A large meadow on the crest of a mountain in Shenandoah National Park.

© 2009 D L Ennis, All rights reserved.

NOTE: Permission for the use of my images is granted for personal websites and blogs but is to include a link back to this site and proper credit given to me, D L Ennis. Link to be used…(Visual Thoughts http://dlennis.wordpress.com/)

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Snowdon, originally uploaded by Petra Brown.

Back in August I joined in VP’s regular series of posts about public planting.  I wrote a post about the planting at my local library which I was very impressed with.  Of course being August the planting was looking especially good but I have continued to be impressed as the seasons have changed and we have now reached winter.

The border along the right of the path has been planted with Echinacea, Guara, grasses and other pairie type planting.  Whilst the perennials have died down the grasses are still looking good even in December.

You can see from this photo that the garden designer has used some good structural plants which are really coming into their own at the moment.  It will be interesting to see what happens in the spring – I do hope that there are some bulbs hidden away which will take the planting to another level.

I found this planting quite restful which is very appropriate, given that the town’s war memorial is the central focus. If only more authorities could be abit more open minded with their public planting!

Cattails in their fall colours resisting the harsh winter winds. Ottawa River.

Web site: www.robhuntley.ca
Click on the image to go straight to the same image on my website.

Just happen to have our camera with me to get these great pictures.  I always like the grasses and this grass is flowing so softly in the late fall breeze.  I am hoping to add some of this tall soft looking perennial to my garden this spring…..but oh that is still about five months away before I can plant again.

I took several pictures with different settings. 

 Fuer meine Deutsch sprechende Freund:

Ein Tag draußen in unser Nachbarschaft
So… hatte unserer Kamera gerad zufaellig mit mir um diese schoenen  Bilder zu nehmen. Ich mag die Gräser es ist so weich und fließend in der spähten Herbst Brise. Ich hoffe, einige dieser mehrjaerigen Gräsern in unseren Garten zu pflanzen im Frühjahr….. aber ach, noch rund fünf Monate bis dann.
Ich hatte mehrere Bilder mit unterschiedlichen Einstellungen genommen.

Goodbye fall…, originally uploaded by c.marie.photography.

As the clouds rolled in the end of this week I captured a few last images of the beautiful colors of fall… love this golden grass, with the wind moving through it, against the blue and green in the background… but it couldn’t last. By Saturday we were completely covered in a blanket of white. Winter has officially arrived. Goodbye fall…

one of my top favorite tracks from the grouch & eligh’s no more greener grasses album.

Why I Love the Berkeley Hills

(A point of geography: the term Berkeley Hills applies to one of ranges of the Pacific Coast Ranges.  These hills used to be called the Contra Costa Hills.  Therefore the term “Berkeley Hills” includes those hills above Oakland as well as those above Berkeley.  ”Berkeley Hills” is a geographic term (a toponym, to be exact) and has nothing to do with political or city boundaries. I  just want my good neighbors in Oakland to know they are not being left out when I speak of the Berkeley Hills!)

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I’ve been so busy getting my dharma journal, Metta Refuge, up and running, I just haven’t had time to get anything posted here at “Berkeley, Naturally!”

But today, the first day of December, that changes! I thought the least I could do was post some introductory images from my hikes in Strawberry and Claremont Canyons. I wanted folks to see why I’m so in love with the Berkeley Hills area and why I feel so grateful to live here.

I’m also working on my first post about an animal you’ll often run across in the Hills. It’s actually a much-loved insect (yes, insect!) More on that later!

For now, here on some images that will give visitors to this blog a feel for our beautiful ecosystem here in the East Bay. If you click on the small image, you’ll get a much larger one you can download for your desktops. Enjoy!  Steve

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I took these next two photos this summer in Strawberry Canyon. The grasses are brown because it’s been nearly five months since the last substantial rain, and the Great October Rainstorm of 2009 is still months away.

After 33 years in Boston, I can’t tell you what a marvel it is go a whole summer without a trace of rain!  As a boy growing up in the Mojave desert, I was used to long rainless periods, but even in the desert, we had summer “monsoon” thunderstorms.  The Bay area’s “Mediterranean” climate and summer drought are fascinating, and I look forward to discussing how they shape this ecosystem.

