"Chookie" wrote in message
news:ehrebeniuk-4FC4BF.23180703042008@news...
In article ,
"Mark Wareing" wrote:

Have spent sometime looking through the http://florabase.dec.wa.gov.au/
for an ID of this native plant, don't really have enough data to input into a
search.

This image was taken in Albany (WA) late March: http://tinyurl.com/324nwv

To me it looks like a Calothamnus, because of the way the flowers hang and the
cat's paw effect at the end. Problem is that all the Calothamnus species seem
to have long skinny leaves, not little oval ones, and they aren't (AFAIK) in
those symmetric opposing pairs we see in your photo. It's called decussate,
apparently (a characteristic of the Labiatae/Lamiaceae, also not covered well
by this database).

Calothamnus villosus is common around Albany -- could it be a variant?

I'd suggest contacting the Albany Branch of the Wildflower Society of Western
Australia:
http://www.albanygateway.com.au/town...t.asp?sw=1004&

Let us know what you find out -- it's spectacular, isn't it?

Hmm, scratch all that. I just did a search by colour, flower season and
region and came up with Beaufortia sparsa, Swamp Bottlebrush. In the
Myrtaceae.

http://florabase.dec.wa.gov.au/browse/profile/5392

Not as good a photo of the plant as yours, but the leaves look right. Your
photo showed the leaf arrangement, a flower in bud, and the old seed pods on
the stem -- very comprehensive!

--
Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
(Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)

http://chookiesbackyard.blogspot.com/


Well done, I spent ages looking through my search results and just couldn't find it.

I was pleased with the photo. I came across the plants whilst walking my dogs
through the bush. Was wanting to post it to an online photo gallery, so really
needed to know what they were.

I have just posted it in my gallery: http://tinyurl.com/yyzh3o

Thanks guys for all your help

Rupert.