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Spotted this Spring: Wildflowers at the Desert Knowledge Precinct

October 14th, 2024

It’s been a beautiful spring at the Desert Knowledge Precinct, our buffel management efforts meaning native wildflowers have been thriving and blanketing the site with colour.

It’s been a beau­ti­ful spring at the Desert Knowl­edge Precinct, our buf­fel man­age­ment efforts mean­ing native wild­flow­ers have been thriv­ing and blan­ket­ing the site with colour.

By reduc­ing com­pe­ti­tion from buf­fel grass through tar­get­ed her­bi­cide appli­ca­tion and oth­er man­age­ment strate­gies, these flow­ers can grow more effec­tive­ly. Our ​“Bust­ing the Grass Fes­ti­val” last year high­light­ed the eco­log­i­cal impacts of buf­fel and pro­mot­ed com­mu­ni­ty engage­ment in man­ag­ing the inva­sive species.

Here are a few flow­ers we’ve spot­ted while walk­ing around the paths and tracks here these last few months.

Sil­ver Sen­na (Sil­ver Cassia)

Silver Senna Senna artemisiodes

This quick-grow­ing native shrub is one of the first to her­ald the arrival of spring. Stand­ing 1 – 3 meters tall, the Sil­ver Sen­na boasts an abun­dance of yel­low flow­ers set against sil­very, feath­ery foliage. Endem­ic to Aus­trali­a’s arid regions, this hardy plant tol­er­ates both drought and frost, fill­ing the air with its sweet scent.

Silky Swain­son Pea (Vari­able Swainsona) 
Swainson Pea

From June to Sep­tem­ber, the Silky Swain­son Pea graces the land­scape with its del­i­cate clus­ters of flow­ers. Grow­ing to just 15cm in height, this small plant is eas­i­ly rec­og­niz­able by its unique keel-shaped bot­tom petals, formed by the fusion of two petals.

Wool­ly Min­uria (Min­nie Daisy)
Woolly Minuria

A peren­ni­al sub­shrub reach­ing 30cm in height, the Wool­ly Min­uria is a true Cen­tral Aus­tralian native. Its dis­tri­b­u­tion is restrict­ed to the arid south­ern regions of the North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry, mak­ing it a spe­cial sight for wild­flower enthusiasts.

Desert Cas­sia
Desert Cassia

This tough shrub is one of the most resilient of the Cen­tral Aus­tralian flo­ra. Able to thrive in both desert and coastal regions, the Desert Cas­sia is high­ly drought-tol­er­ant and requires min­i­mal water once established.

Com­mon Ever­last­ing (Yel­low Buttons)
Yellow buttons

Found through­out Aus­tralia, this small peren­ni­al daisy grows up to 50cm tall. Its grey foliage, cov­ered in fine hairs, con­trasts beau­ti­ful­ly with bright yel­low flower clus­ters. Inter­est­ing­ly, these flow­ers lack petals, adding to their unique charm.

Desert Pea
Desert Pea

No col­lec­tion of Cen­tral Aus­tralian wild­flow­ers would be com­plete with­out men­tion­ing the icon­ic Desert Pea. Its strik­ing red and black flow­ers are a sym­bol of the region’s nat­ur­al beauty.

Blue Emu Bush
Blue bells bush

This small ever­green shrub com­bines bright pur­ple flow­ers with sil­very foliage, cre­at­ing a stun­ning visu­al dis­play. Native to West­ern Aus­tralian deserts, it thrives in full sun and well-drained soil. The Blue Emu Bush is not only beau­ti­ful but also resilient, quick­ly recov­er­ing from cold dam­age in spring.

Here are a few ways buf­fel grass can affect wild­flow­ers if left unmanaged:

  1. Com­pe­ti­tion reduc­tion: Buf­fel grass is an aggres­sive inva­sive species that out­com­petes native veg­e­ta­tion, includ­ing wild­flow­ers. By con­trol­ling buf­fel grass, native wild­flow­ers face less com­pe­ti­tion for resources like water, nutri­ents, and sun­light, allow­ing them to thrive.
  2. Altered fire regimes: Buf­fel grass can increase the fre­quen­cy and inten­si­ty of fires due to its high bio­mass and flam­ma­bil­i­ty. These more intense fires can be detri­men­tal to native flo­ra, includ­ing wild­flow­ers. Reduc­ing buf­fel grass pres­ence helps main­tain more nat­ur­al fire pat­terns that native species are adapt­ed to.
  3. Soil con­di­tions: Buf­fel grass can alter soil con­di­tions, poten­tial­ly mak­ing them less suit­able for native plant species. Remov­ing buf­fel grass helps restore soil con­di­tions more favor­able to native wildflowers.
  4. Seed bank preser­va­tion: Con­trol­ling buf­fel grass helps pre­serve the native seed bank in the soil, allow­ing more wild­flower seeds to ger­mi­nate when con­di­tions are favorable.
  5. Habi­tat restora­tion: By man­ag­ing buf­fel grass, the Desert Knowl­edge Precinct is effec­tive­ly restor­ing native habi­tat, which includes the con­di­tions nec­es­sary for a diverse range of wild­flow­ers to grow.
  6. Increased bio­di­ver­si­ty: Reduc­ing buf­fel grass dom­i­nance allows for greater plant bio­di­ver­si­ty, includ­ing a wider vari­ety of wild­flower species.

Australian Ringneck

We’ve also been see­ing a lot of wildlife, such as this Aus­tralian Ring­neck parrot.

The Desert Knowl­edge Precinct is free to vis­it from 8.00am-5pm every week­day, with walk­ing paths, and the Treat Me Good Café serv­ing cof­fee, smooth­ies, and a vari­ety of food until 2pm.