Plants – wet heath

Aotus lanigera Golden Candlestick

• This shrub stands out in the spring wildflower season because it bears its golden pea-like flowers in tight clusters on rods like candleticks.
• Golden Cadlesticks also occurs in the dry heaths.

Banksia oblongifolia Dwarf Banksia

• Banksia oblongifolia is a feature plant in the wet heath.
• It has serrated leaves and is a short shrub to about 1 m.
• The flowers are long cream cones and the seeds are in prominent capsules.

Banksia robur Swamp Banksia

• The leaves of Banksia robur are serratted and are much wider than Banksia oblongifolia. The bushes are often larger in the wet heath landscape.
• The flower brushes are green initially, turning yellow then brown.

Boronia falcifolia Wallum Boronia

• Boronia species are a feature of the spring wildflower season at Teewah and Boronia falcifolia, the Swamp Boronia, is perhaps the most prominent Boronia in the wet heath.
• Its pretty pink flower flower spikes and small leaves are characteristic.

Burchardia umbellata Milkmaids

• The white flowers with pink centres are produced in umbrella-like heads which grow tall above the grassy leaves.
• Milkmaids are common every spring in the Teewah wet heaths.

Conospermum taxifolium Devil’s Rice

• Devil’s Rice gets it’s name from the clusters of white flower buds that look like handfuls of white rice scattered over the surface of this small shrub and from the devil’s trident of three-pronged petals.
• The individual ‘grains’ open up to reveal three prominent petal lobes on each flower cup.

Dampiera sylvestris Wallum Dampiera

• This purple-flowered herb keeps low to the ground and has a slightly lopsided showy flower.

Dillwynia glaberrima Smooth Parrot Pea

• Smooth Parrot Pea is one of several species of Dillwynia (and other genera) that have yellow pea-like flowers with red touches, collectively known a bacon-and-egg plants. The prominent side or wing petals are like Micky Mouse ears.
• These species can be hard to distinguish. D.glabberrima has smooth narrow (1 mm) leaves, not twisted, with pointed recurved tips , and the flowers are noticably wider than tall.
• Common in our area in the wet heath.

Drosera spatulata Common Sundew

• Drossera spatulata, the Sun Dew, is a parasitic plant (lacking chlorophyl) that obtains nutrients by trapping and digesting small insects on its sticky hairs.
• It has small white or pink flowers that are held above the bright orange leaves.
• We commonly find it on paths in the wet heath where puddles have recently dried up.

Epacris obtusifolia Common Heath

• Epacris obtusifolia is a common plant in the wet heaths.
• The white tube-like flowers are held in erect spikes that superficially resemble Rosemary branches.
• Leaves are small, narrow and taper towards the tip.

Erythrorchis cassythoides Black Bootlace Orchid (Photo Eri Maeda)

• This orchid is a climbing terrestrial saprophyte, living on decaying organic matter.
• It is leafless, or nearly so. The stems are purplish- brown to black.
• The flowers are yellow and white, hanging in clusters.

Gahnia siebariana Red-fruited Saw Sedge

• This Saw Sedge, as the name implies, has sharp-edged leaves that can cut unprotected legs.
• It grows in clumps and produces red seeds on blackened flower stalks that may exceed head height.
• The leaves are green above and light green below. Gahnia Clarkei is light green on  both surfaces.

Goodenia stelligera Swamp Goodenia

• Goodenias have lopsided flowers; the petals are different lengths on either side.
  Flowers are golden.

Haemodorum tenuifolium Blood Root

• Bloodroot is one of the the most noticable plants in the wet heath because of the three-lobed seed capsules that catch the eye.
• The roots are orange-red in colour.

Leucopogon pimeleoides Bushy Whitebeard

• Bushy Whitebeard is an attractive shrub also found in the dry heath,  wallum wetlands and Eucalypt forests.
• Its sprays of white tubular white flowers are found from late autumn to spring.

Leucopogon virgatus Twiggy Leucopogon

• One of several Leucopogon species in the district. This one has hairy ends to the flower lobes and thin pointed leaves with rough edges.

Liparophyllum exaltatum Bog Primrose

• Bog Primrose tends to occur in the wetter areas of the wet heath – it is semi-aquatic.
• It is easily identified by its primrose-coloured flowers and its spade-shaped leaves which are help erect above the ground or water.

Macarthuria neocambrica Twiggy Macarthuria

• Macathuria neocambrica, Twiggy Macathuria, is a common little shrub that has winged stems small, starry white flowers.

Melaleuca pachyphylla Wallum Bottlebrush

• Showy bottlebrush with red or green-yellow flowers.

Mirbelia rubifolia Wallum Mirbelia

• Wallum Mirbelia is a small shrub that stands out because of the conspicuous network of veins on the upper side of its leaves.
• The flower is purple and pea-like.

Petrophile shirleyae Conesticks

• Conesticks are conspicuous in the wet heath because of the large woody cones produced from white bottlebrush-like flower.
• Thee plant is a woody shrub to about 1 metre.

Philetheca queenslandica Qld. Wax Flower

• This is a shrub to 1 metre which bears white to pale pink flowers on thick fleshy branches.

Pultenaea paleacea var. paleacea Chaffy Swamp Pea

• The Chaffy Swamp Pea is another ‘bacon- and-eggs” plant in the wet heath.
• This one has longer slender leaves and bracts retained in the flower head that make it look chaffy.

Selaginella selaginosa  Swamp Seliginella

• Swamp Selaginella is a common fern-like plant found in wet heath.
• It reproduces from spores but is not a true fern.

Sprengelia sprengelioides Sprengelia

• Sprengelia is a small shrub to about 1 metre.
• The densely clustered leaves are unusual; clasping at the base, spreading, and ending in a fine point.
• The five-pointed cupped flowers are born towards the ends of the branches.

Sowerbaea juncea Vanilla lily

• The Vanilla Lily is a sedge-like herb that bears purple flowers in densely packed heads on tall stems above leaf height.
• It is common in the wet heath in spring.

Stylidium graminifolium Grass Trigger Plant

• The Grass Trigger Plant is intriguing because it has an unique trigger mechanism in the flower that activates when a pollinator touches it. The trigger (evident in the left-hand image) jerks suddenly, releasing pollen for fertilisation.
• The plant is a grass-like herb that produces its flower stem well above the leaves.
• The pale-pink flowers have four widely-spaced petals.

Tricoryne elatior Golden Rush Lily

• This is a little grassy herb that produces a starry yellow flower in spring and summer.

Viminaria juncea Native Broom

• Native Broom is a shrub to 1.5 metres with tall leafless stems.
• The golden and red flowers are spread evenly along the stems, lying close the stem.

Xanthorrhoea fulva Wallum Grasstree, Swamp Grasstree

• The Wallum Grasstree is one of four Grasstrees in the Teewah area. This one does not produce a woody trunk.
• It is very common in the wetter areas, and germinates in large numbers, as in this photo, after fire.