Page forty-two 
THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST 
July, 1952 
possible to see because of their character of 
blending with the surrounding vegetation. 
The first stop was made just before 
reaching Mount Compass township, and a 
small swamp adjoining the road was inves- 
tigated. The notable finds here were the 
insect-trapping bladder-wort ( Utricularia 
dichotoma), whose fragile purplish flowers 
are raised on long slender scapes, the club- 
moss (Lycopodium laterale), this State’s 
smallest rasp-wort (Halorrhagis micrantha ), 
and the swamp-heath (Sprengelia incar- 
nata ). 
The party was directed to take particular 
notice of areas of swamps such as this, as 
the district is rapidly being cleared and 
drained and the time is quickly approach- 
ing when we will have to move further 
afield to observe in its unspoiled condition 
the vegetation of peaty swamps. 
The juvenile leaves of Viminaria denu- 
data were pointed out to the party. It is 
truly a most remarkable thing that this 
plant should still retain traces of its original 
leguminous leaves after many millions of 
years; these true leaves are found at the 
bases of the young plants, later on their 
place being taken by the long thin petioles 
which carry on the function of leaves. 
Another living fossil is the clubmoss, 
which, in this State, is largely confined to 
peaty areas. This diminutive plant is now 
one of the survivors of a race of giant tree- 
like forms which once flourished on the 
earth, and from the partial decay of these 
much of the world’s coal has been formed. 
In the swamp the fertile spore-bearing 
leaves of Blechnum capense and Lindsaea 
linearis , two water-loving ferns, were com- 
pared with their ordinary sterile leaves. 
Now and again, we saw the beautiful 
clover, Trifolium pratense , which, though 
introduced, does not appear to be ousting 
the native plants. The same may be said 
of the bird’s-foot trefoil, whose scented 
yellow' flowers are to be seen in many moist 
places in the district. 
The most abundant plant was a Lepido- 
sperma which imparts to the swamp a very 
characteristic appearance or what the ecolo- 
gist calls a “facies.” Later on, we saw a 
rather different sort of facies at the Square 
Waterhole area, where a wattle and a tea- 
tree thrive along the creeks in the marshes. 
Some of the most interesting but less 
easily seen plants of this wet area of only 
a few acres were the dwarf Centrolepis 
strigosa, a sundew w r ith curious two-cleft 
leaves (Drosera binata), and the small 
plants of a Hypolaena , which, when it 
attains its true size in very w T et parts, de- 
serves the vernacular name of “swamp- 
tangle,” as it forms very dense intertwining 
masses. 
Moving along further to the other side 
of Mount Compass, our most profitable 
time w r as taken up in wandering over a 
swampy patch through which several drain- 
age channels run. 
We walked across a dry grassy paddock 
and came suddenly upon a scene which 
gave us one of those rare thrills, of which 
the naturalist retains precious memories. 
Along a fairly large channel grew masses 
of our rare coral-fern (Gleichenia circi- 
nata) and a profusion of a much commoner 
but nevertheless beautiful fern, Blechnum 
capense ; occasional tea-trees (Lepidosperma 
scopariuni) rose above the creek with their 
very leafy branches, and in the channel it- 
self was an abundance of the pretty pink 
spikes of Polygonum minus, these ming- 
ling with the yellow of the trefoil. 
In the water flourished the introduced 
Gratiola peruviana alongside the Lobelia 
anceps. 
It seemed as if all nature smiled; the sun 
shone, the flowers displayed their best, and 
a gentle breeze tempered the atmosphere. 
We were just content to stand there in 
the lovely place and absorb all the beauty 
around us. 
Naturally we left with reluctance, but 
some more surprises awaited us. Nearby 
we found the two orchids, the pygmy sun- 
dew' (Drosera glanduligera) (the full-grown 
plant is less than half an inch across and 
bore minute white flowers on stems as thin 
as a hair) and the larger white flowers of 
Drosera binata. 
Time goes on swift wings when one is 
occupied in examining the strange plants 
of the swamps, and we turned our foot- 
steps for the bus again. 
Earlier this year I noticed the tiny 
annual, Selaginella preissiana, in a swamp 
near Kuitpo Forest, and at the same time 
there w r ere numerous little Microtis , a green 
orchid which appears in swamps in the 
summer. 
It is essential for the diligent seeker of 
swamp plants to go down on his hands and 
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