Basket Ferns Drynaria rigidula | Mount Gravatt Environment Group

Tuesday Bushcare Team planting Basket Ferns

By: Michael Fox

Restoring the Mt Gravatt Conservation Reserve habitat is one of the most satisfying projects I have ever undertaken. I realised this today when our newest volunteer, Eleanor, PHD student at Western Sydney University, commented on our National Tree Day planting.

Tuesday last week the team ‘planted” eighty Basket Ferns Drynaria rigidula. When I say “planted” we actually super-glued many of the ferns to rocks and logs. Basket Ferns naturally grow on top of rocks and logs so we decided experiment. The most successful approach seems to be wrapping the fern with woven coir matting with extra extra coir to improve water retention while the fern gets its roots into the rock or log. I always thought of ferns as plants you find in moist gullies not on top of mountains and particularly not on top of rocks.

National Tree Day in a time of COVID has been challenging so it has been amazing to see the plants thriving with 95% survival rate, some flowering already and new growth on most. The Gorse Bitter Pea Daviesia ulicifolia, Hardenbergia violacea Native Sarsaparilla and Goodenia rotundifolia Star Goodenia are all flowering already.

The Poison Peach Trema tomentosa has new growth and is already Feeding Locals. This fast growing tree is an excellent pioneer plant for habitat restoration as it also food for caterpillars of Speckled Line-blue Catopyrops florinda butterflies, Splendid Ghost Moth Aenetus splendens and fruit eating birds like Australian King Parrot Alisterus scapularis and Pale-headed Rosella Platycercus adscitus

We have already found Lydia Lichen Moth Asura lydia and Brown White Banded Noctuid Donuca castalia on site. Today we found a Burton’s Legless Lizard Lialis burtonis.

Bottle Brush Grass Tree

By: Michael Fox

After the long dry period it is a pleasure to see the bush come back to life. Walking the Eastern Outlook Track this morning we found a number of the uncommon Bottle Brush Grass Trees Xanthorrhoea macronema in flower or getting ready to flower.

Xanthorrhoea macronema - 9 Oct 2014 - Alan Moore low res

New flower ready to burst into life

The Bottle Brush Grass Tree is very different to the better known Grass Tree Xanthorrhoea johnsonii. The johnsonii has tall flower spike (scape) reaching up to 1.9 metres with flowers covering most of its length and over time the tree develops the characteristic fire blackened trunk. The Bottle Brush Grass Tree on the other hand has a scape reaching only 1.6 metres with a striking cream-white bottle brush shaped flower that is only about 13cm at the top of the scape and it remains just a crown of leaves at ground level never developing the characteristic fire blackened trunk of other species.

The furry bottle brush flowers are very popular with native bees both the small black Stingless Native Bees Trigona carbonaria and the solitary Blue Banded Bees Amegilla cingulata.

If you are walking keep an eye out for the new flower spikes … they will be ready in a couple of days.