These next two photos were just two weeks after our amazing October rain storm. (The heaviest October rain in 47 years!) What a difference!

As a newcomer to the area, I was amazed at how fast the hills “greened up.” The plants in this area have some amazing adaptations to the Mediterranean climate we have here, and I’ll be writing a lot about that in later posts.  Here’s a nice shot looking across Strawberry Canyon to the historical UC Berkeley Cyclotron.

My favorite trees in the Canyons are the somewhat controversial Eucalyptus, which were introduced to this area in the 1850s. These beautiful trees dominate much of the terrain in the Canyons.

One of the best things about living in Berkeley is being so close to wonderful hiking and fire trails. Here are some images from some of my favorite hikes.

Once you gain some altitude into the hills, you are often rewarded with beautiful vistas of San Francisco Bay and unobstructed skies.

There are a huge range of plants in the Strawberry and Claremont Canyons. Here are two of my favorites: lichens and some wild (unripe) blackberries:

Many of the trees on the steeper slopes have a real battle with gravity and erosion. (I’ll be writing much more about Berkeley Hills plants and their challenges in later posts.)

Finally, hiking in the hills you’ll definitely come across wild animals. I’ll never forget the first time I came upon a flock of wild turkeys in Strawberry Canyon. (Alas, I’ve yet to have my camera with me when I’ve come across them.) There are many kinds of birds, too, including large raptors. But the toughest, most aggressive bird you’ll come across in the Canyons is the smallest! Meet the pound-for-pound champ, the Rufous Hummingbird:

You’ll also run across reptiles on your hikes. I’ve seen several kinds of garter snakes, and along the sunnier trails, you’ll almost see always some Western Fence lizards:

And some of the creatures you’ll find in the Hills are just, well, fantastic:

I hope you enjoyed my first “Berkeley, Naturally” post. With my other blog established, I hope to get into a rhythm and post here several times a week.

Happy trails! Steve

One of the strange things about living in the world is that it is only now and then one is quite sure one is going to live forever and ever and ever.

One knows it sometimes when one gets up at the tender solemn dawn-time and goes out and stands alone and throws one’s head far back and looks up and up and watches the pale sky slowly changing and flushing and marvelous unknown things happening until the East almost makes one cry out and one’s heart stands still at the strange unchanging majesty of the rising of the sun—which has been happening every morning for thousands and thousands and thousands of years.

One knows it then for a moment or so…And it was like that with Colin when he first saw and heard and felt the Springtime inside the four high walls of a hidden garden.

That afternoon the whole world seemed to devote itself to being perfect and radiantly beautiful and kind to one boy.

Perhaps out of pure heavenly goodness the spring came and crowned everything it possibly could into that one place.

Text: Frances Hodgson Burnett (THE SECRET GARDEN: 1909)

The lake is not looking especially healthy at the moment – and this picture was taken before the worst of the recent weather. Birdlife is scarce (though I have recently added the Sacred Kingfisher to the list), so I’ve decided to continue with my series on the flora of the lake. This is the second post in the series. The first can be found here.

Common Blown-Grass (Lachnagrostis filiformis) Seedhead

Common Blown-Grass (Lachnagrostis filiformis)

Common Blown-Grass is easily the most conspicuous of the grasses around the lake. It’s one of a number of “native tumbleweeds,” seedheads of which are often found in large drifts by roadsides. Hairy Panic (Panicum effusum) is another well-known and widely distributed species.

Onion Grass (*Romulea rosea)

Small-Flowered Onion Grass (*Romulea minutiflora)

These two are common, widespread and potentially destructive introduced species. They are a favourite foodsource of the Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo (Cacatua galerita) and Galah (Eolophus roseicapillus), however.

Barley Grass (*Hordeum sp.)

Ripgut Brome (*Bromus catharticus)

Soft Brome (*Bromus molliformis)

Dandelion (*Taraxacum officinale) Seedhead

Ryegrass (*Lolium sp.)

