orchidaceae

Common name: Slender Sun Orchid

Flower and stem: Thelymitra pauciflora varies from a slender plant with 2 or 3 small flowers to a larger plant about 50cm high with numerous flowers. The flower is bluish, with white to bluish column, topped with yellow. Column arms are tipped with tufts of dense white hairs. They have a single fleshy grass-like basal leaf about 20mm wide by 20cm long. It flowers from late winter to mid summer.

Habit: Thelymitra are perennial ground orchids that die back to underground tubers during the hot dry months. Flowers only open on sunny warm days, staying closed on cloudy days.

Habitat: Thelymitra pauciflora will grow in a variety of conditions, usually as individuals or loose groups. In the Pilliga it can be found in rock crevices and ridge gravel where water seeps in the growing season. It could also grow in open woodland. The Slender Sun Orchid is also found in coastal heaths of NSW, and in Qld, Vic, Tas, WA, and SA.

Bud of Slender Sun Orchid

Top side of leaf of Thelymitra pauciflora

Underside of leaf of Thelymitra pauciflora

More information:
Taxonomy of Thelymitra 

 

Glossodia major

Glossodia major - Waxlip Orchid

Family: Orchidaceae

Common name: Large Waxlip Orchid

Flower: Flowers are 3 to 4cm in diameter but may reach 6cm. Flower segments are mauve to purple becoming white near their bases. The short ovate labellum is white and pubescent in the basal half, purple to mauve in the upper half, it's base crossed by a 2-lobed yellow projection formed by the fused heads of 2 purple calli. There is generally one flower per stem. Flowering period Sept to Nov.

Leaf and stem: Glossodia major grows to 20cm or more in height, with a single basal leaf reaching 10cm in length and 1.5cm in width, all being covered in short hairs.

Habit: Single plants to scattered plants, occasionally massed after good rain.

Habitat: Glossodia major is a terrestrial orchid endemic to eastern Australia, found in open forest and woodland in the Pilliga Forests district. (Also in heath on coast. West and east of the Great Dividing range in NSW, Qld, Victoria, also found in Tas and SA.)

Glossodia major - Waxlip Orchid

notice dense hairs on the underside and stem

The single basal leaf is also covered in fine hairs