The New England region is home to many Australian plants. Some are widespread while others are rare and found in isolated places. Many of our local rare plants are protected in reserves. Even protected rare plants can be a risk.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Frequent bushfires and weed invasion are just two factors that could put rare species at risk of extinction. We should endeavour to bring rare plants into cultivation.
Grevillea scortechinii is known as the backwater grevillea because one of its strongholds in the area near Guyra. The backwater grevillea is basically a ground cover with very long stems.
Plants will often use adjacent shrubs for support and clamber among the branches. This is unusual behaviour for a grevillea. The leaves are large, leathery deeply divided. They are crowned with sharp points. The flowers are toothbrush-shaped and black or dark maroon.
The backwater grevillea is considered to be rare and threatened with limited distribution. This grevillea could be pruned to form a dense ground cover.
Melaleuca tortifolia is confined to an area of New England National Park. This tall shrub will reach a height of four metres.
The bark is flaky and the leaves are two centimetres long, lance-shaped with a point. The flowers are in tight clusters about two centimetres long, white, sometimes pink. The flower heads are prominent but not as showy as other Melaleuca blooms. Spring is the flowering period.
Melaleuca tortifolia has dense foliage and may be used as safe nesting sites by small native birds. Hedges and windbreaks would benefit from the inclusion of this species.A number of Armidale gardeners are successfully cultivating this melaleuca.
Callistemon flavovirens is a spreading shrub that reaches a height of 1.5 metres. The leaves are six centimetres long, with raised glands on both surfaces.
They are widely spaced along the stems. Flower spikes are also six centimetres long and yellowish-green. Individual flowers mimic the leaves and are widely spaced in the spikes.
Callistemon flavovirens occurs in Boonoo Boonoo National Park near Tenterfield. There may also be a population near Torrington but this may prove to be a new rare species.
Callistemon flavovirens has attractive growth habit and flowers. This bottlebrush would be a worthwhile addition to native gardens and could ensure the survival of the species once in general cultivation. Because plants are rare does not mean they are difficult to propagate.
The three species are all relatively easy to grow from cuttings. Both the melaleuca and bottlebrush also grow very easily from seed.
