It was a pleasant autumn morning when eighteen people made their way in cars up the steep gravel track to the top of the hill in Gilbert St, Aireys Inlet. Our quest was to identify the plant species that were emerging following the fuel reduction burn in March 2023.
Margaret explained how vegetation regrows after fire – resprouting, seeding, or epicormic growth on trees
Field guides, plant lists and pencils were distributed and we made our way into the Great Otway National Park.
Sign at entrance to Park
Luckily there were enough Angair members with plant knowledge to help identify the plants – some well developed and some just emerging. Margaret and Gail were able to help with some of the less obvious identifications.
Digby was proud that he was able to recognise and tick off Silky Guinea-flower
Heidi and Mandy checking one of the small plants
There were just so many to see – our plant list climbed to over sixty species.
We have included just a few:-
Holly Lomatia growing in front of Austral Grass-tree bearing spent flower spikes
Myrtle Wattle seedling showing juvenile and adult leaves
Horny Cone-bush – clearly a resprouting specimen
A group of small Bush-pea plants
The easily recognisable Running Postman
A cluster of Hidden Violets
Honeypots with unusual growth of flowers from base of plant
Fruit from Messmate (left) Brown Stringybark (right)
And yes we did manage to find some plants in flower:
Tiny red trumpet-like flowers of Cranberry Heath
Beautiful bushes of Prickly Broom-heath
And of course we just had to find at least one species of orchid!
A few Tiny Greenhoods on the edge of the track
It was such a delight to be in the field with so many interested people and we look forward to returning to the site to see what happens in the spring and in future seasons. We apologise to the many other plants we found but have not featured.
Text and photos: Marg MacDonald