Australian flora (with sunnyrain touches)

Most plant species of Australia are found nowhere else because the continent has been in geographic isolation for the past 140 million years, when it separated from Gondwana, the parent continent that also included South America, Africa, India and Antarctica. I hope this is not too much information, but it’s related to what I want to say about today’s gardens in Australia. Here is an element for my sunnyrain theme: Antarctica drifted off from Australia 50 million years ago, one twin (Australia) settling into a warm and dry climate, which selected plants needing little water, and the other twin (Antarctica) settling into a cold and dry climate. Australia is the driest inhabitable continent and Antarctica the driest uninhabitable continent… Australia has over 1000 species of acacia, which Australians call wattle trees, and around 2800 species of Myrtaceae, a family that includes eucalyptus (gum trees) and melaleucas (like the paperbark tree I talked about yesterday). Not surprisingly, the green and yellow colors that Australian athletes wear at sports events represent the yellow fluffy flowers and bright green leaves of the wattle trees. Acacias thrive in drier inland parts of the continent (sunny element again!), while gum trees dominate wetter parts (rain element!). Some plants I fell in love with and I have never seen in my life before are banksia, dryandra, grevillea, hakea and waratah. The flowers of these plants sport porcupine, punk looks or show curly faces, almost like clustered butterfly proboscises. I will populate the week-end blog with more pictures from our collection that show, rather than tell, the beauty of these flowers! Homesick settlers brought with them from England countless types of trees and plants that turned coastal Australian land into miniature lush green parks. It took a lot of water to maintain them for over a hundred years, but water has never been an abundant resource in this land. So the environment prevailed and the “imported” trees are slowly dying. The most common vegetation types today are those that have adapted to arid conditions. Water needy trees and shrubs are dying off and native trees and plants, less thirsty, are replacing them in most cities and suburbs. In today’s picture there is a gum tree that I think stands as ultimate proof for the millions of years of adaptation to a dry climate. I don’t want to obsess now over my sunnyrain theme, but I look at this picture and remain forever mesmerized by life (sunny) which thrives in the driest place I could imagine (rock, not even sand) (rain). Enjoy!