Australian Wildflowers

Western Australian Wildflowers:

Australian Geographic: "We know there are some 12,500 flowering species in Western Australia, 60 per cent of which are endemic to the state and 775,000 visitors each year flock to take a gander at these blooms." During my one and a half years in Western Australia and a trip from Adelaide to Sydney I took photos of nearly two hundred Australian wildflower species. So far, I wrote some descriptions and found out the latin names of more than 100 species. Still a lot are unknown to me. If you know some of them or you think some species are misidentified I would be happy if you contact me via my email inesphoto@gmx.de. Sources: Wikipedia (english), Atlas of Living Australia, FloraBase

Carnivorous plants:

Carnivorous plants derive some of their nutrients from consuming mainly insects and other arthropods. They have adapted to grow in places where the soil is poor in nutrients. It is thought that carnivory has evolved independently in different orders. There are ca. 194 species within the genus Drosera, commonly known as the sundews. Stylidium also known as triggerplants are considered to be carnivorous because the ability trap, kill, and digest small insects with enzymes produced by the plant. Most of the nearly 300 species only grow in Australia.

Proteanae/Proteales:

The family of Proteaceae is predominantly distributed in the Southern Hemisphere and comprises 83 genera and about 1,660 known species. Genera growing in Western Australia include Banksia, Grevillea, Hakea, Isopogon, Synaphea, Conosperum. More species of this family you will find here

Rosanae/Myrtales:

All species of the family Myrtaceae are woody, with essential oils and evergreen leaves. Genera growing in Western Australia include the genus Eucalyptus, which dominate the tree flora of Australia with more than 600 species and other genera as Melaleuca, Darwinia, Verticordia. More species of this family you will find here

Rosanae/Fabales:

Fabaceae

The Fabaceae commonly known as the legume, pea, or bean family, is widely distributed, and is the third-largest land plant family in terms of number of species and economically important. Many species have characteristic flowers and fruits and can easily recgnized by their fruit (legume).

Acacia

Acacia, known commonly as mimosa, acacia, thorntree or wattle, is a polyphyletic genus of shrubs and trees belonging to the subfamily Mimosoideae. It was first described by Carl Linnaeus based on the African species Acacia nilotica. However, in the early 2000s it turned out that one lineage comprising over 900 species mainly native to Australia was not closely related to the mainly African lineage that contained A. nilotica. There is an ongoing debate about Taxonomy, but the name Acacia is now mainly applied to the mostly Australian plants.

Fabaceae/Gastrolobium

There are over 100 species in this genus, and nearly all are native to Western Australia. A number of these species accumulate monofluoroacetic acid (a poison known as 1080), which caused deaths of introduced, non native animals in the 1840s.

Other Fabaceae

Urodon is a small genus native to southwestern Australia. Templetonia is native to Australia and named in honour of John Templeton, an Irish botanist. Templetonia retusa is known as cockies tongues. Crotalaria, commonly known as rattlepods, includes about 500 species of herbaceous plants and shrubs mostly native to Africa. Crotalaria cunninghamii is called green birdflower because the blossoms look like little birds.

Rosanae/Malvales:

Alyogyne and Keraudrenia both genera are endemic to Australia and belong to the family of Malvaceae with 4225 known species. Pimelea known as rice flowers are endemic to Australia and New Zealand and belongs to the family Thymelaeaceae with 898 species mostly found on the southern hemisphere.

Malvacea/Hibiscus:

Hibiscus is a large genus with several hundred species that are native to warm temperate, subtropical and tropical regions throughout the world. Hibiscus burtonii and Hibiscus sturtii were found in the semi-arid desert near Uluru.

Rosanae/Sapindales

Rutaceae:

The Rutaceae family includes the most economically important genus Citrus. Species of the family habe usually strong scents and range in form and size from herbs to shrubs and large trees. Boronia is a large Australian genus of 160 species used in commercial oil production. Philotheca is a genus of about 45 species, all endemic to Australia.

Other Rosanae:

Lilianae/Commelinales

Haemodoraceae:

Haemodoraceae is a family with 14 genera and 102 known species and primarily found on the Southern Hemisphere. Best known are the widely cultivated kangaroo paws endemic to Australia. Anigozanthos commonly known as kangaroo paw (first and second) and catspaw (last image) is a small genus with 11 species.

Conostylis a genus of perennial herbs in the family Haemodoraceae commonly known as cone flowers and endemic to Western Australia. The genus Blancoa is named after Francisco Manuel Blanco, a Spanish friar and botanist. The sole species endemic to the south west of Western Australia is Blancoa canescens, the winter bell.

Other Lilianae:

Asteranae/Asterales

Goodeniaceae:

Goodeniaceae is a family of flowering plants mostly in Australia, except for the genus Scaevola. It contains about 404 species.

Asteraceae:

Asteraceae (commonly known as the aster, daisy, or sunflower family) is a very large and widespread family of flowering plants with more than 30,000 known species. All species of the genera Schoenia, Waitzia and Podotheca are endemic to Australia.

Asteranae/Ericales:

Ericaceae:

The family is large, with ca. 4250 known species and mostly found in acid and infertile growing conditions. Well-known members of the Ericaceae family include cranberry, blueberry, rhododendron and erica. Leucopogon is derived from ancient Greek and means White Beard. The greatest species diversity is found in southeastern Australia. Conostephium comprises only 12 species whereas 4 were added recently. Astroloma is an endemic Australian genus of around 20 species, first described by Robert Brown in 1810.

Asteranae/Lamiales:

Scrophulariaceae:

Eremophila is a genus of more than 260 species in the family figwort (Scrophulariaceae) all of which are endemic to mainland Australia. Eremophilas are widespread in the arid areas, especially Western Australia. Common names include emu bush, poverty bush or fuchsia bush.

These three species of Eremophila grow in the red center of Australia near Uluru.

Other Asteranae:

Caryophyllales:

Amaranthaceae:

Amaranthaceae is a widespread family from the tropics to temperate regions with 2040 species. All Ptilotus species are native to mainland Australia with ca. 110 species. Common names for these species are mulla mulla, foxtails, pussy tails and lamb's tails.

Salsola, a genus in the Amaranthaceae family, is from the Latin word salsus, meaning "salty". Calandrinia species belong to the family of Montiaceae which includes about 14 genera with about 230 known species and has a cosmopolitan distribution. Newly this family includes species of the Caryophyllales formerly listed in Portulacaceae.

© Ines Porada