Botany Nerds Ahoy

Yes. AW I have read about pituri and others,
but yes there are thousands of them,
Then you’ve got Chinese,Indian, African, North and South American, European etc. which often overlap.
And the good thing is most psychoactive herbs have some medicinal properties, and medicinal herbs and spices have psychoactive
properties
too many herbs not enough time.

Yes just tried the
Round leaf mint. ( Prostanthera Rotundifolia)
With some Oolong tea , a bit strong tasting ,
but they seemed to have a boost.
I might try the oolong. , Round leaf mint ,
and the Cinnamon Myrtle mix , to see if there’s an elemicin effect .

Pop Down wrote:

Hey Jules

As you and Alfred would know , there are six varieties of Pittosporum Phylliraeoid native to Australia .

All produce lovely orange fruit that if eaten , sends people Ga Ga , apparently .

The First Nation used one variety for medicine , the Gambi Gambi variety they called it .

If you use the Gambi Gambi in moderation , you will be fine imho !

PopDown. Hi fella.

About time I said hello, well hello.

How’s life at Windsor Castle, keeping the plebiscites at bay from high up on the wall.

I recall you stating you’ve got little room or light for a garden. Is that correct or have I got my facts wrong?

I’d like to chat about making a beautiful and interesting succulent garden, near on zilch effort or water required .

No matter what plants are used you can end up with a little ecological microcosm. AW

geez seeds and AW, that's quite harsh on Pomona, very off the mark I reckon. I'd say your describing that bigger town further up the highway

anyway, back to botany matters - just read that a Phytopthera outbreak has led to closure of at least one of the Glasshouse Mt. trails, probably more to follow. The Bunyas are at risk, some losses in Maleny already. Probably just a sign of the future as more biosecurity threats emerge and impact our lifestyles

GreenJam wrote:

geez seeds and AW, that's quite harsh on Pomona, very off the mark I reckon. I'd say your describing that bigger town further up the highway

anyway, back to botany matters - just read that a Phytopthera outbreak has led to closure of at least one of the Glasshouse Mt. trails, probably more to follow. The Bunyas are at risk, some losses in Maleny already. Probably just a sign of the future as more biosecurity threats emerge and impact our lifestyles

Greenjam. Hi mate. Gympie ?

Tongue firmly planted in cheek re: Pomona.

I’d suggest the future woes for our relictual flora especially in your hilly areas to the west and along those ancient ridges that remain from collapsed calderas is people.
We encourage others to go out and enjoy our biological history, but it can be a double edged sword situation, education is key and having an awareness of how valuable natural treasures are is paramount, but it must come with local and state government communication.

Prominent signage about soil borne and shoe transmitted diseases like you mentioned are key.
Here in Victoria, Cinnamon fungus is a huge problem especially in areas containing heath and grass tree type systems.
A recent observation a few weeks ago on a great walk, I noticed all the old style shoe scrub and wash stations had all been updated and people were actively cleaning their shoes and monitoring any other equipment they carried.

Communication is the key. AW

Hello Alfred

U will be my Knight in Shinning armour if you can turn my balcony into a beautiful and interesting AW art piece .

Gosh , Howard Taylor meets AW :) .

Windsor is great as this end of Chapel St has everything I need .

Op Shops , Tattoo Parlours , bars and Restaurants .

I took a big box of old suits etc to an Oppy up the road and got a haircut with Laura , who is just out from Italy with her boyfriend ( Chippy ) .

She is applying 4 residency so I may have found a LT option .

Met a young NZ Florist on the train today coming back from the city , who is here with her boyfriend .

She bought a 20 year Florist in Brighton that was loosing money .

In her first year she broke even .

She had been in the city to close a new Major Hotel client , as she designs Bug Pieces only and will make a profit in year 2 .

Some wonderful people still want to move here which is great .

My balcony is tiny , 1 by 5 meters and gets 2 hours of afternoon direct sunlight .