Narrow-Leaf Plantain (*Plantago lanceolata)

Flatweed (*Hypochoeris radicata)

Mouse-Ear Chickweed (*Cerastium glomeratum)

Tall Flatsedge (*Cyperus eragrostis)

These are all very common, very widespread weeds. The following are also weeds, and also reasonably common, but are at least better-looking!

Common Centaury (*Centaurium erythraea)

Celery-Leaved Buttercup (*Ranunculus sceleratus), aka Cursed Buttercup, Poison Buttercup

Redflower or Carolina Mallow (*Modiola caroliniana)

Redflower Mallow can be recognised by its distinctive fruits. This is a young fruit and this an old one.

Wallaby Grass (Austrodanthonia sp.)

This is probably the most successful native grass in the area, frequently appearing in lawns and parks. Austrodanthonia species are not easy to separate – so I haven’t bothered trying.

And finally, some fungi:

Puffballs (Lycoperdon sp.)

The following fungus (Bolbitius vitellinus, I believe) formed an enormous colony, extending a kilometre or more, alongside the walking track next to the lake.

Young Fruiting Body

Typical Fruiting Body

Older Fruiting Body

This last fungus is among the most common in the area. I have seen it near the lake, on Willans Hill and in many local parks and gardens.

Laccaria lateritia

That’s all for now. There will probably be more later.

Snow falls to the fire escape below. The rusted black bars become achromatic and plain, the complications of the cities many faces simplify if only for this moment. Edward takes a deep sip of his coffee, lets the air from his nostrils shoot downwards into the obsidian liquid below, the steam rolling upwards, fogging his glasses.

He watches as the squirrels emerge, bound across the Brooklyn rooftops in search of food, the out-of-place seagulls roaming overhead, far from their home at Brighton Beach, thinks of his childhood home which now exists only within his head.

The nostalgia for a simplicity that he knows never existed at times overwhelms him, thinks of the many days of roaming the hills around his home, the plainness, clean-lines, the innocence. Summer days and cool, foggy afternoons the regulated tempo of his younger years, he would traverse the golden grasses, the wind-swept Spanish moss hanging from the heavy branches of the oaks, the miner’s leaf lettuce patches that stretched for as far as the eye could see. The algae-covered pond, the weeping willow on its banks, the tadpoles and mosquito fish and the water bugs. The currencies of his remembered pasts abound and he exchanges them for moments of solace on cold days like these, far from home in the outer reaches of the city that never sleeps.

Someone has stopped in the middle of the street outside, the cars line up behind and frustrated drivers honk their horns with fury. The snow deadens the abrasive nature of their releases, he remembers as a young child playing with his sister on the highway that ran next to their house on a Sunday. That was before it became a major highway, still remained classified as a scenic route. Edward remembers his grandfather and father, father and son, in worn Levi jeans sitting on the alabaster fence watching them play. It was a summer day, the feint smell of tar from the hot asphalt, crisp, dry grasses, and the stillness of a mid-afternoon, the dry heat abounded. These things were etched into his memory forever and he knew that what he sought in life, more than happiness or contentment, was a return to this mythical past. He thinks of many of the mythical pasts we peg our contentedness, our senses of self-worth, our desires, our pains to and watches as the sparrows huddle against each other in the ever-increasing winter winds.

He knows that the memories he dredges up from his past are probably far different from what actually happened, that the contexts are lost, the full range of senses that accompanied each of his actions. His pasts become present through this yanking up and through time of these temporal moments that he commits. Today though, whether past or present, these moments offer condolement against the discord that erupts from the gritty, snow-covered streets of Brooklyn below and he sits, coffee in hand, as a being of remembered pasts.

Someone suggested this looked like it was taken from the point of view of the prey, and exuded a feeling of feral panic. Not exactly what I was aiming for, but it kinda fits. And feral panic just sounds cool, so we’ll go with that

Another lovely use of the Lensbaby, which I took out for a walk recently at a nature preserve in Danby. More to come!

