The Black Wattle plays an important role in Australia's ecosystems. As a pioneer plant it quickly binds erosion-prone soil following bushfires. Like other leguminous plants, it fixes the atmospheric nitrogen in the soil. Other woodland species can rapidly use these increased nitrogen levels provided by the nodules of bacteria present in their expansive root systems. Hence they play a critical part in natural regeneration after bushfires.
Spreading tree which grows to 5 - 15 m tall. Bark is smooth and of greenish-brown colour on young branches. Blackish and rough on trunk. Distinct yellow flowers in September to December.
Leaves
Fern-like bipinnate leaves (leaflets that are further subdivided in an arrangement of leaves on either side of the stem). Olive green in colour. Raised glands are present at the junction of and between each pinnae (little leaf).
Flowers
Pale yellow or sometimes cream coloured ball-shaped inflorescences (clusters of flowers arranged on a stem). Flowering occurs from September through to December. Highly perfumed.
Also known as Blueberry Lily, a long, feathery shrub with flowers sticking up above the leaves.
Long green pointy leaves with vibrant blue to purple inflorescences (flower clusters). Grows up to 1.5 m high.
Leaves
Long, feathery, smooth green leaves. 15 - 85 cm long with 4 - 15 mm width. Pointy ends and long and stiff throughout. Can sometimes appear red towards base but this is rare.
Flowers
Flowers stick up above the leaves, consisting of 6 purple petals (7 - 12 mm length) and 6 stamens (pollen-bearing part of the flower) in a ring. These are long, thick and have brown to black tips with yellow stems.
Small to large tree with a variable height of 3 - 45 m and has a bole that is approximately 150 cm in diameter. It has deeply fissured, dark-grey to black coloured bark that appears quite scaly on older trees.
Leaves
Inclined to ascending, narrowly rounded, lance-shaped, straight to slightly curved. 3-5 raised main veins with numerous secondary veins.
Flowers
Pale yellow/golden to white clusters of 2 - 8 that flowers July – December. In Victoria, it flowers in August - October.
It is likely that by all emerging at the same time of year, cicadas can increase their chances of survival by overwhelming predators with their huge numbers. This means that at least some of the cicadas survive to lay eggs, ensuring the survival of the species.
A green, stout body with opaque green, leaf-like wings and pink-brown eyes with two pairs of wings that are strengthened with veins. Its antennae are small and bristle-like. The male has a greatly enlarged hollow bladder.
Size
Female 3 – 3.5 cm long, Male 4.5 – 5 cm long; Wings 4 – 5 cm long.
Shrub or small tree to 8 m high.
Leaves
Soft, drooping, mostly 10 – 25 cm long and 2 – 5 cm wide, oblong or lanceolate with woolly white underside.
Flowers
Yellow or orange flower clusters.
Its pear-shaped float (bottle) is a translucent blue, with a wrinkled top which might be tinged with green or pink. It has a single main tentacle, and many shorter tentacles, all of which are blue and hang from its float.
It is not a single animal but rather a colony of four kinds of individuals known as polyps. Each polyp has its own function: one is the float, another captures food, another digests the food, and another is responsible for reproduction.
Size
Float is 2 – 15 cm long, and tentacles up to 10 m.
It has a blue float made of a flat, circular disc with many gas-filled tubes which keep it afloat. The disc is surrounded by tiny blue tentacles.
The Blue Button is, in fact, a colony made up of different types of polyps, including some that are specialised for catching food, defense, or reproduction.
Size
Its disc is up to 2.5 cm across.
Small marine snails (molluscs), often called Australwinks.
They are light blue to grey in colour and have a smooth shell that spirals up to a light brown to reddish-brown sharp tip (apex).
Size
10 - 15 mm
Olive brown to black and has irregular pale bands on the body and tail. The head is often lighter in colour and can have orange flecks on the top and sides.
There are four subspecies with some variations:
- Eastern Bobtail (Tiliqua rugosa aspera) Similar to western bobtail but with a darker belly, larger body scales and a shorter fatter tail
- Western Bobtail (Tiliqua rugosa rugosa) Similar to eastern and northern but paler belly and longer tail, larger ear and pale irregular bands on the back
- Rottnest Island Bobtail (Tiliqua rugosa konowi) Yellow belly.
