BLob

FOTD – May 11 – Eucalypt Flowers

Australia is one of the drier continents (Curiously, with all that snow, Antarctica is ‘drier’!) and many of our native flora and fauna have devised ways of minimising water loss.

Some Eucalypts (and many other species) have evolved flowers which have very little in the way of surface area that water can evaporate easily from and now have ‘waxy’, needle-like flowers that still can be seen from  far away and can attract pollinators like birds and ants and bees.

(Click on a pic to open in a new window and click again to see enlarged detail!) 🙂

lovewillbringustogether - Broad leaved paperbarkFlower of a Broad-leaved Paperbark Tree… + Bee! 🙂 (More of a ‘bottlebrush’ type flower – tubular!)

lovewillbringustogether - Swamp Mahogany2
Eucalyptus robusta, also known as a Swamp Mahogany. (Not actually related to the other Mahogany!) That’s a bunch of flower pods yet to open bottom right.
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lovewillbringustogether - Swamp Mahogany1More of the E. robusta’s flower pods.

lovewillbringustogether - Swamp Mahogany3Close-up of the E. robusta’s flowering.

link to:

Cee’s Flower of the Day – May 11, 2019 – My First Bearded Iris

love.
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14 comments

  5. I don’t remember seeing white eucalyptus flowers — we have lots of red ones! I love the ubiquitous bee, too — ours are beginning to come back after an apparent die-off.

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    • Australia has been pretty lucky with our bees and we have exported many to countries who were suffering the veroa mite and other bee pests. There is still an ongoing need for worldwide care and protection of bees though – we can’t afford to be lax. Bees are far too valuable to lose.

      Besides the ubiquitous red flowering Eucalypts and the white like these we also have some beautiful bright yellow ones and some purple and white paperbark flowers.

      I caught a couple of the red ones last week – i will post them soon. 🙂

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      • Australia seems to be pretty environment-conscious — thanks for your work with the bees! I’d love to see photos of the yellow eucalyptus flowers and the purple and white ones!

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        • We’re very aware and protective of our unique environment and the things that live in it.

          Having said that there are still some problems we have where ‘the Economy’ and money seem to be more important that a species or habitat. 😦

          We rely upon mining for much of our income.

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  6. Today Bob, I saw a program about saltbush – there was a cook making some savoury pancakes with saltbush and they looked yummy. Do you think that it will be easy-ish for me to find dishes with saltbush in restaurants in Adelaide?

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    • There’s been a bit of a surge in ‘native’ foods and restaurants utilising them in the last few years… I think you would have had no chance even 5 years or more ago.

      But S Australia is one of the places that produces Saltbush crops commercially for sale to the hospitality industry ( and others) with a little research i think you could find a few places around Adelaide where you could have some saltbush accompanyment to some dishes. I don’t know about pancakes though… but i bet you could find a recipe and a place that might sell you small parcels of it and you could test your skill! 🙂

      We’ve got a number of Uniquely Aussie plants making their way into restaurant fare.

      Word of warning… it might not come all that ‘cheap’ the prices at restaurants can take your (my) breath away! Typical meals can vary from A$20 – $80 for a single main dish, desserts can start from $8 and exceed $30 in the more adventurous establishments.

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