Tasmanian Plants

It was the 16th of December 2008 and I had the fortune to go on a trip with Micah Visiou, seed collecting officer for the Millenium Seed bank project in Tasmania, up to the Central Highlands to look for some threatened plants.

The weather was not to inviting but since we had spent over 4 hours driving to our destination, it would be unforgivable to pass up the opportunity for a ramble.

Our first stop was the Iris River on the Middlesex Plains. We were greeted by magnificent mats of Tasmanian mudleaf (Gunnera cordifolia) by the river the moment we stepped out of the car. Should have taken a shot.

The habitat (pic above) was very open subalpine woodland of stately cider gums (Eucalyptus gunnii) and heathy shrubs like Coral heath (Epacris gunnii) and Rigid Candleheath (Richea sprengelioides).

Our mission on Middlesex Plains was to look for an endangered plant called the Alpine appleberry (Rhytidosporum inconspicuum) (See the DPIW website listing statement).

Rhytidosporum inconspicuum belongs to the Pittosporum family (Pittosporaceae), making it a relative of the widely planted exotic Sweet Pittosporum (Pittosporum bicolor).

True to its namesake (inconspicuum), the plant is a very low prostrate shrub that is onerous to spot in the absence of fruits or flowers. Even with flowers it was hard to spot but we were fortunate to spot two individuals (See pics below).

Based on a reliable information source, there were supposely over a 100 more individuals where we were but time did not permit us to look for more. We had to move on to our next stop, the Vale of Belvoir, to look for yet another threatened plant.

The 22 Dec 2008 was a work day but it was exciting. I made a trip up to Beaconsfield with Mick Ilowski and Felicity Hargraves to do some seedpod counting of the endangered Shy Pinkbells (Tetratheca gunnii).

Mick and some other staff of the Threatened Plants Unit, Department of Primary Industries and Water, have been monitoring the population of Tetratheca gunnii for around a decade. A couple of weeks prior to our visit, they had hand-pollinated some individuals and we wanted to get some follow up data to see if the plants are setting seed well.

As with many threatened plants, Tetratheca gunnii had very patchy distributions in the area, some kilometers apart from each other.

It is really hard to understand by the plants would be found in such discrete patches with a continuous distribution.

We visited a couple of sites with two rangers who graciously came along to help with the seed pod counting.

After the whole exercise, the general sense we got was that there was very little seed pod production relative to the number of flowers that were hand pollinated.

The number of plants also seems to be declining. Fortunately, the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens maintains  a good ex-situ population of the species.

I went back with Mick just this Monday to take a look again but all the seeds had dropped off by then. Seed collection will have to wait another year.

On thursday (2 Oct 08) I took a break from work and accompanied Wendy Potts from the Threatened Species Unit (DPIW) to the east coast on a hunt for the Eastern Eyebright (Euphrasia collina subsp. deflexifolia) (pic on left), a threatened species in Tasmania. This taxon is differentiated from the more common Tall Eyebright (Euphrasia collina subsp. collina) by having glandular hairs on the calyx. According to Wendy, some populations of the eastern eyebright flowered early and was worth checking up on.

It was a long drive before we got to our first stop was at a heathland around Cole’s Bay. We stopped when Wendy spotted the eyebrights from the car. Thats the future of botanizing – superhuman botanists with bionic eyes which can spot threatened plants on a moving vehicle!

We counted a few plants of eastern eyebright and also saw another two threatened plants, the Juniper Wattle (Acacia ulicifolia) (pic on right) and the Thick twistsedge (Caustis pentandra). Other highlights (non-threatened) were the Pine heath (Astroloma pinifolium), which I had only seen in the botanic gardens; the Turfed Lily (Thelionema caespitosa) and the Leopard Orchid (Diuris pardina).

We then drove up to some crown land at Steglitz

where there was a fenced enlosure of sandy heathland with a healthy population of the threatened Tasmanian Smokebush (Conospermum hookeri) (2 pics on left). We were also deligted to count at least 60 eyebrights.

We proceeded next to a site around Georges Bay and located the exact GPS spot where there was an alleged report of the eyebrights. We found none. Could the eyebrights have perished from that spot? We did find another threatened plant however, the threatened Twiggy Guineaflower (Hibbertia virgata) (pic right). It had distinctive long flattened leaves. We were also graced with the sight of a large number of southern grasstrees (Xanthorrhoea australis) in full flower. Spectacular!

We drove on to a coastal heath area by the Gardens. Thats the furthest point in the Northeast I’ve ever been. By that time the sun’s angle was already getting low and we had a long drive home, but it was all worth it – at our last stop we found about 100 plants of eyebrights!

By way of botanizing, there is so little that can be done in twelve hours on the East Coast. We can however, be happy with the sights we were graced with in just one day. We mused that botanists can spend their lifetime looking at plants. Indeed, I most probably will.