I have a charcoal Weber that's rarely used , a Bay leaf bush in a old pot ( making a pasta sauce as I type ) and two Greek Romany pots with a hotpotch of sucky types and pricky cacti cutey stuff .

Some are growing like maniacs and need pruning to stop them taking over the neighbour hood .

I planted some bulbs from my old home that Popped Up in early Spring .

Feeling much more grounded since moving down from the Penthouse .

I like being closer to The People .

Go and help The Bunya's first perhaps .

They sound cute critters and we might need to raise awareness of their plight .

Cheers Powerful Owl .

G'day AW - yes, that's the one, a hell of a town

and yes, the old cinnamom fungus, I'd thought it was generally common in soils, just seems to emerge now and then as a problem, killing susceptible species/individual plants that are perhaps a little stressed already? I lost a heap of avacados in that last wet season, thriving right up to that point of a sudden decline. Some say it is in the soil and a big wet can mobilise it - maybe that happened here.

interestingly, the article also included a commercial finger lime grower near the Glasshouse Mts who was expressing concern over the vulnerability of her crop to the fungus. I lost some large otherwise healthy finger limes right near the avos too, hadnt thought of cinnamom fungus as the possible culprit
for them

GreenJam wrote:

G'day AW - yes, that's the one, a hell of a town

and yes, the old cinnamom fungus, I'd thought it was generally common in soils, just seems to emerge now and then as a problem, killing susceptible species/individual plants that are perhaps a little stressed already? I lost a heap of avacados in that last wet season, thriving right up to that point of a sudden decline. Some say it is in the soil and a big wet can mobilise it - maybe that happened here.

interestingly, the article also included a commercial finger lime grower near the Glasshouse Mts who was expressing concern over the vulnerability of her crop to the fungus. I lost some large otherwise healthy finger limes right near the avos too, hadnt thought of cinnamom fungus as the possible culprit
for them

Greenjam, Hi mate, As you know, it is a fungus, but, according to a biological virologist in our Field Naturalist club, it’s a type of slime mould first discovered in the tropics and sub-tropics.
I’ve read it was first discovered in Sumatra in 1922, believed to have its origins in Papua New Guinea.
As you suggested, the wetter the environment the more likely the spread.
In dry areas, spores lay dormant for long periods and manifest into the real deal after prolonged rainfall sparks them into life.

There’s no cure known and at this point in time prevention is the closest thing we have to limit spread.
The amount of Austral Grass Trees around here that die from it is very sad indeed. AW

just to get the seeds/Aw thread back up on top.. feels like there might be some seasonally related things on people minds, I came across this last night on 9gem, @AW, Wacky 1971 film, starring John Hurt, a cast of thousands of penguins, and a little bit of hayley mills.. it was originaly released as 'Mr. Forbush and the Penguins', but here is the only non-wobbly facebook version I could find, under its alternate name 'cry of the penguins':

Somehow i never knew Hayley Mills was British. Huh.

Earth

Surfies vege out on Mushies

Oh! Waves of starlight freeing trees please set us free from our toxic sea canopy

A relatively uninteresting import in our garden, except for the fact it hasn't flowered for 18 or so years. Didn't like being moved and held the grudge. Got to pay due respect. Apart from the bloom, in terms of foliage it is looking the worst it ever has in that time. Must have picked up the vibe it was going to get pulled.

blackers wrote:

A relatively uninteresting import in our garden, except for the fact it hasn't flowered for 18 or so years. Didn't like being moved and held the grudge. Got to pay due respect. Apart from the bloom, in terms of foliage it is looking the worst it ever has in that time. Must have picked up the vibe it was going to get pulled.

Blackers. Hi , hope ya well.

Ooh, you’re a harsh gardener. They are bulletproof, sounds like the soil it was growing in and maybe the pH was all over the place.
I’ve grown them ( Strelitzia reginae) from seedlings into enormous clumps 2x2m, ripped them out, divided, repotted some , never have I seen or heard of plants struggling to regrow after removal.