- Northern Bobtail (Tiliqua rugosa palarra) Similar to western bobtail with a smaller ear and usually no pale irregular bands on the back
Size
Total length 45cm.
Bournda Environmental Education Centre (EEC) is a NSW Department of Education and Communities facility, located within Bournda National Park on the Far South Coast of NSW. Bournda EEC works closely with schools to support students learning about our amazing coastal environments and how they can contribute to looking after them. You can find out more by visiting the Bournda EEC website.
Brahminy kites are medium sized birds of prey common in coastal areas. Adults have an unmistakable white head and chest with a chestnut brown coloured body. They have dark coloured eyes and a strongly hooked, yellow beak. The tail is relatively short and can have white tips.
Size
male 45 cm, female 51 cm with an average wing span of 120 cm
Artocarpus altilis
Bredfrut is a widely distributed pantropical species and is cultivated on most Pacific Islands. It prefers to grow in climates with summer rains.
Bredfrut has spreading evergreen canopy and generally growing 12-15 m in height, but can reach up over 21 m. The trunk can be large, up to 2 m in diameter. All parts of the tree contain a white milky latex.
Vanuatu is an important centre for diversity in breadfruit. Over 30 different cultivars are found in northern Vanuatu, potentially up to 100.
Leaves
Leaves are alternate, broadly obovate to ovate. The leaf blade is generally smooth, glossy, dark green with green or yellow-green veins and a few to many white to reddish-white hairs on the midrib and veins. The underside of the leaves is light green and matt.
Flowers
Male flowers appear first and are club-shaped, up to 5 cm in diameter and 45 cm long. Thousands of tiny flowers are attached to a central, spongy core. Female inflorescence is 1500-2000 reduced green flowers attached to a spongy core. The flowers fuse together to form a fleshy edible fruit.
Fruit
The fruits are variable in shape, size, and surface texture, although they are usually round, oval or oblong and range from 9-20 cm wide and more than 30 cm long. Skin texture varies from smooth to slightly bumpy or spiny. Fruit colour is light green, yellowish-green or yellow when mature. The flesh of the fruit is creamy white or pale yellow and contains none to many seeds, depending on the variety. Seeded varieties are more common in Vanuatu.
Brewongle Environmental Education Centre (EEC) is run by the NSW Department of Education and Communities and provides curriculum-based programs for all schools and students from K-12 in the Western Sydney Region. Their vision is to deliver focussed, relevant, engaging sustainability education programs.
Brewongle has worked with local experts and scientists to develop a ClimateWatch trail on their grounds, allowing visitors to contribute to climate change research.
The Brisbane Botanic Gardens are located 7 km from the Brisbane CBD at the foot of Brisbane's tallest mountain, Mount Coot-tha.
Spreading small to medium-sized tree with trunk covered by white, beige and grey thick papery bark.
Usually grows to 8 – 15 m high (sometimes 25 m) with a spread of 5–10 m.
Leaves
Grey-green leaves are egg-shaped. Young growth hairy with long and short, soft hairs. Leaves arranged alternately; flat, leathery, 55 – 120 mm long, 10 – 31 mm wide.
Flowers
Flowers cream or white bottlebrush-like, arranged in spikes on ends of branches which continue to grow after flowering. Spikes contain 5 to 18 groups of flowers in threes, up to 40 mm in diameter and 20 – 50 mm long. Petals 3 mm long and fall off as flower ages. Stamens (male organ of a flower, consisting of a stalk and a pollen-bearing portion) white, cream-coloured or greenish and arranged in 5 bundles around the flower, 5 - 10 stamens per bundle.
Baby bugs (nymphs) are initially bright green as are the eggs from which they hatch, before turning orange-red with a black dot on their back. An adult is bronzy-black with a broad thick body and a triangular back plate. Its head is small in relation to the rest of its body and it has orange antennae and leg joints.
Size
Eggs are about 2.5 mm in diameter; adults are about 2.5 cm long.
