Fungi, brought out by the lovely rain, were the most notable observations— 
where were our myeologists? A beauty with a glossy dark brown eap supported 
on an elegantly tall stem, Xerula australis (eommonly known as Rooting Shank 
for its long stem) eaught our eye at the top of the hill. Green Dermocybe were 
numerous and Gae strum (puffballs) plentiful. But what were the tall orange 
metallie ones draped with ehains? The ehildren seemed to know from some 
mysterious proeess of osmosis, that these were dise golf targets! 
At the top of the hill the bush-land opened up to a grassy pienie area and the 
rain stopped for five minutes while we had morning-tea under a shelter. 
Heading on downhill the vista opened before us over the Derwent, Mt Direetion 
draped in mist. 
Over seventy speeies of birds have been reeorded from this reserve. On the 
Saturday of our exeursion however, they were (rather sensibly) keeping a low profile. Our group only 
saw a Masked lapwing and heard ealls that we guessed might be emanating from Starlings and Musk 
Lorikeets. We all deeided that Poimena would be worth revisiting on a sunny day. Hobart has a number 
of small reserves tueked in among the suburbs—its worth knowing where they are. 
* Asterotrichion is a genus with one speeies endemie in Tasmania, A. discolor, and belongs to 
Malvaeeae, the Mallow family. Asterotrichion is a tree or large ereet shrub moderately eommon in 
eastern and south-eastern Tasmania. A speeimen of this shrub had eaught my attention earlier in the 
year beside Wiggins Road, Longley, when it was eovered in strongly seented flowers. Why don't we 
notiee this shrub more often? With leaves textured and eoloured a little like the more robust Pomaderris 
apelala it eould at a easual glanee be overlooked as a weedy speeimen of the latter, but the flowers and 
leaf vernation are quite different. Male flowers are showier than female flowers and are usually borne 
on separate plants. The shrub flowers from Mareh to May, but later in winter the female plant is the 
more eonspieuous, bearing elusters of spent flowers eontaining finit. The leaves are slightly drooping 
and dark green above while pale and woolly underneath. The name refers to the star-like hairs on young 
branehes and the different eolour of the upper and lower surfaee of the leaf 
Referenee: Glazik, R and Askey-Doran, M. 2004. Tasmanian Streambank Plants. 
Fungi [identified by Genevieve Gates from photos] 
[*= Fungimap targets speeies] Geastrum triplex 
"^Dermocybe austroveneta "^Xerula australis 
"^Amanita xanthocephala 
Macrolepiota clelandii 
Tatnells Hill — 5 Jul 2009 
Excursion report by Adrian Brettingham-Moore 
T’was a wet and windy 6°C as twenty-one of us 
bumped slid and splashed our way up to the Balts Road 
ear-park. Here we adjusted our kit and paeks for Fred 
Dunean’s guided tour through remnant rain forest, 
streaming ground water, and hail showers. The plant 
list grew steadily as we proeeeded; though as 
reeording delegate, sheltering his paper from the 
weather, your seribe was not in the van. We started in 
wet selerophyll, from Eucalyptus regnans into mainly 
E. delegatensis with some E. obliqua and some Acacia 
melanoxylon - with a promise of E. johnstonii later in 
the walk. The plant list (exeluding those already 
noted) follows, in order of observation along the traek: 
Cyathodes platystoma 
Callistemon pallidus 
Phyllocladus asplenifolius 
Acacia rice ana 
Riche a dracophyllum 
Notelea spp 
Tasmanian Field Naturalists Club BULLETIN 335 Jul 2009 p9 
