The BMCS Plant Study Group (PSG) generally meets on the second Saturday of each month and travels to different locations in the Blue Mountains. Before attending for the first time please contact Meredith by email at mountains@westnet.com.au. Changes to the program appear in red.

Plant Study Group 2025 Program

Notes: *Outing is a week earlier than usual. **Additional outing.

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11 Jan	Perry’s Lookdown, Blackheath   Janice Hughes  report
8 Feb	Ikara Ridge, Mt Victoria   Jo Newman report
22 Feb	1-3 pm: Sun Valley Cabbage Gum Forest with Bushcare Group  report
8 Mar	Deidre’s Walk, Kent St., Bullaburra   Lesley Gersen

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12 Apr	Mt Annan Botanic Gardens Bus trip   Peter Cuneo & Meredith Brownhill  report * site tour and garden history on the bus * walk through Cumberland Plain Woodland conservation area * Plantbank brief overview * Connections Garden overview
10 May	20th PSG Birthday - the Nature Walk, Wentworth Falls & joint twentieth celebration.   Alison Hewitt report
24 May	1:30-3:30 pm:Coates Park Bushcare Group, Hazelbrook report
14 Jun	Glen Davis. Capertee Valley bus trip Meredith Brownhill report

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12 Jul	Portal Waterhole, Glenbrook National Park   Jill Dark
9 Aug	Banksia View- vegetation survey, Winmalee (PSG members only)   Margaret Baker
13 Sep	Murphy’s Glen   Jelena Emmerick

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11 Oct	TBA   Alex Hinings
8 Nov	Hassan’s Walls- Lithgow   Krystal Garnet
13 Dec	Christmas lunch - details TBA   Don Cameron

EXTRA EVENTS:

Open	Gill & Neal have invited us to Hampton for lunch - open dated
Open	Dantes Glen, Wentworth Falls with Bush care Group 3rd Saturday/ month

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2025 Reports  (click image to see a larger version)

14 June - Glen Davis. Capertee Valley bus trip

It was a frosty start to our bus trip up to Capertee Valley with its unique flora and fauna, and National Parks and State Conservation Areas. At Glen Davis we had a quick morning tea whilst identifying Eucalyptus albens and E. melliodora by leaves and woody fruits in the picnic area.

A small group of our members surveyed the Glen Davis picnic area and surrounds. A highlight was finding a flowering specimen of the newly (2023) described species Lomandra briggsiana, found on the Great Dividing Range and Western Slopes. This plant had formerly been considered to be a form of L. multiflora, but is distinguished from this species by its terete glaucous leaves.

The other group walked the start of the Pipeline Track in Open Forest. We admired the tall smooth bark - Eucalyptus dawsonii and the Red Ironbark – E. fibrosa. There was a sparse understorey with varied Acacias, such as Acacia clandullensis with its twisted leaf. This shale slope would have been denuded during the shale mining era prior to the 1950’s, so it was pleasing to find a healthy spreading population of Prostanthera cryptandroides subsp. cryptandroides with its very strong leaf aroma.

Leader: Meredith Brownhill

Report: Helen Yoxall and Meredith Brownhill

Photo: Lomandra briggsiana by Helen Yoxall.

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24 May - Coates Park Bushcare Group, Hazelbrook

It was good to be in Eucalypt Woodlands in Coates Park, Hazelbrook looking at plants after a week of rain. Members of Plant Study Group teamed up with Coates Park Bushcare group to survey the flora on the bushcare site.

Replanting the site with local native species is now underway after extensive removal of woody and ground layer weeds. A new native plant to the mid-mountains, Hackelia latifolia was observed with tiny white flowers and is a rapidly spreading plant so is being treated as a weed.

A healthy population of Pultenaea glabra was identified. This Pultenaea is found in riparian and swamp areas and is restricted to the mid and upper Blue Mountains. Its conservation status is Vulnerable under the BCA in NSW and EPBC Commonwealth legislation.

A very nice afternoon tea together completed an enjoyable plant survey.

Leader and report: Meredith Brownhill

Photo of Hackelia latifolia by Genevieve Powell.

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10 May - 20th PSG Birthday - the Nature Walk, Wentworth Falls & joint twentieth celebration

A group of plant lovers came along on a sunny autumn day to look at Eucalypt Open Forest plants on the eastern slope of Nature Trail in Wentworth Falls. This is a historic trail that was designed by the late Isobel Bowden OAM who was a botanist and artist. Her notes with native plant information are still available today in a NPWS brochure for the area.

