Family: SAPINDACEAE
Nature has many surprises for those of us who stop and look. A recent surprise, for me, came from a closer look at these two hopbushes.
They were on the roadside by Ghost Gate Road, between Allora and Goomburra (the road with the interesting local legend and owl sculpture). We had stopped on a low ridge to look at the rather lovely view to the west, when the hopbushes attracted our attention with their showy display of bright red hops.
Who would have thought that they would be two different species?
The one on the left is Dodonaea viscosa subsp. angustifolia. (See article below)
The other is Dodonaea tenuifolia. (Well, that's what I think it is. I had some trouble identifying it because the available descriptions don't all agree with each other. I'm open to further suggestions, if any reader would like to comment.)
Note that the leaf in the photo has six pairs of leaflets. This tended to vary considerably from leaf to leaf with some having as few as one leaflet, but six was fairly typical. The leaves were shiny, as shown, and close examination with a magnifying glass revealed that they were covered quite densely with white hairs.
The leaves were mostly 5-6cm long (including the petiole). They all have that rather large terminal leaflet, which seems to rather unusual for a Dodonaea.
The long-lasting, pretty, rose-pink, seed capsules of this plant have four wings, in contrast to the nearby D. viscosa subsp. angustifolia, plant whose capsules have three wings.
The plant has a neat growth habit, about 3m high, and with a trunk 60cm in diameter. It is a female plant (of course, as the male plants don't have seeds). We couldn't find any nearby plants, but there must be some, as the capsules, which are ripening this week (23 October) have seed in them. I collected some to be grown in the Crows Nest Community Nursery.
They were planted today, so you can look for them there in a few months' time.
very very interesting
ReplyDeleteMick
Yes, isn't it, Mick?
ReplyDeleteYou don't have any idea what it might be?
Trish
maybe dodonaea viscosa subsp ?????
ReplyDeleteherbarium will be more helpful I suspect.
It remains very interesting
Mick
Hi Mick. I've had a lot of conversations about this plant since, I first wrote the article - note the changes made! A reader pointed out that it matches the photo of D. tenuifolia in Mangroves to Mountains, which embarrassed me more than a little. I do usually look plants up in that excellent publication, but had overlooked it this time.I had first followed a few red herrings at first, which led me to think it couldn't possibly be tenuifolia.
ReplyDeleteI have discussed it with Glenn (whose photo it is) and several others, and we all seem to agree that there is a possibility that the herrings weren't really red, and it may still be the case that there is more than one plant out there that is being called D. tenuifolia. I have a specimen to take to the herbarium, so will see if there's anything more to be discovered there.
However, in the meantime I'm happy to call it tenuifolia.
Now what we need is an unambiguous common name.
Trish.
Isn't it absolutely the most fun thing, to find a plant that is unfamiliar. To sleuth it about, consult with friends, check reference books, send specimens to the herbarium and to feel complete satisfaction, when everything falls into place, and a positive identification is achieved.
ReplyDeleteIt is one of the reasons I love our native plants and our remnant wild places.
Mick
Yes indeed!
ReplyDeleteTrish