Magnificent Mallee #2: some plants of the mallee

Last time, I offered something of a blogging ode to one of my favourite habitats, the wonderful mallee lands of inland semi-arid Australia. If you missed it you might want to look at it for some background before reading this addendum to it, but if you don't feel like doing that then this post can stand alone - it's really just a photo homage to a range of plants other than the mallee eucalypts themselves that I've encountered and enjoyed over the years across the country. I do notice now that plants from Western and South Australia dominate here, but those states do have a lot of the mallee too! To avoid appearing to be showing favouritism (or actually doing so!), I'm going to offer the poster plants below alphabetically in order of Family (though even that's not simple these days). 

The current trend among plant taxonomists is to lump previous Families into sometimes vast 'super-families'. It's not a matter of right of wrong - the actual relationships don't change - but the question of where to draw the lines between related Families is ultimately a human conceit. But enough of that, the important thing is the plant themselves. The plants I've selected were photographed in mallee habitat, and many of them are mallee specialists. In each family there are other - sometimes many other - mallee species I could have chosen.

It's really pretty much just a photo essay to celebrate some rather lovely plants that you may not be familiar with unless you're another mallee meanderer, in which case I hope it brings some good memories.

Mangles' Fringe Lily Thysanotus manglesianus, Kalbarri NP, near Geraldton, Western Australia. It grows widely in the south-west, but especially in the mallee.

ASTERACEAE

Invisible Plant (or Wiry Podolepis) Podolepis capillaris Pinkawillinie Conservation Park, Eyre Peninsula, South Australia. I love this name and, though it's not terribly invisible here, the threadlike stems and pale flowers can be hard to see in some lights. I do have another photo that illustrates this, but then you wouldn't be able to see much! It does have a wide distribution in sandy soils in southern and central Australia, but I've mostly seen it in mallee.

Poached Egg Daisy Polycalymma (fomerly Myriocephalus) stuartii, Hattah-Kulkyne NP, north-western Victoria. Another sand-lover, found widely in the mallee and beyond.

Cockies' Tongues Templetonia retusa, Dhilba Guuranda–Innes National Park, Yorke Peninsula, South Australia. This has always been a favourite of mine, partly because it really is a striking shrub, and partly because it was one of the first native plant names I learned. It grows in coastal limestone (and in the Flinders Ranges), much of which is among mallee.

Granny Bonnets Isotropis cuneifolia, Badgingarra National Park, south-western Australia. Again the species grows in a variety of sandy and gravelly habitats (especially soon after fires), but this one was in mallee.

Common Eutaxia or Mallee Bush-Pea Eutaxia microphylla, Wyperfeld NP, north-western Victoria. Mostly found in the mallee

Blue Lechenaultia L. biloba, Yandin Hill Lookout, north of Perth. Here it was growing near another WA special, the amazing Mottlecah mallee E. macrocarpa. See the previous posting for photos of it.

Red Lechenaultia L. formosa, Stirling Ranges NP, south-western WA.

Sandhill Goodenia G. Goodenia willisiana is a much more modest member of the family, found in mallee in north-western Victoria and adjacent South Australia and NSW. Here it is in Wyperfeld NP.

Velvet Dampiera V. marifolia, also in Wyperfeld NP. This striking plant, abundant on a recent spring trip to the area, has a similar mallee lands distribution to the previous species.

A relatively small family, mostly in Australia but also has species spread across much of the world, ranging from aquatic herbs to small trees. No species is likely to be familiar to non-specialists, and this lovely mallee herb is the only one I could readily name.

Golden Pennants Glischrocaryon behrii, Pinkawillinie NP, Eyre Peninsula, South Australia. It is found in mallee from here east to western Victoria and south-western NSW. It can grow in extensive golden colonies, and always brings a smile to my face.

West Coast Mintbush Prostanthera calycina, High Cliffs, at the southern tip of Eyre Peninsula. A true mallee specialist, it is endemic to Eyre Peninsula, growing on limestone outcrops.

Stiff Westringia W. rigida, Nullarbor cliffs, South Australia. Usually on limestone and in mallee, though it also extends to dry forests from Western Australia to NSW.