YELLOW SWATHES….NOVEMBER–DECEMBER 2013

Capeweed

As Floriade drew thousands towards swathes of organised colour from overseas plant species, a pale yellow invasion covered open grassed areas. After two modest springs, Capeweed* seeds responded to the winters’ dampness by germinating in their millions. Even though they’re annuals they grow rapidly, taking space from grasses. Having stout stems Capeweed is useful for learning daisy-chain-making. The plants can be levered out of damp soil when young.

Capeweed’s pale-lemon flowers show the flower structure typical of blooms in the huge worldwide daisy family. A circle of colourful ‘petals’ attracts potential pollinators towards the flower’s centre and a reward for carrying and dispersing pollen. Capeweed flower-heads are composites of scores of tiny flowers each with the potential to produce seeds. The Capeweed plant’s fruit is covered with purplish rusty-brown ‘wool’ and it’s possible that several bird species are eating them now as they forage on nature strips.

‘Dandelions’

Dandelions* have many more individual flowers than Capeweed but are also circled by ray florets advertising to invertebrate pollinators. Their yellow flower-heads turn towards the sun. The ray florets and sepals close over the flowers by nightfall. On wet or less sunny days the pollen is protected by the flowers remaining closed.

Six weeks after Floriade closed, unmown nature strips and open spaces show swathes of dandelion-yellow from two similar species. Flatweed and Cat’s ears are far more common than Dandelions, raising their flower-heads above rosettes of leaves which take space from grasses and clovers. Cat’s ears are annual and may be easier to pull out of damp soil than Dandelions or Flatweed with their perennial deeper root systems.

All three have parachute-like seeds once the flowers are fertilised. They efficiently use breezes, wind and slipstreams to aid dispersal. I once counted 120–150 flowers on Flatweed flower-heads, which explains their successful invasions. Dandelion flowers are edible, which is one way of preventing them from seeding. Murnong or Yam Daisies provided Indigenous people with a staple starchy food and have flowers similar to Dandelions.

St John’s Wort

With stamens surrounded by five deep-yellow petals St John’s Wort (SJW) might initially resemble yellow daisies but their invasiveness is much more obvious. Paddocks and hillsides are covered in SJW-yellow now that the 2013 stems have grown up and through the rusty-brown stalks from last year’s massive flowering.

Some areas of Mt Rogers were sprayed for SJW. Now there is a need to tackle what has emerged from the soil or germinated since. Steve D has made a start on this using a less laborious back-pack-spray unit borrowed from Ginninderra Catchment Group and supplied chemical.

Mustard

Another pale yellow weed that is tough and quick growing is one of the Turnip Weeds, and their look-alike Hairy Mustard. They belong to another huge family, the Brassicaceae. If you’ve seen white butterflies visiting them you won’t be surprised to know they’re related to cabbages, cress, rocket and canola. They don’t form swathes but they certainly show their presence by growing above grasses to also announce their values to bees and other pollinating insects. The exception is Canola which is cultivated in massive paddocks beyond the ACT’s borders.

Paterson’s Curse

Not cultivated but also capable of producing swathes of colour, Paterson’s Curse (PC) can be photogenic for calendar scenes and useful to apiarists because bees seek out the flowers’ nectar. To others it is an extremely invasive weed and can be poisonous to livestock.

Mt Rogers has relatively few populations of PC. Our walkers have made a point of carrying gloves and pulling up young plants. We are now in a more structured phase where the plants are pulled up and bagged so the flowers can’t continue to set seed on the ‘hill’. For today’s working bee Angharad, Flemming, John and I concentrated on PC to the north of the Wickens Place car-park. Richard and Kirsty worked solo, pulling and bagging the plants they found elsewhere. We all found several Vipers Bugloss plants (like PC, originally from Europe) where we worked. Until now the Bugloss has tended to be a weed of higher country than Mt Rogers 704 m.

Both PC and SJW were the subject of much research to find biological control invertebrates. Sometimes evidence of the weevils and beetles can be seen on plants but the success of these introduced and much-tested controls has been patchy.

Rabbits & foxes

Reports of rabbit and fox sightings are continuing. In some cases there’s evidence of possible dens and definite rabbit scrapings. The foxes’ presence is particularly worrying because we have several ground-living and ground-nesting birds, but we have sighted Quail and Speckled Warblers this spring which is encouraging.

Working-bees

The hard-work highlight of 24^th November was cutting and daubing two large Pyracantha west of and down from the summit. They had thousands of young berries which we hope will cook to inedibility over the next few weeks. Ann, Flemming, Ivan and John and Rosemary showed persistence and tenacity; earlier Kathy worked with the team on other woody weeds. Anne intends to contribute through seek and destroy sorties for woody weeds when she can. Angharad also does volunteer landcaring at Mulligans Flat.

Living next to nature

This is the title of a new booklet from the Conservation Council. Its focus is on “being a good neighbour to the bush next door”. It complements the series of brochures for which Belconnen’s Treasures was the first title. Majura’s Treasures is the latest in the series with Molonglo’s Treasures to join those of Gungahlin and Tuggeranong as a way of finding out about natural and cultural heritage for each area.

Living Next to Nature is a good introduction to the knowledge and appreciation the Mt Rogers community already has and it’s an attractive way to pass on our feelings.

The season changes…

We are going through phases of different seasons each week if not each day. Unusual bird species are still turning up: Black Honeyeaters near Dunlop’s Jaramlee Ponds, and Painted Honeyeaters near Urambi. With many eucalypts in flower there may be “unusuals” on Mt Rogers even now. If you have the chance, mention the likelihood of snakes to newcomers with dogs. Enjoy the holiday period and a break from official landcaring!

Rosemary   Mt Rogers Landcare Group   

6258 4724   

02.12.13.

* Capeweed Arctotheca calendula, a native of South Africa. Asteraceae family.

* Taraxacum species cover several dandelion types.

* Cat’s ear Hypochaeris glabra and Flatweed H. radicata are European, of Mediterranean origin.

* St John’s Wort Hypericum perforatum. Native SJW is Hypericum gramineum.

* Turnip Weed Rapistrum rugosum and Hirschfeldia incana, from the Mediterranean region.

* Paterson’s Curse and Viper’s Bugloss. Echium plantagineum & E. vulgare. Native to Europe.