Wildflowers of WA (part 6)

This is the last installment of Wildflowers of WA. The southern ½ of WA especially, has literally many thousands of wildflowers. The Stirling Ranges had   > a thousand in its 65km length. Many were endemic to certain areas & not found any where else in Oz. Many were found across the whole region.

I have been absolutely amazed by the beauty of these flowers. Some of the different frond formations have been simply gorgeous.

 Once again I apologize for not knowing the names to many of the flowers.

A cone flower that didn’t have old cones on the bush this time. Previous cone flower in part 5.

 ??

We visited Cheynes Beach, south east of Albany. Close to the coast line the plants are quite low heath due to the constant buffeting of the Southern Ocean winds. Bushes are in dwarf form here, many looking like bonsai plants.

I found this pretty flower in the Waychinicup Nat Pk next to Cheynes Beach.

I also mentioned in the previous blog that honeyeater birds feed on the nectar of flowers in seconds of landing on the flower. This is a New Holland honeyeater on a banksia flower.

A sun orchid – seen many times during the trip through the southern ½ of WA.

This flower looks like an orchid, but doesn’t have the centre stamen like other orchids. 

These 2 flowers look like an orchid, but I’m not sure. They do have a centre stamen like other orchids. I of the flowers along the stem looks like it has ‘triggered’.

Don’t know

I mentioned in the last blog that I love Banksia flowers. Here’s another growing from the ground level. There are bushy parts to the plant, but the flowers spurt up from ground level foliage.

I  think they all look majestic. 

 These grass trees in the Waychinicup Nat Park have a different flower stalk /s compared to the usual grass tree we saw.  There had been a burn in this part of the Nat Pk, so much of the new foliage in the area were flowering prolifically, including the grass trees. These few here are 1.5 to  2mtrs high.

 Each frond on this flower has another flower on the tip in orange - it looks just amazing.

 Hairy, but nice :)

 The yellow flowers are the tips of a green shrub that loves sandy soil. Each little 'flower' tip is quite small.

 another plant living in sandy soil. The red is just new growth ( I think)

 A small section of Waychinicup Nat Pk behind Cheynes Beach van park. The area was really pretty to walk through.

 The flower fronds on this shrub look very delicate.

Red  Kangaroo Paw always looks striking amongst the green foliage in the area.

After Cheynes Beach, we drove NE  to Fitzgerald Nat Pk. The Dept. of Environment & Conservation (DEC)  is trying to prevent the spread of Die Back - the fungus that eventually kills trees. Some of the park has been affected by Die Back. I think those areas are closed for visiting to prevent the fungus being spread to un affected parts. A new access road was being built & accessing the park was quite difficult. We 1st had to wash down the car & van outside the park to remove any potential contaminated soil & then we had to pass through gates that had security locks & codes on them that we obtained from the parks van & camping 'retreat'. Camping in the Nat Pk has been cancelled for some time apart from this 'retreat'. When visiting the popular areas we had to be driven there by the 'retreat' owner who was provided a mini bus by DEC. This arrangement had been going on for several months whilst the new road was being built.

The Royal Hakea is endemic to Fitzgerald River Nat Pk. I guess DEC is trying to preserve plants like this & many more endemic plants of the park from eventual death from Die Back.

 The different colours of foliage on the plant is beautiful.

 Large Wax flower in the 'retreat' nature walk was pink or red on the same bush.

 Also in the area is The Christmas Tree. These trees flower a golden yellow prolifically around Christmas time.

 The native bees @ Point Anne at Fitzgerald Nat Pk were in their millions. We had to wear our hair nets to prevent them crawling over our face etc. Thankfully they don't sting like honey bees.
This flower  has a few native bees on it.

 A yellow Dryandra

Earlier wildflower blogs, I showed you a smoke bush that had grey ends to the otherwise green bush & looked  like the area had smoke. This plant is of the same family - the spider smoke bush - white tips instead. 

 Another much larger Christmas Tree @ Lake Monjingup - near Esperance.

 A very old Zamia Palm in front of a very old Banksia. Through this nature reserve @ Lake Monjingup the Banksias were every where.

 A Little Wattle bird feeding from the nectar.

 This Zamia Palm - a cycad - is hundreds of yrs old.

 Cape Le Grand National Park is  50 kms SE of Esperance on the Southern Ocean. The rocky coastline & white sandy beaches was outstanding. Plants thrived amongst the granite.

 I think this is a Star Flower. We saw this flower around Eneabba - SE of Geraldton.

 Near & far - not the name - funny looking plant but an unusual flower.

 These Christmas Trees look like they're stunted in growth from the buffeting from the Southern Ocean winds.

 A Grevillea no doubt :)

 This flower was high up the 4 mtr tree we were parked next to in the camp ground. Unusual to see a green flower.

 This pretty flower if from the Coral Gum or Coolgardie Gum, endemic to the Kalgoorlie & Coolgardie area area.

Finally, I found this flower growing like a weed near Balladonia along the Nullabor when Rod was playing a golf hole behind the service station.

There are stacks more photos of  flowers that I photographed in my 2, very lengthy files of wild flowers of WA.
Far too many to include in the blogs. Rod was over me stopping all the time to take pics of flowers & usually walked ahead. Many times I was by myself so as not to bore him, but on National Park walks he was usually with me & the walks usually took longer.  Many times I had to take several shots of the same flower as most days were windy the southern 1/2 of WA. Waiting for the wind to slow down to take the pic was certinly challenging & I was constantly charging my camera battery on a daily basis.

Had we have travelled through this great area a month earlier, we would have seen many more flowers, especially orchids. Maybe that’ll be an excuse to come back another yr.