वृक्ष:..असना, बहेरा, बकैन, भिलवा, हर्र, कैमा या कैम, कंजी, किरियारी(अमलताश), नेवरा, पियामन, भिल्लर, सिहोरा, तेन्दू, बनबेरा, गोहलौरा, भटवास या कटु, चमरौधा, गन्धैला, झाऊ, करौन्दा, मैनफ़ल, रोहड़ी, रूसा, आइला, बेन्त, दूधीबेल, हडजोड़िया, कंजा, मकोई,

घास:…पनहर या चरनी, सिवरा, मकरा, अकरा, अकसा, मुनुमुन, मड़ौरा, कोदरौली, नागरमोथा या भादा, तिपतिया, हिरनखुरी, कुकुरौधा, झरूआ, मड़ुआ, सिलवारी, नारी, चिन्ना, पसाही, चौधरा, रामबांस

बेल:. कौड़िल्ला, कौआगोड़ी, गुर्च, ,…………………………………..

मेरी मां बताती है कि मैनफ़ल के फ़ल का प्रयोग सिरदर्द में किया जाता है, पियामन की जड़ व हड़जोड़िया के पौधे का औषधीय महत्व है।

ज्ञान की हो रही चोरी या फ़िर हम निकम्में है!

एक बात और हमारी इस प्राकृतिक विरासत का अध्ययन अपनी भाषा में हो और उसे संरक्षित किया जाय ताकि उससे कोई विदेशी चोरी न कर सके, दुनिया को हम बतायें कि हमारे यहां ये वनस्पति है जिसका महत्व फ़ला बीमारी में है जो कि आधुनिक मेडिकल साइन्स में लाइलाज है और इसका पेटेंट भी हमारा हो, किन्तु ऐसा नही है क्योंकि विदेशियों ने हमारे सभी ग्रन्थो का अनुवाद सैकड़ों वर्ष पहले कर लिया और उस ज्ञान का लाभ उठाया, और आज भी हम जो भी कर रहे है उन्ही की भाषा में और हम ठीक से अपनी बात विश्व मंच पर कहे इससे पहले वह इस ज्ञान को अपने तरीके से परिभाषित कर दुनिया के आगे परोस देते हैं।

क्योकि कोई भी वनस्पति संपदा की चोरी कर सकता है किन्तु उस वनस्पति के गुण-दोष को आसानी से नही जान सकता जब तलक हम उसे न बताये और यदि जान भी जाये तो उसका प्रयोग किस तरह और कहां करना है ये वह नही जान सकता बल्कि हमारे पूर्वज सदियो से इन प्रयोगों को दोहरते आयें सफ़लता पूर्वक यानी मेडिसिन टेस्टिंग।

जहां तक मैं सोच पा रहा हूं भारत के गांव, कस्बे व शहरों के नाम उनकी भौगोलिक स्थिति, इतिहास, व वनस्पतियों की बहुतायात में उपलब्धता के आधार पर रखे गये जिसमें गांवों के नाम तो भौगोलिक व पेड़-पौधों की उपस्थिति के आधार पर अधिक आधारित है, जैसे ऊपर दिये गये पौधो व घास के आधार पर यदि मै अपने जनपद व आस-पास के जनपदों के गांवों के नामों का मिलान करे तो क्या महोली, मड़ौरा, कौड़िल्ला, कैमा, आदि ये वनस्पति भी है और गांवों के नाम भी इसके अलावा क्या मैनफ़ल का अपभ्रंस मैनहन नही हो सकता। क्योकि मैं तमाम गांवों को जानता हूं जहां पाई जाने वाली वनस्पति के आधार पर उनके नाम है ये अलग बात कै की कालान्तर में वे प्रजातियां विलुप्त हो गयी, राजा-महाराजा या धर्मिक व्यक्तियों के नाम पर गांव व शहरॊं के नाम रखना काफ़ी बाद में प्रचलित हुआ और कुच नवीन गांवों पर यह बात ज्यादा लागू होती है, अकबरपुर, मोहम्मदपुर, आदि आदि ऐसे भी तमाम गांव मेरे जनपद में है और कुछ तो अधिकारियों के नाम पर भी जैसे सरैया विलियम, थारन्टन स्मिथ आदि आदि।

