August is ‘Wattle Month’ with so many favourites brightening the bush. Golden Wattle, Acacia pycnantha, and Myrtle Wattle, A. myrtifolia, are familiar species but there are also several lesser-known wattles adding different shades of yellow to the district.
Bellbrae Reserve is home to a straggly small shrub, Ploughshare Wattle, A.gunnii, with interestingly shaped stiff phyllodes.
Ploughshare Wattle bush
These flattened leaf stalks are triangular with sharp pointed tips that are not to be argued with. The globular winter flowers are cream to pale yellow.
Ploughshare Wattle flowers
Juniper Wattle, A. ulicifolia, is another straggly shrub, taller than the Ploughshare Wattle, with similar stiff, sharply-pointed but narrower phyllodes crowded on the stems, making them equally unfriendly, but not to birdlife. This rare species was first located in damp areas along Haggarts Track but encouragingly it has recently been found on drier slopes as well. The creamy to yellow globular flowers can be seen in winter and spring.
Juniper Wattle
Gail Slykhuis