tropicbreeze

"Progress" is detrimental to some but benefits others. Looks like under the changes Drosera auriculata were among the winners.

A lot of Ficus are used in Bonsai, that might be what you're looking for. Ficus oinkinowensis, however, tends to be small and shrubby naturally. Otherwise Ficus are usually fairly large.

One of the early wet season Drosera, part of the Petiolaris Complex. Interestingly, in an area about 1 kilometre long by 100 metres wide (between canopied woodland forest and wet season inundated ground) it almost carpeted the ground and was the only Drosera present. Habitat: generally open area with very little or no canopy, soil a sandy loam with lateritic gravel sometimes with scattered larger lateritic rocks.

@Luis I went through ll the photos but there weren't any habitat photos amongst them, sorry.

They all come from different places, say within 50 kms, so there is variation in the appearance of the habitats. I'll go through photos and see what I can find.

I like Drosera early in the morning when the dew is heavy and the sun starts to come onto them. Great photos.

Just off the top of my head there's also leptorhyncha, nivea, and minutissima. And if you want to go extra small there's simmonsii.

I've often wondered about effects resulting from road construction. The run off water has motor oil and micro particles of wearing tyres. There's also erosion and sedimentation resulting from the earth works which continues for some time. None of that can't be good for these delicate environments. We need the roads and we need the environment. It's a delicate balancing act.

The M. beccarii I found had spines on the caudex which apparently is unusual for the region they were in. I never did an extensive search through the area so don't know whether those were just a small isolated group. I have found Dischidia in Papua New Guinea which were ant plants. In Australia I've only found Dischidia nummularia which wouldn't be an ant plant.

Possibly no one currently active on this site grows them but I do come across mention of some of them on other forums, infrequently though. I have found Myrmecodia beccarii growing wild but have never tried to grow it myself.

Nice plant. I've never found white flowered plants. Only those with mauve flowers.

Cplover, this is an extract from the herbarium publication on floodplain flora of the Darwin region: "In Australia found in W.A., N.T., Qld, N.S.W. Grows in shallow fresh water, often being caught on floating debris. In the N.T. localities include Arafura Swamp, a swamp at Pukitarmarloo Point (Bathurst Island), Fogg Dam, Girraween Lagoon and floodplains of the Finniss and Reynolds rivers." But I suspect it's more common than that. Problem is it prefers permanent water but that is where you'll also get crocodiles. People don't usually like poking their heads into places like that so lots of plants are probably not seen. I haven't seen any around, but I'm always very careful around water and don't take unnecessary risks.

Thanks Karsty, I should have seen that myself. The name has been edited now. This morning minimum was 17.2C with relative humidity 92%, maximum this arvo was 34.2C with relative humidity 28%. Clear skies and sunny all day with light winds. Pretty typical for this time of year. I hear the UK has been getting hammered with dry/drought conditions, above average temperatures and bush fires. Not what you'd expect.

I just noticed (only one year late) that the last photo in the group under the label "Utricularia minutissima" is actually Utricularia geoffrayi.

It does look like it. There are a number of colour variations , check out this link: www.orchidspecies.com/scaphswertifolium.htm

My Selenicereus flowered for me last night, for the first time ever after 9 years. It's a S. chrysocardium, and I'd given up hope that it would ever flower. Got photos of it open but didn't think to measure the bloom. But today I measured the longest petals at 14 cms each (or are those longer, thinner ones really bracts?). It was half open by mid evening, fully open by midnight. No fragrance but sort of the smell of crushed vegetation. This morning it was closed right up. It is a pity the flowers are so short lived.

Thanks for the comments fellas. I've got photos from another site which I'll get sorted soon and post those.

