Flora

In a country with such diverse climatic and geographic aspects, it is to be expected that Australian flora would also show a marked diversity.

Of all the Australian trees, the eucalyptus is the one most people recognise. There are 500 species of the eucalyptus, growing mainly in a broad belt along the northern, eastern, southeastern, and southwestern coastlines. The ghost gums, which figure so prominently in the paintings of the famous aboriginal artist Albert Namatjira, are found in the ranges of central Australia and the Northern Territory.

Eucalyptus trees belong to the myrtle family and are often incorrectly referred to as gum trees, a name more properly used for a smooth-barked species.

Eucalyptus means "well covered," and this refers to the cap that covers each bud until the flower opens. Eucalyptus trees are hardy and have been exported to all parts of the world. (see also Eucalyptus.)

The acacia, or wattle, owes its name to the early English settlers, who built their huts in wattle-and-daub style from acacia twigs and mud. Australia has more than 620 native species of acacia. They belong to the Leguminosae, or pod-bearing, family. The wattles are attractive trees which burst into bright yellow blossoms in spring.

A less-attractive acacia is the mulga. This small tree grows over thousands of square miles of the sparsely populated, arid inland areas of Australia. The slang term "out in the mulga" refers to the distant outback areas. Aborigines had a variety of uses for the mulga. Its wood provided slow-burning fuel for their cooking fires and was also used to make spear blades. Its seeds were ground into flour to make cakes. The golden wattle is the most familiar of the acacias to Australians. It is the country's floral emblem. There is even a recognised Wattle Day, which is be celebrated on August 1st.

As well as eucalyptus trees and acacias, there are widely varying pines and palms and hundreds of ferns in Australia. The big Moreton Bay figs and cedars and the beautiful flame trees--an explosion of bright red--are all impressive.

No less impressive are the country's wild flowers. The rich crimson flower heads of the tall, many-stemmed waratah make a bright flash in the forest. The flower heads are usually more than four inches across and consist of numerous individual flowers, amassed into a dense terminal head. The waratah shrub varies in height from 4 to 12 feet, with stiff, dark-green leaves from six to eight inches long. Waratah is the aboriginal word for "shrub." The flower is the state emblem of New South Wales and is confined to that state.

The quaint red-and-green kangaroo paw is found exclusively in the western regions of the country and grows profusely in and around Perth. The furry flowers, aptly named because of their resemblance to a kangaroo's paw, are borne on a woolly stem from two to three feet high. The bottlebrush and the banksia are two other well-known Australian flowers. Many of the rarer native flowers are protected by law.
© 1993, Compton's New Media, Inc.