July, 1952 
THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST 
SECRETS OF THE SWAMPS 
By KEN DUNSTONE. 
ty.-one 
L 
“A person who spends his spare time 
fossicking in swamps for rare and unusual 
plants, whilst suffering the endless droves 
of mosquitoes and risking an encounter 
with a black snake.” What is the best 
definition of such a type? , 
I would venture the coined word “heleo- 
phile” which is simply the Greek for 
“swamp-lover.” 
I am proud to say that I belong to such 
a category of odd people. 
Some of my most pleasurable moments 
have been spent in oozy black mud up to 
my ankles, “hidden in the bulrushes,” and 
wearing little else but shorts and old sand- 
shoes, the best attire for such occasions. 
While hoping to find something new or 
rare, one has to keep the whole of one's 
attention on the ground, as it pays to be 
alert in snake-infested country. It is an 
easy matter to spoil an otherwise successful 
day by being a trifle too slow. 
“Full many a flower is born to blush 
unseen , 
And waste its sweetness on the desert 
air . . . . 
How familiar these lines are to us. How 
unpromising seems a clump of rushes as we 
approach it. Yet hidden within it may be 
some rarity or some floral gem which we 
did not dream was there. 
Waterways of any sort have always held 
an irresistible attraction for me, be they 
small, artificial channels or narrow, wind- 
ing creeks. I am always at home with 
water, even a temporary winter swamp 
sometimes holds surprises for the botanist, 
maybe a sedge new to him, or perhaps an 
introduced grass, all of these superficially 
uninteresting things helping him to extend 
his horizon. 
Supposing we follow some field botanists 
in their meanderings in strange marshy 
places where the only discovery for the day 
may be an unusual rush or sedge. 
We find that our botanists have decided 
to spend a few hours hunting in a salt- 
swamp. In such a locality, with its very 
common samphires of various species 
(mainly Arthrocnemum and Salicornia) 
and groups of white mangrove (Avicennia 
officinalis ), we will not linger very long, as 
we are anxious to get off to the fresh-water 
areas. We are near Ethel ton, and find that 
the rush, J uncus acutus, has spread con- 
siderably since our last visit. This rush is 
new to the area, having come from up 
North, apparently. 
Further south, at Fulham, we are search- 
ing again. This time we notice a penny- 
wort ( Centella Asiatica) growing in a small 
creek which is dry for most of the year. 
Then along the break-out channel, Rumex 
bidens is seen, its reddish swollen stems 
making a pleasant contrast with the more 
sombre greens and browns of the sedges 
and rushes. 
Our botanists, in addition to keeping a 
lookout for any features of scientific inter- 
est in even the commonest water-plants, 
have a most acute sense of the beautiful, 
and never tire of stooping to examine the 
tiny irregular flowers of Mimulus repens, 
or of surveying the well-ordered ranks of 
Typha , the bulrush, which has the common 
name of reed-mace. 
Low down on the ground, multitudes of 
swamp-buttons ( Cotula coronopifolia) 
brighten the margins of the pools, and the 
surface of the water a little way off is 
powdered with the pollen of Ruppia mari- 
tima , whose narrow grass-like leaves are 
found in many a brackish pool. 
Well, let’s leave our wanderers for the 
time being, while I give some details of a 
very recent excursion of the Field Natural- 
ists, a party of whom visited the Mount 
Compass swamps on January 28, 1952. 
The writer was with the party, who 
unanimously expressed their appreciation 
of the interesting variety of rare and beau- 
tiful plants seen. 
It was a really memorable day, the high- 
light undoubtedly being the finding, by 
members of the group, of the two “rara 
aves,” two most lovely and unusual orchids, 
the little “Ladies’ tresses,” ( Spiranthes 
sinensis ) with its spikes of spirally arranged 
flowers wrought with superb artistry as if 
from the finest pink china, and the equally 
uncommon Cryptostylis subulata , bearing 
yellowish-red “reversed” flowers almost ini- 