Another one of the sites I visited on my wanderings this year. This site is about 3 kms north east of my place (as the crow flies) and is part of the catchment (upstream) of the creek on my place. The main interest here is Utricularia kimberleyensis as it's the only place I've found it locally. In a lot of surface flow of water over fine sand but also a lot of exposed lateritic rock. Slope was very slight but water depth was a good 50mm with good movement. Towards the end of the wet season as the surface water disappeared so too did the U. kimberleyensis. In much the same environment is utricularia limosa, although in water a bit shallower. Never saw it in the absence of surface water. A lot of Utricularia leptoplectra, again mostly standing in the stream of water but some just out of it. An insect (probably) had eaten through the stalk of some flowers hence the photo of the reverse (yellow) side. As everywhere, there's Utricularia nivea. Utricularia chrysantha is a late starter coming up in drier spots or where water levels have dropped. Colours are closer to those at my place rather than the pure yellow which seems most common elsewhere. Not many Drosera, most of those D. fulva. Drosera dilitatopetiolaris And only one Drosera aquatica. I suspect there's too much surface water flow.

Sorry, didn't see this until today. Bit difficult from the photo, but could be over watering. Apart from warmth, these like light airy soil that is moist but not wet or soggy. Another reason could be town water, the chemicals it contains can also result in spotting in the leaves. It's an Alocasia 'Poly', but travels under a lot of common names which are used commercially.

Over the past wet season I've made a few trips to local sites looking for CPs. At this site I was particularly looking for Utricularia singeriana but of course found others things of interest as well. The site is about 12 kms north west of my place "as the crow flies". It's close to a km long, east/west, and irregularly about 75 to 100 metres or so wide, north/south. It's divided by a locally major road (north/south running). The road was built up and a culvert constructed which now channels water into a creek bed nearer the road. Further down on the western side of the road the creek bed disappears into a flat seepage area which holds water to at least 50mm deep during the wet season. There's negligible canopy cover over the majority of the site. A very low ridge runs east/west along the northern side. Although overall the site is seasonally quite wet, there's more standing water on the west side of the road than on the east. Drosera darwinensis (or maybe D. brevicornis, no flowers = no positive ID). This was on the east side of the road, no standing water. Not many around, and none seen on the west side, perhaps too much water. Drosera dilitatopetiolaris. Quite common, more so on the western side. Also numerous plants where seepage was coming off the low ridge to the north. One plant was flowering, seemed unusually late in the season for them. Drosera aquatica. During a number of visits to this site I only ever found one D. aquatica, and quite late in the season. It was flowering amongst D. dilitatopetiolaris in the seepage off the northern ridge. Utricularia chrysantha. Only seems to show up late in the wet season and then becomes quite prolific. These were on the western side, on higher ground, damp but not soggy. They were all pure yellow, unlike the ones at my place which have darker orange in them. Utricularia involvens. Very numerous on both sides of the road. Seemed to like standing in water, but as the surface water began to disappear so did the plants. They are very prolific seeders. Utricularia leptoplectra. Common on both sides of the road. They liked to be in standing water but still seemed okay as the surface water disappeared. They did thin out a lot as it became drier, though not as much as the involvens or singeriana. Utricularia leptorhyncha. Only on the eastern side of the road. Seems it likes a thin film of surface seepage, but no more than that. Not many plants, all towards the higher (eastern edge) of the site. Utricularia limosa. Was only found on the eastern side of the site. Not a lot of plants, and only on wet soil, no standing water. However, in other areas I've seen them in shallow standing water. Utricularia nivea. Only found it on the edge of the northern ridge line. It was lower down than a lot of the Drosera dilitatopetiolaris but not to where there would have been standing water. Utricularia singeriana. The main purpose of coming to the area. Although there were some plants on the east side, on the western side they were en masse over about a half km of standing water. Other vegetation (grasses and sedges) was thick but the singeriana seemed happy amongst it. Their colour made them stand out. When the water dried out they rapidly disappeared. Utricularias singeriana and leptoplectra in typical habitat. Standing water is visible beneath the vegetation.

Dunc, sent you an email with info.

Looking around the past day there's lots of Drosera burmanni flowering. Seeing as I didn't post any flower photos of them before I'll add this one here. Other CPs I saw still flowering despite the dry weather were Drosera aquatica, D. fragrans, Utricularia chrysantha, plus only one U. nivea.

Doubled up post