WO UW car and walked. 

 LlV , |Ik hus made it up die hill 

 J on. iHnch spot, bill wc would have 

 many interesting things had 

 wC missed (hut walk. 



aigain our route look us ituouuh 

 Mftxi hut h very diirercnt forest 

 from vestcrday. The eiicalypts were 

 m0 s,!ly Mount. i in C'irey Cium . Swamp 

 Oaiift White Slringyhark again, 

 and River Peppermint". 



[here were extensive patches of 

 ,l,c Derweni Speedwell with its 

 small white flowers gathered into 

 lung cone-shaped heads, and many 

 Howets and plants familiar to us. A 

 vtrv inlerestini- find was the Wombat 

 Berry in llower. "I he pendant ]t 

 flowers were a very pale mauve, die 

 three inner perianth members WSt 

 fringed, and the stamens formed a 

 projecting vellow tube m the centre. 

 During the VWK* we louml more of 

 these climbers bearing the familial 

 h oraagC fcWIlS, but few of us had 

 seen the flowers before Although 

 the hemes are far more conspicuous 

 lhan ills- flowers, tlie latter would be 

 h;nd to heat lor dehtaey of colour 

 and form. 



Further on we found the strikingly 

 unusual lloweis of Hc.irdcd Tylo- 

 phora The plum -coloured 



flowers were limiting in loose clus- 

 ters, the five pointed petals, edged 

 with line hairs, formed a very precise 

 glar In the centre were small raised 

 parts making a darker star; and in the 

 centre of that wits a tiny, hlum-poinled 

 while star. This geometrical appeal - 

 ancc recalled the llower of Hoya. and 

 we discovered that they both belong 

 lo the family. Asdepiadaccae. All 

 me c'beis of this family have a com- 

 r"lK..i.-d system of pollination — 

 iomet.im-s as involved as the pullina- 

 l.un of orchids — and the inner sins 

 nl Tylophurn nrc part Ol that svs 

 1em At vatious places during: the 



May, W71 



week wc saw more of these scramb- 

 ling plants with their opposite leaves, 

 but never <igain did we see the 

 flowers. 



A large goanna with zcbra-sti iped 

 legs attracted comments, and every- 

 one stopped to look at an unusual 

 moih. The wings were a bright lighi 

 green and biscuit, the large ureas of 

 each colour hemg separated b\ a tine 

 white line; the legs were very broad. 

 ,,nd ihe body had a blunt. Itirned-up 

 end. About \\" long, it was hnng- 

 ine motionless from a Made of grass. 



The car had taken our lunches to 

 a spot where ihe road met lliC 

 creek. Ibis S-bend of Tonghi Creek 

 was chock-a-block with plants, large 

 MM) small, and of wonderful variety 

 Multonwood : ' carried its match-head 

 si/c cream balls closely packed along 

 ihe stems. Twiggy Heath -my rlbr* 

 crowded against the bridge with 

 masses of 3 8" white llowers. while 

 Lilly-pilly^ carried its nondescript 

 flowers in large loose clusters, and 

 another member of the myrtle lamily 

 pu/vlcd US lor a while as it had 

 neither (lowers not fruit. It was 

 Kanooka". In Vicioria. Kanooka 

 ncuirs only in easl Gippsland bui it 

 continues inio NSW and Queens- 

 land. There were tnanv plants more 

 rcadilv recognised and it was intei- 

 estmg to see Sweel Pittosporum ■ m 

 its natural habitat instead of as a 

 suburban hedge. 



Climbers seemed lo be every- 

 where. W'Ollga Vine displjved its 

 large, creamy, red-throated bells. The 

 lOUgh. conspicuously-veined leaves ol 

 Smilas were very noticeable and al 

 last we came on clusters of the hluc- 

 hlack benics Water Vine"' was also 

 c.imIv iccogniscd by its leaves — about 

 4" loiiv in a palmate formation. 



M.-isscs ol the small Rock Felt- 

 fern" were growing on an old lice 

 irunk — not on rocks. Who bin the 



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