हमारे जानवर

उपरोक्त में तमाम घासे है जो समाप्त हो चुकी है विकास के नाम पर और वो जगहे भी जहां ये उगती थी और इनमे पौष्टिक तत्वों के अलावा औषधीय तत्व भी थे जो हमारे मवेशियों को ताकत के अतिरिक्त उन्हे स्वस्थ्य भी रखते थी अब सरकार और हमारे लोग कहते है कि दुग्ध उत्पादन बढ़ाया जाय तो बताइए यह कैसे संभव होगा क्योंकि अब न तो चरागाह और न ये वनस्पतियां जिन्हे जानवर खाते थे।

तो क्या अब दुग्ध व्यवसाय फ़ार्मी मुर्गा पालन की तरफ़ तब्दील हो रहा है सोचिये एक छोटे से दबड़े में बधें ये जीव जिन्हे सूखा भुसा और आक्सीटोसिन का इन्जेक्शन नसीब होता है खाने के नाम पर, सरकार के इस दवा पर रोक लगाने के बावजूद!

ये तमाम नाम जिन्हे अब हमारी नई पीढ़ी नही जनती और ये शब्द स्थानीय होने के कारण आप को किसी अन्तर्राष्ट्रीय शब्दकोष में भी नही मिलेंगे, चूकि आजादी के बाद भारत सरकार ने उन तमाम चीजों का डाकूमेन्टेशन नही किया जिसे अग्रेज करते रहते थे यह एक विडम्बना ही है!

तो अब कैसे पहचानेगें हम इन दुर्लभ पौधों को जो अनगिनत औषधीय गुणों से युक्त है?

क्योंकि अग्रेजों ने जो ग्रन्थ तैयार किये थे वो अब बहुत पुराने हो चुके है और उनमे दिये हुए देशी नाम जो स्थानीय बोलियों में है अब बदल चुके है हमारे जनमानस में जैसे रोहीणी अब रोहनिया हो चुकी है, रूसा रुशाहा, सिहोरा, सिहोरिया, पतेर, पतौरा, और तमाम चीजों के तो नाम ही बदल चुके है हमारी बोली-बानी में, हमें जो बताया गया हमने वो किया सरकार ने कहा हाईब्रिड बीज बोईए तो हमने वही किया, उसने जंगल काटे और विदेशी प्रजातिया रोपी, तालाब पते बिल्डिग बनी, कहा गया कि पेस्टीसाइड का इस्तेमाल करो, फ़र्टिलाइजर डालॊ हमने किया, अब वही लोग कहते है कि देशी फ़सले उगानी चाहिये, कीटनशाक और फ़र्टिलाइज़र का इस्तेमाल नही या कम करना चाहिये, जंगल लगाइए आदि आदि अब हम जब सब खो चुके है कहां है देशी असल बीज जिन्हे हम रोपे, कहां है …………

अब न तो गावों में वनकिया बची है न ही जंगलियां तो फ़िर अचानक वन या जंगल कैसे प्रगट हो जायेगें?

कृष्ण कुमार मिश्र

मैनहन-२६२७२७

भारतवर्ष

सेलुलर-९४५१९२५९९७

Female mallard duck, Anas platyrhynchos, in the grasses alongside the Ottawa River in Ottawa, Ontario.

Web site: www.robhuntley.ca
Click on the image to go straight to the same image on my website.

The Optimist’s Garden

Autumn Clean-up

It’s autumn in the garden, so I’m done.  Right? 

Wrong.  It’s time to put the garden to bed and prepare for spring.  If winter ever comes, that is. . .            

It’s tempting to look at the ruin in October and November with arms akimbo, sigh in exasperation, and leave it for spring.  To do so would allow the ground ivy to scramble at will and the wild violets to multiply promiscuously.  Such promiscuity wreaks havoc to the purity of a bed of choice perennials.                  

My first consideration is seed gathering.  Some annuals are far too easy to grow from seed to purchase as plants.  Among them are cosmos, marigolds, and most annual vines.  When you gather the seed pods, separate the seeds and lay them out to dry.  Then put them in a container where they will remain dry, relatively cool, and out of sight until April, when you can scatter them with a light covering of warm soil in situ. 