A very large brown seaweed (algae). It has dark brown leathery, strap-like branches (thallus).
It attaches to the substrate by a large disc or conical-shaped holdfast. Usually there is a single leathery frond (stalk) from the holdfast, which divides into long segments or fronds.
Its strong holdfast often pulls off pieces of granite during storms which can remain attached to the kelp when washed up on shore.
Hibiscus tiliaceus
Burao is found in the tropics and subtropics and is native to Vanuatu.
An evergreen tree, it can grow to 3-10 m in height. It has a crooked, tangled and sprawling shape and the canopy is generally wider than its height. The bark is smooth to lightly fissured and grey to light brown in colour. The bark thickens and roughens as the tree ages.
Burao can be highly variable in shape and in the leaf and flower colours.
Leaves
The leaves are 6-22 cm in length and have an ovate (oval or egg shaped) to orbicular shape (spherical or rounded). They can be heart-shaped and are large and wavy. The upper surface of the leaves is bright green and greyish-green and hairy on the underside.
Flowers
Terminal 3-6 flowered cymes (flower cluster with a central stem where a single terminal flower develops before the others develop off lateral stems) or solitary. Five radiating, obovate (ovate with a narrower end at the base), yellow petals that are 4-6.5 cm long and have a base colour of dark red/maroon. The stamen, or male fertilizing organ of the flower, has a tube that is 2-2.5 cm in length. The flowers are showy, fragile, and short-lived, falling the same day that they open. The flowers fade to pink prior to falling.
Fruit
The fruits are 1.6 to 2.2 cm in length. The fruit casing is ovoid-ellipsoid in shape and light brown in colour with densely matted grey woolly hairs.
The seeds are brown, 4 x 2 mm in length and width, tuberculate (kidney-shaped, with 5-7 seeds per cell), and hairy.
The Bush Stone-curlew has large yellow eyes and long thin legs. Its colouring is mostly grey-brown above, with bold black and rufous streaks. It has buff and white underparts with black streaks. Young birds are similar in colour, but are generally paler.
Distinctive feature
A prominent white eyebrow
Size
54 – 59 cm; wingspan is 82 – 105 cm
Small semi-pendulous epiphytic orchid. 5 - 15 cm across, stems to 5 cm long.
Leaves
3 - 10 thin leathery oblong, sometimes curved, dark green leaves 2 - 11 cm long and 4 - 17 mm wide.
Flowers
1 - 4 pendulous sprays of 2 - 17 pale yellowish-green to brown flowers, lip white with yellow tints and purple stripes. Sepals and petals narrowly spoon-shaped, spreading; lip short, 3-lobed, projecting forward, side lobes broad, erect, curved inwards.
The caterpillar (larva) is initially pale yellow with fine hairs, before turning green. It has narrow yellow lines on its body which are sometimes hard to see. The upper side of the butterfly (adult) is white with a black tip on its forewing (front wing) and a black patch on the front edge of its hindwing. A male has one black spot on its forewing, while a female has two black spots. Looking from underneath, the forewing is white with two black spots and the hindwing is yellow.
Size
Caterpillar about 3.5 cm; Butterfly up to 5 cm wingspan.
Single trunk, palm tree grows up to 15 – 20 m high, 1 m in diameter.
Leaves
Spread leaves, 6 m long and 50 cm wide (when flattened), short thick and extremely sharp-pointed.
Flowers
A loose branching cluster of yellowish flowers. The flowers are 2 - 4 cm long with rounder outer segments.
Dense, multi-branched shrub forming extensive colonies, grows to approximately 50 - 100 cm tall.
Leaves
Leaves are erect and spread outwardly, shape varies from leaf to leaf but they generally are lance-shaped and have sharp points. All leaves are of a similar bright green colour.
Flowers
Flowers December to February. The flowers of candle heath branch out above the shrub on a red stalk measuring between 10 - 30 cm. Fragrant, greenish-white flowers bloom on the terminal end of the stalk. The flowers are trumpet-shaped and are 4 - 8 mm long and 4 - 5 mm in diameter.