They are a sub tropical African plant with some quality relatives which I’ve also grown and used in gardens for clients, Strelitzia nicolai the enormously tall variety with the very large dark navy blue and white flowers and Strelitzia spathulata with long spoon like leaves.
Their flowers have evolved to attract birds to land or sit on the floral arrangement, you can often see the pollen present.
In very dry times , if you’ve seen those near translucent roots as thick as a cricket stump, you’ll see when you pull them out the ground, there’s like an internal rope in the roots core, these are contractile roots.
Being a monocotyledonous plant, as you know, growing from a basal zone of regeneration, that base must protected or death ensues.
In extremely hot or dry weather those roots pull the basal zone down into the ground further for ultimate protection.
Many other plants like Agave sp. for example have contractile roots also. AW

Hah, not harsh, more low input AW. We had to move it to put a driveway in, lots of hydrophobic grey sand in the place it was put. Clearly it didn't kill it, looked healthy enough just no blooms. The natives we planted out have thrived. Glad it has finally flushed, I can leave it for another 10 years
Did not know about the contractile roots, interesting. Have some other examples floating about, remnants of the previous owners.

blackers wrote:

Hah, not harsh, more low input AW. We had to move it to put a driveway in, lots of hydrophobic grey sand in the place it was put. Clearly it didn't kill it, looked healthy enough just no blooms. The natives we planted out have thrived. Glad it has finally flushed, I can leave it for another 10 years
Did not know about the contractile roots, interesting. Have some other examples floating about, remnants of the previous owners.

Blackers. Hi Good stuff. Just got off a Zoom meeting. Yes, hydrophobic sands would do that for sure, scant nutrient holding and scant nutrient from the sands themselves.
Proteaceous plants with Proteoid roots would love and thrive in it with the ability to breakdown invisible organic matter coating on every grain of sand.

Did you see Simon Jones had another kind of custom board thing the other day that will have ya board done by end of January 2025 ? . AW

Saw native raspberries at the gardening centre...

This is animal rather than plant, but check this out!!

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/oct/17/how-a-putrid-find-in-a-m...

Here’s a monotypic native plant from the Pittosporum family.

Beautiful fragrance this time of year , a tree with a very straight trunk .
Found down here in Victoria (planted) not local, whose range is NSW, QLD and up into PNG. AW

Good morning AW, apologies it’s OT but where did you post the link to donate to the indo kid? Gunna chip in but can’t find it this morning

GuySmiley wrote:

Good morning AW, apologies it’s OT but where did you post the link to donate to the indo kid? Gunna chip in but can’t find it this morning

GuySmiley. Hi mate. Hope all is good with you and your family.

No problem at all, it’s all good, the fact you want to donate is honourable.

Thankyou kindly . It all adds up.
I’m crap on computers, wouldnt know how to transfer the link to here.

It’s on WOTD, mate, thanks again. AW

Juliang. Hi. How’s things ?

I thought of you yesterday.

Here’s the first one for the season, just for you.

You can put all those different teas back in your cupboard.

This one will definitely help you sleep, the only problem is, you may not wake up. Zzzzzzz. A bit of fun.AW

Hello Alfred

I hope U haven't drawn a Wallace Line and I can have a guess at the Flowers name .

A baby Mountain Pink Triffidy Thistle !

edit

I like English Breakfast .

Can you smoke the T ?

haha,PD,, in this case, yes you can.

Pop Down wrote:

Hello Alfred

I hope U haven't drawn a Wallace Line and I can have a guess at the Flowers name .

A baby Mountain Pink Triffidy Thistle !

edit

I like English Breakfast .

Can you smoke the T ?

PopDown. Hi fella. Thanks for donating to the young fella.

Pops, yeah you can smoke it, poke it , stroke and stoke it, but ultimately it will put you to sleep, again you may not wake up.

The medical industry uses it with caution.

When you said Wallace Line, my mind quickly thought you were referring to me using my licence to cut up and make a long little Himalayas.

Erythroxylum coca Now there’s a great discussion to be had amongst us.

