Bannockburn

Our plant survey at Bannockburn was rewarding because the area along the creek yielded lots of species for us to argue over. This one in particular was tricky. We didn't have enough references with us to solve the problem, but once we got home and put the photos up on the screen and pulled Flora Vic off the self we were in business. Our guess at Daviesia ulicifolia Gorse Bitter-pea was right. The problem was caused because, as Flora Vic says, it's "an extraordinarily variable species". Our plant had spiny phyllodes but they were very hairy and the books didn't mention that, it was growing low to the ground and the books said it was a shrub, and we didn't have any pods - Bitter-peas have triangular shaped pods.

There were a few orchid leaves hidden in the grass but very few orchids flowering. We found one patch of the Golden Moths Diuris chryseopsis standing proud and looking brilliant. These orchids didn't grow in the area where I grew up and I remember being overcome by their beauty when I first saw them. They're relatively common in the grasslands around Geelong.