Welcome to the Not-weeds (and some weeds) Page 4¶

Introduction¶

I participate in dune and bushcare restoration activities, covering areas from Stumers Creek north of Coolum Beach south to Twin Waters/North Shore on the Maroochy River.

I have a blog page that shows records of weeds seen, being scans of a weeding log-book I (briefly) maintained for a while.

Then I realized that while I was concentrating on learning the scientific species names of the weeds I saw, I had been ignoring the Australian native plants. So I set myself the goal of learning one Latin scientific name a week, documentating with photos taken during my weeding stints. Caution: assigment on names of the species is my own, guided by the Council specialists, and iNaturalist.

A previous page covering some of the native plants is https://coolum001.github.io/notweeds.html

Having recently attend a lecture and field walk run by Rusty Linnane, the author of the excellant book Weedlings and Seedlings: A Field Guide to Seedling Identification for Bush Regeneration, expect to see more photos of small seedlings

Morton Bay Fig (Ficus macrophylla)¶

The photos below were taken of a single young tree on the top of sea-facing high dune on my patch which I am pretty sure is a Morton Bay fig. It has the mily sap when a stem is broken open.

Images¶

Flowers¶

Closeup of leaves.

Compact form¶

I suspect the wind from the sea has shaped this form

Brazial nightshade (Solanum seaforthianum)¶

I found this vine growing in casuarina trees on landward slope of coastal dune. iNaturalist says it is Solanum seaforthianum

Definitely a weed!

Flowers and seeds¶

Flame tree (Brachychiton acerifolius)¶

Small unusual sapling growing at top of a coastal dune under banksia and casuarina canopy (iNaturalist says it is Brachychiton acerifolius)

This may represent a trend: I have seen another one of these (much larger) in the coastal area, but it is really a North Queensland species. There is some conjecture that climate change (increased humidity, etc) may be making it more friendly for tropical species down here.
Almost certainly, the seeds for this came from a suburbian garden

Distinctive leaves¶

Lantana (Lantana camara)¶

Small lantana bush on top of coastal dune, partially covered by Wollastonia vine. Good news is that Lantana usually has very shallow roots, making manual uprooting feasible

Definitely a weed!

Flowers and serrated leaves¶

Flowers closer up¶

The casuarinas at the middle distance were the ones that the Brazilian nightshade vine growing over

Beach Alectryon (Alectryon coriaceus)¶

Small seedling growing on landward slope of coastal dune under open canopy. iNaturalist agrees it is Alectryon coriaceus

Leaves¶

Dense thicket¶

When fully grown in the dune environment, it can form dense thickets

Fighting your way through that isn't much fun

Tape vine (Stephania japonica )¶

Small seedling growing on landward slope of coastal dune under open canopy. iNaturalist agrees it is Stephania japonica

Notice each leave grows from a stalk, and is not directly attached to the vine. This distinguishes it from Passiflora suberosa (Corky Passion), which is a weed

Leaves¶

Turkey Berry (Solanum torvum )¶

Small open shrub growing on landward of coastal dune under open canopy. Small 5 petal white flower. iNaturalist thinks it might be Solanum torvum: the flowers match, but the leaves look different?

Turkey berry has been introduced and naturalized throughout tropical Africa, Asia, Australia, and the Pacific Islands

Leaves¶

Flowers and fruit¶

More to come!¶

I will continue to push out more like this web page, as I learn the names of more native vegetation species