Edit. I did promise a few months back to do an article on Drug Plants/Plant Drugs.

Might start that next week, it’s fascinating, we underestimate how much plants influence our lives, medicinally, culturally, culinary , industry, construction, the lot. AW

Hello Alfred

Thank U , for Leading the way in helping Boy Franklin !

As U know , showing some Love , can B a boomerang :) .

I was talking about the real Wallace Line , which IS another amazing phenomena , which are Everywhere , if we look hard enough .

I don't look into , or remember , what other " Boy's Light Up " .

I did play footy with Brad Robinson , Australian Crawls Lead guitarist .

A lovely tall chap , good ruck man .

His older brother was FF .

The Good Old Days :)

Pop Down wrote:

Hello Alfred

Thank U , for Leading the way in helping Boy Franklin !

As U know , showing some Love , can B a boomerang :) .

I was talking about the real Wallace Line , which IS another amazing phenomena , which are Everywhere , if we look hard enough .

I don't look into , or remember , what other " Boy's Light Up " .

I did play footy with Brad Robinson , Australian Crawls Lead guitarist .

A lovely tall chap , good ruck man .

His older brother was FF .

The Good Old Days :)

PopDown. Hi.

You know me, interested in everything.

The plant is Opium Poppy. Papaver somniferum.

Beautiful flowers and a plant with silver/green ( argent/verde) foliage like no other.

An extremely important plant for the global medical fraternity.

I saw Australian Crawl at the Collendina Pub way back in the day.

Didn’t Brad Robinson die in a car crash ? AW

An Opium plant ?

Gosh , I was a bit out , it's a bloody Tripid then .

Those guys have caused a few problems .

My doctor was banned for 18 months 4 over subscribing Opioids .

Brad did pass away very young .

Tragically another C got him , but his spirit sure lived on at the Bloods FC .

Our B&F was called the BradLow .

Pop Down wrote:

An Opium plant ?

Gosh , I was a bit out , it's a bloody Tripid then .

Those guys have caused a few problems .

My doctor was banned for 18 months 4 over subscribing Opioids .

Brad did pass away very young .

Tragically another C got him , but his spirit sure lived on at the Bloods FC .

Our B&F was called the BradLow .

PopDown. Thanks for that info nice. AW

For Seeds.

Daisies. Family Asteraceae ( old name Compositae, referencing composite flowers)

Non native varieties, pests basically.

Here’s a local widespread native daisy that’s had more name changes than Marvel Stadium, VIC.

Another three common plants of the eastern and southern parts of Oz.

not botany, but everyone likes a frog, don't they?
https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2024-10-31/tadpole-giant-fossil-arge...
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08055-y
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/oct/30/oldest-ever-giant-tadpol...

basesix wrote:

not botany, but everyone likes a frog, don't they?
https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2024-10-31/tadpole-giant-fossil-arge...
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08055-y
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/oct/30/oldest-ever-giant-tadpol...

Basesix. Hi mate, hope you’re doing well.

Biological world never ceases to impress us. Good stuff. AW

Spent the day in the Northern end of Brisbane Ranges National Park, VIC. yesterday. A few gems to share.

ooh, love me a finch, diamond firetails are cool.. I enjoy my red brows on the lawn near the bushes here, more than the superb fairy wrens.. I know (or have heard) that grey shrike-thrushes are bastards, and with front-facing eyes, I assume they peg lesser birds, and are bullies, but geez I love their calls and that they respond when I whistle ("mid.. mid.. mid.. low-high" type whistles).. three chicks in a nest by my back door took flight yesterday.. the parents shared the care, the male much more spooked by me than the mum, she'd sit in their nest on the bench, while I did the washing a meter away (my machine is outside) as long as I kept a mellow whistled tune going.. watching them shove giant moths in their chick's gobs was cool, too.

Some plants from the aforementioned NP.

All the plants in this set, share a similarity.

