Flower Hunting

One of the first things I noticed when I got back to Perth was this stunning red flowered tree, appropriately called the 'Flame Tree'.

With it's skeletal figure bare of leaves, it reminded of the Kimberley Kapoc which also flowers before it bears leaves. I didn't see any in Broome (hence no photos), but they are a regular feature in the rest of the Kimberley.

This is one of my favourite paintings. It is by Broome artist Ingrid Windram. Pictured is the kapoc with its yellow flowers in bloom in front of my favourite tree, the magnificent boab. The yellow of the kapoc stands out against the greens, browns and pindan just as much as it does against the black and white in this painting. http://www.windramart.com.au/ features more of her wonderful work.

Back to Perth...

At Perth airport there is an area of protected bushland right behind my office. A colleague who has worked in native horticulture and I went for a look at plants just on the edge of this area and we were blown away by the number of species we had never seen before. It is the start of the wildflower season which I have heard is quite spectacular. According to Corrick and Fuhrer in ‘Wildflowers of Southern WA’, the South West of WA is home to more than 4000 species of flowering plants, 80% of which grow nowhere else.

However, we have been able to identify a number of the plants we have found:

Cowslip Orchid (Caladenia flava) and Donkey Orchid (Dirius corymbosa)

Cat's paw and Kangaroo paw