Port Jackson fig Native to the Sydney area, the Port Jackson fig (ficus rubiginosa) grows around Sydney Harbour. Here is a particularly beautiful old tree on Glebe Point. The second photograph of another fig, in Cook St Glebe, shows the ropey trunk and roots. |
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| Floral icons The five floral icons are bottlebrush, gum blossom, flannel flower, grevillea and banksia. These photographs are captioned with their botanical and general names. They are all commonly found Australian native flowers. |
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The bottlebrush or callistemon, is a genus of some thirty species of myrtle. There are about twenty-five Australian species and their colourful red and deep pink flowers bloom in late spring and early summer. |
Gum trees, or eucalypts, grow in most parts of Australia. There are some 700 Australian varieties, with a handful of non-Australian eucalypts. |
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Flannel flowers (Actinotus helianthi) occur natually in eastern New South Wales and southern Queensland. Their delicate colouring and soft dry petals make them popular as garden plants and cut flowers. |
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Grevilleas grow in many different shapes and sizes, from prostrate to shrub varieties. The clustered flowers of the grevillea attract honey-eating birds and come in many different colours. Like the banksia, it's a member of the protea family. |
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The banksia is a genus of the protea family and they are found over much of Australia, especially Western Australia. Birds suck nectar from ther flowers. The flowers are followed by a woody seed cone. They are named after botanist, Sir Joseph Banks, but the plants predate their English name by some 40 million years. |