A few more from Brisbane Ranges National Park

basesix wrote:

ooh, love me a finch, diamond firetails are cool.. I enjoy my red brows on the lawn near the bushes here, more than the superb fairy wrens.. I know (or have heard) that grey shrike-thrushes are bastards, and with front-facing eyes, I assume they peg lesser birds, and are bullies, but geez I love their calls and that they respond when I whistle ("mid.. mid.. mid.. low-high" type whistles).. three chicks in a nest by my back door took flight yesterday.. the parents shared the care, the male much more spooked by me than the mum, she'd sit in their nest on the bench, while I did the washing a meter away (my machine is outside) as long as I kept a mellow whistled tune going.. watching them shove giant moths in their chick's gobs was cool, too.

Basesix. Hi mate, quite an ecology at yours. We had 5 Diamond Firetail Finches, big finch compared to most others. Red Browed Finches are also a favourite.
Hmm, interesting comment about Grey-Shrike Thrush, I’ve never heard that claim before, as you know they are major invertebrate killers, gleaning from branches, under bark, sallying to the ground with that ‘pounce prey’ action.
They consume a lot in a day, the call is a typical Australian bush hallmark thats for sure. AW

Pardalotes above AW?

Hi @Alfred, I am well, thank you. Hope you are too.

An old bloke (not long graduated from octogenarian to what ever the next decade is called) in Nelson I try to pop in on every week or so, gets the UK mag County Life (it's a beautifully published, glossy WEEKLY thing!! must be a rarity these days), and I borrow them so we can talk about stuff in them on subsequent visits, gives us stuff to talk about, other than weather.. he's a great feller, and will then launch into pretty cool stories.

The bird 'in the spotlight' in the Nov 1st 2023 edition, was the waxwing -(Bombycilla garralus).. the 'chubby finch' description was So good, made me laugh:

"As the first frosts arrive, so do the waxwings, blown in from the coniferous Taiga forests of north-eastern Europe.... [they hang in Scotland down to Kent mainly]... several factors influence how many come to our shores. Rowan berries are their favourite late-season fare, but crop failure at home may sens them south-westwards to us [the UK]. However, so can a really bountiful year for the berries, as it can result in a population explosion with the ensuing need to find pastures new. Berries of guelder rose (Viburnum opulus), cotoneaster, pyracantha, hawthorn, apple and crab apple are all grist to the bill."

"How to recognise Bombycilla garralus? It looks like a large, chubby finch. The small stubby tail is dipped in black, but dabbed yellow at the tip; the body and wing area are shades of beige, but highlighted with flashes of black, white, yellow and tiny dabs of red on the wing feathers; and all topped off by a gorgeous, rufous quiff, brushed back above the black eye mask."

https://photos.gudmann.is/image/I0000jW9fDckeRTo

hope you enjoyed that as much as I did!! I've been to Applecross, Scotland twice, (possibly the only place on the UK mainland coast that is as mellow as where I live), several days each time, once to watch their highland games, once to chill and explore, each time bohemian waxwings (and irrelevantly here, herring ; ) featured highly in my experience.

"and all topped off by a gorgeous, rufous quiff, brushed back above the black eye mask."
Describing yourself on a Saturday night there Base6? Awesome.

blackers wrote:

"and all topped off by a gorgeous, rufous quiff, brushed back above the black eye mask."
Describing yourself on a Saturday night there Base6? Awesome.

haha! (pesestrian ramones is affecting me well, gonna be a music evening, can feel it ; )

{saw some deer when I went for a drive last night with my son (he drove, on his Ls, he was stoked we saw them),
used to be some deer farms here, now they just roam the plantation pine forest, snacking round the edges,
rare to see them though, they spook super easily}

freeride76 wrote:

Pardalotes above AW?

Freeride76. Hi mate you are well.

Correct, there’s a Spotted Pardalote, male and female Scarlet Robins, bathing in a fire fighting water point, a Diamond Firetail Finch ( notably big birds comparative to other species ) , the five observed were such a treat, males performed their atypical choreographed up and down and side to side swinging, at the same time holding a long narrow piece of dry grass horizontally in their bills, all the time trying to impress the lady.

