July’s Park of the Month, Cleland Conservation Park, commemorates renowned naturalist and mycologist Professor Sir John Burton Cleland, Professor of Pathology at the University of Adelaide. The “Plant” of the Month is not a plant but a fungus, Cortinarius austrovenetus, and is an appropriate choice since it was described by Cleland. Cortinarius austrovenetus is a […]

The State Herbarium of South Australia’s Plant of the Month for June 2016 is Spyridium phlebophyllum (F.Muell.) F.Muell. (inland spyridium; plant family Rhamnaceae), which occurs in Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park, DEWNR’s Park of the Month. Spyridium phlebophyllum is a South Australian endemic shrub, around 1.5 m high, growing on rocky ridges and upper slopes of the southern […]

A Remarkable occurrence The Plant of the Month for May, Hovea purpurea, alpine hovea or rusty pods (formerly known as H. longifolia & H. beckleri), is an attractive violet-flowered shrubby pea with a disjunct outlying occurrence in the State that is truly remarkable. Alpine hovea has its principal occurrences in eastern NSW and north-eastern Victoria […]

The State Herbarium has chosen Choretrum glomeratum R. Br. (common sour bush), as Plant of the Month for April 2016. It is found across southern South Australia and in Lincoln National Park, the Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources‘ Park of the Month. Choretrum glomeratum was first collected at Memory Cove by Robert Brown, […]

Native ‘Easter lilies’ February and March are a tough time for plants; the heat of summer has killed off annual grasses, and few native plants are in flower. It is at this time that, almost miraculously, the flowers of the Calostemma purpureum (garland lily, purple bells) emerge from the hard and parched ground, a cluster […]