Pull up and toss the annual plants into the compost bin along with all those pesky leaves.    If you shread the garden debris, it will break down faster into black gold.  Some people put it directly on the garden as cheap mulch; however, while it will indeed inhibit some weeds and break down and enrich the soil, it can also cause disease and harbor seeds that need only a little sunlight to germinate.             

Next, deadhead or cut to the ground perennials that have gone to seed.  Most of those beauties are hybrids and will not grow true to the form of the parent plant.  That ‘Kim’s Kneehigh’ echinacea which grew to a diminutive eighteen inches could very well morph into a three-foot ‘Magnus’ if it self-seeds.  Leaving the seedheads for the birds sounds good in theory, but in fact those seeds promise many  unwanted plants.  And don’t forget that a weed is anything that grows where you don’t want it.                   

Which perennials to leave for winter interest depends on the taste of individual gardeners.  Certainly leave the sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ for its golden blooms, but even that begins to flop over.  I like to cut them back because sedum is the first perennial in my garden to emerge in the spring, sometimes as early as February.  The grasses are beautiful in the winter, with the dried plumes and browning blades moving gracefully with just a whisper of wind.  However, even grasses can create unwanted debris because they tend to break off and litter the garden.  Whatever you choose to do, be sure to cut grasses to about six inches before new growth begins in early spring.          

There’s no avoiding the bane of every gardener’s life—weeding.  If you dig the root rather than merely pulling the foliage, you can save yourself many hours of weeding in the future.   In the frenzy of cutting and weeding, avoid pruning trees and bushes in the fall.  Pruning encourages tender new growth that will fall victim to the first killing frost and perhaps risk the health of the plant.                  

Of course, leave plants that keep their foliage throughout the winter, although it’s a good idea to clip the dead undergrowth that could rot in cold dampness and encourage disease.  Among this category are heucheras, hellebores, and arum.                  

In theory you can plant perennials whenever the ground is not frozen, but they really need time to begin establishing a root system before the chill of winter brings on dormancy.  Gardeners usually advise planting perennials in our zone after Easter and before Halloween.   Whenever you dig in your new babies, throw a little root stimulator at them to begin building a good foundation for vulnerable new plants.                  

Ah!  Now comes the crowning task, and the most rewarding one at that—mulching.  I like pine needles rather than shredded or chipped wood because it breaks down faster, is cheaper, and doesn’t encourage termites.  Whatever you use, remember that it provides a blanket for your garden from the most punishing temperatures, discourages weeds, and adds a beautiful, finished look.                  

So you’re done.  You have only to stand in your garden, again with arms akimbo, this time with satisfaction in the knowledge that all except the most cold-hardy sorts will be gathering strength during dormancy in preparation for the spring show. Then you can say, as did Robert Frost, “Goodbye, and Keep Cold.”                    

Like my favorite gardener-poet Robert Frost, I leave my winter garden to the vagaries of the season, knowing, “One thing about it, it must not get warm. . . [but] Something has to be left to God.”  To that I must add what someone else once said:  “Some say the world cannot be lost as long as it is touched by Frost.”  -FG

Grasses and gum trees in winter

A couple of days ago I took a short drive back into time….to places remembered….places loved…places that shaped part of me….

My Childhood Home

The Mill

A distant past

 And I saw another house that day…. My Aunt and Uncles House…  where I was also a loved child… who loved to be held in my Aunt Isabels lap… her tenderness…her love…. Where I followed my Uncle Orival out into his garage where he taught me the names of tools… where I bothered him with questions… which he always answered with great patience…. where he took time to show me what my own father would have shown me had he lived…  this was a house where I leaned to like tomato gravy…  where I acquired brothers even though I was a single… John, Jerry and Dennis… One left far too early… Jerry and Dennis are still my brothers… I helped them bury their parents…as they helped me bury mine… we are now the eldest generation…. we now try to carry on with the courage of our parents… who did the best they could do with what they had…which was very little….

And I drove on looking not for blessings but finding them any way….

And I drove ….  enjoying the fall air…cool…fresh… fragrant…  passing the brown fall grass… noisy with the cacaphony of birds….thankful for the beauty of the seasons change….  soon to be Thanksgiving…then the celebration of our Lord’s birth.. Christmas….. And I continued to find things for which to be grateful…..