Important observation of the value of leaving large dead woody trees, especially Eucalyptus sp. All this action is performed in a 8 m high dead tree with no impediments to the line of sight to the female and vice versa. Such a stage, we watched it for an hour.
It’s analagous to birds doing the same thing on a forest floor, where the floor is a stage and the verdant green surrounds are the performance amphitheatre.

The other bird is a Banded Lapwing, they linger on the edge of paddocks, particularly after the canola has ceased flowering and usually in and on a little bit of slightly rocky volcanic ground, alas, they are found near the coast and other locales. AW

basesix wrote:

Hi @Alfred, I am well, thank you. Hope you are too.

An old bloke (not long graduated from octogenarian to what ever the next decade is called) in Nelson I try to pop in on every week or so, gets the UK mag County Life (it's a beautifully published, glossy WEEKLY thing!! must be a rarity these days), and I borrow them so we can talk about stuff in them on subsequent visits, gives us stuff to talk about, other than weather.. he's a great feller, and will then launch into pretty cool stories.

The bird 'in the spotlight' in the Nov 1st 2023 edition, was the waxwing -(Bombycilla garralus).. the 'chubby finch' description was So good, made me laugh:

"As the first frosts arrive, so do the waxwings, blown in from the coniferous Taiga forests of north-eastern Europe.... [they hang in Scotland down to Kent mainly]... several factors influence how many come to our shores. Rowan berries are their favourite late-season fare, but crop failure at home may sens them south-westwards to us [the UK]. However, so can a really bountiful year for the berries, as it can result in a population explosion with the ensuing need to find pastures new. Berries of guelder rose (Viburnum opulus), cotoneaster, pyracantha, hawthorn, apple and crab apple are all grist to the bill."

"How to recognise Bombycilla garralus? It looks like a large, chubby finch. The small stubby tail is dipped in black, but dabbed yellow at the tip; the body and wing area are shades of beige, but highlighted with flashes of black, white, yellow and tiny dabs of red on the wing feathers; and all topped off by a gorgeous, rufous quiff, brushed back above the black eye mask."

https://photos.gudmann.is/image/I0000jW9fDckeRTo

hope you enjoyed that as much as I did!! I've been to Applecross, Scotland twice, (possibly the only place on the UK mainland coast that is as mellow as where I live), several days each time, once to watch their highland games, once to chill and explore, each time bohemian waxwings (and irrelevantly here, herring ; ) featured highly in my experience.

Basesix. Hi, thanks, beautiful photo of the waxwing, taken by an Icelander. I love thinking about the sexual selection process over millions of years to produce those colours.

Here’s one that takes sexual selection genetics to extremes, Wilson’s Bird of Paradise ( Diphyllodes respublica). Hopefully I’ll be staring at some on my bird trip to Halmahera and areas close by next June.

hooley dooley..!
primary colours on your back much??

There is a great section in Davey Attenborough's "The Life of Birds" on the birds of paradise. A great read for plain language explanations of bird species characteristics and evolutionary selection of such like.

blackers wrote:

There is a great section in Davey Attenborough's "The Life of Birds" on the birds of paradise. A great read for plain language explanations of bird species characteristics and evolutionary selection of such like.

Blackers. Hi mate. How’s things ?

So true mate, David explained it very well. One of my colleagues was on Waigeo island a few years ago and got the full works performance on the lekking stage, he explained he was mesmerised, especially when the bird turns face on and upright, puffs out its black chest feathers to then see them all turn green.
I so hope I get to see one or more.
I don’t have any favourite birds, I love them all, intrinsic evolutionary design intrigues me.
But I’d love to see a Wallace’s Standard Wing ( Semioptera wallacii). AW

I lekk it! I lekk it a lot. Hope you see some fun things AW. Still on my bucket list

letter-winged kite for me.
I'd love to see a flock of them on a dead tree.
somewhere round cameron corner.
dreamt it once.