There has been prolific growth in all the vegetation layers concurrent with warm and wet weather. The shrub layer had Daviesia corymbosa, Gompholobium grandifolium and Monotoca scoparia that will flower in spring. There is a healthy population of Banksia cunninghamii, although sadly some were cut down to widen the walking track near the Hut. Shrubs present will provide nectar for birds in cooler weather.

We all celebrated the 20th birthday of Plant Study Group at lunch with a fabulous birthday cake!

Leader: Alison Hewitt - Report: Meredith Brownhill

Photo of Plant Study Group: Janice Hughes

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12 April - Mt Annan Botanic Gardens Bus trip

The community bus took us all to Mt Annan Botanic Gardens on a lovely sunny autumn day. We went to learn about the Critically Endangered Cumberland Plains Community of plants and were fortunate to have an expert guide.

We walked through the Woodlands of shale loving vegetation, with a different species composition to the sandstone vegetation of the Blue Mountains. The canopy was Eucalyptus crebra, E. moluccana and E. tereticornis with many grasses and small herbs forming a dense ground cover.

The thrill of the day was seeing a large Lace Monitor climb a Stringybark. The butterflies were wonderful and we saw many Common Browns, Black Jezebels, Meadow-argus and Monarchs. They are all such important plant pollinators.

After lunch we walked in the Connections Garden, which was a delight of flowering shrubs.

Report and leader: Meredith Brownhill

Photo: Cumberland Plains Woodlands by Meredith Brownhill

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22 February - Sun Valley Cabbage Gum Forest with Bushcare Group

We teamed up with the Sun Valley bushcare group for the afternoon identifying plants on Sun Valley Reserve, which has an Endangered Ecological Community on it, so we were interested to learn more.

The Critically Endangered Sun Valley Cabbage Gum Forest is an Open Forest with Eucalyptus amplifolia which forms the upper canopy and has a smaller shrub layer with a dense ground cover of herbs and grasses. Ferns too are present. Eucalyptus amplifolia trees were plentiful, with narrow trunks indicating they were young and we guessed that mature trees were logged some time ago.

Being the end of summer there were not many flowers to help our identification task. Nevertheless we had an interesting and enjoyable afternoon at work and learnt about management of the reserve by talking to bushcare volunteers.

Report and leader: Meredith Brownhill

Photo: Plant group members at work in the Cabbage gum Forest by Meredith Brownhill

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8 February - Ikara Ridge, Mt Victoria

A group of keen amateur botanists set off along a narrow foot track on Ikara Ridge in B. M. National Park to observe vegetation recovering from the 2019/20 bushfires. It was hot and humid.

The Sydney Montane Dry Sclerophyll Forests that we walked through had severely burnt trees, with coppiced regrowth tree trunks from earlier fires. A dominant Proteaceae under-storey with Isopogon anemonifolius and Hakea pachyphylla had good growth with woody capsules on them from previous flowering seasons. H. pachyphylla is a rare plant endemic to higher altitudes.

Orchid species were identified and on a north facing slope plants such as Acacia asparagoides, A. terminalis and Dillwynia sp. were growing in a dense community. White flowers of Platysace Linearifolia were widely scattered throughout the Eucalypt forest.

A Copper-tailed skink sighting and sightings of other small reptiles, plus some rustles in the bushes indicated their recovery. We agreed that next field trip we will proceed to the heathland and explore other high altitude vegetation.

Leader: Jo Newman. Report: Meredith Brownhill. Photo: Isopogon anemonifolius by Meredith Brownhill

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11 January - Perry’s Lookdown, Blackheath

Our first field trip for the year started with sunshine, which raised our enthusiasm as we are having a wet summer. All the rain is stimulating vegetation growth, which is helping plants recover from the catastrophic bushfires of 2019/20, so the rain is good.

The Eucalypt Open Forest is made up of E. piperita, E. racemosa – a Scribbly Gum and E. sieberi, The Fabaceae Family are the dominant community of under-storey plants at Perrys, which is to be expected after fire. Bossiaea ensata is interesting with its long flat stems, and leaves that are reduced to the size of scales. Acacia obtusifolia is a summer flowering wattle.

The Proteaceae family are another large under-storey community, Persoonia levis with yellow flowers and Lambertia formosa with red flowers look vibrant with new growth. We finished up with a happy lunch at a new picnic table.

Leader: Janis Hughes. Report: Meredith Brownhill. Photo: Lobelia dentata by Janice Hughes