Colors of Fall

Blue

One of the strange things about living in the world is that it is only now and then one is quite sure one is going to live forever and ever and ever.

One knows it sometimes when one gets up at the tender solemn dawn-time and goes out and stands alone and throws one’s head far back and looks up and up and watches the pale sky slowly changing

and flushing and marvelous unknown things happening until the east almost makes one cry out and one’s heart stands still at the strange unchanging majesty of the rising of the sun-which has been happening every morning for thousands and thousands and thousands of years.

Photos taken by: Joanna Etshokin

Text written by: Frances Hodgson Burnett (1911: THE SECRET GARDEN)

the pond grasses have turned from green to golden, tugging at my seaside roots

Kelly Salasin

There is nothing quite as magical as taking a walk through the suburbs in the midst of Autumn. The lighting, textures and colors truly make your senses come alive.

Trapped

Nothing endures but change. ~~ Heraclitus

I’ve added a list of species recorded in the Wagga area since March of this year. It is available (as are all other lists) from the “Links” section on the left-hand column.

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The vegetation surrounding Lake Albert is in places quite dense, and probably consists of several hundred species of plant. There is no chance of my ever documenting it thoroughly, but I hope through a series of posts to give a general idea of the sorts of plants likely to be encountered. At the same time I intend to point out a few of the interesting animals that may be spotted there from time to time.

Even a cursory examination of the lake’s flora reveals the presence of many introduced species, some of them highly invasive. They are a mixture of escaped ornamentals (Patterson’s Curse, Echium plantagineum, being the most well-known) and pasture grasses. I have made a special effort to locate and photograph the native species, but these posts will inevitably be dominated by exotics (indicated by an asterisk).

Bluebell (Wahlenbergia sp.)

 

Jersey Cudweed (Pseudognaphalium luteoalbum)

 

This is one of many species of plant with the word ‘weed’ in its name, despite actually being native.

Knotweed (Persicaria sp., formerly Polygonum sp.)

 

This is another one.

Windmill Grass (Chloris truncata)

 

This is a common and widespread native grass (according to PlantNet it is found in every botanical subdivision of NSW). The image shows it flowering, which it does opportunistically in response to rainfall.

Patterson's Curse (*Echium plantagineum)

 

Capeweed (*Arctotheca calendula)

 

These two are the most conspicuous and prolific of the weeds in the Wagga area. They tend not to be actively managed, probably because there is simply no hope of getting them under control. A recent spraying within Livingstone National Park may have had some success in reducing the Capeweed population there.

Medic (*Medicago sp.)

 

There are a number of Medicago species that are difficult to separate without close examination. There is no such thing as a native medic, however.

Wild Oats (*Avena fatua)

 

Tall, drooping exotic grass. Extremely prolific in the area (Willans Hill is covered in it) but less colourful than Capeweed and Paterson’s Curse, and hence less conspicuous.

Narrow-Leaf Clover (*Trifolium angustifolium)

 

Hare's-Foot Clover (*Trifolium arvense)

 

Paradoxa Grass (*Phalaris paradoxa)

 

Phalaris paradoxa is another major pasture weed. There are a number of similar Phalaris species in the area.

Shaggy Ink Cap (Coprinus comatus), aka Lawyer's Wig

 

Shaggy Ink Cap (Coprinus comatus), aka Lawyer's Wig

 

Many interesting and unusual species of fungus are found in the damp ground around the lake. The first picture shows a young Shaggy Ink Cap fruiting body. The second shows an older member of the same species, close to completing auto-digestion. This process can take only a few hours (according to Australian Fungi – A Blog) or up to 36 hours (A Field Guide to the Fungi of Australia, A. M. Young, 2005). Eventually only a stem and an inky black blob will remain.

Water-Rat (Hydromys chrysogaster)

 

This sighting was a one-off. Lake Albert seems like an unusual choice of habitat for a Water-Rat: too open, and too many predators (seven species of raptor have been recorded in the area). They are typically seen in closed-in bodies of water with convenient hiding places, like Wollundry or Flowerdale Lagoon.

More to come.