Spring Tours in the Royal National Park

We are now half way through Spring in the Royal National Park and visitors have been rewarded with some wonderful native flowers.

It is at this time of year that ordinarily non descript plants come alive with exceptional flowers. Until this point of time you may not be that interested in identifying a plant. A striking flower changes everything.

The Gymea Lily, a native to Sydney and surrounds can be counted on to perform. Its bright red flowers are on display all over the park. If you miss seeing this plant you are not looking very hard!

Whilst on the colour red some wonderful waratahs may be spotted by carefully scrutinising the bush whilst driving through the park. We noticed some fine examples on the road to the parking area for figure 8 pools.

The Sydney Boronia (Showy Boronia) was blooming in patches whilst the thin and thick leaved drumsticks could be seen on the side of the road.

Many plants in the Royal National Park belong to the Fabaceae family and some of these are stunning.

The handsome bush-pea was seen extensively on the road between Flat Rock Creek to Wattamolla. A bright and colourful yellow flower with a dash of red.

The parrot-pea has an intense yellow flower and was frequently spotted.

These two plants are legumes and take nitrogen from the air and convert it with the help of bacteria into ammonia. This occurs in nodules in the plants root system. When the plant dies and decomposes the soil is enriched by nitrogen that is returned to the soil.

The Golden Wattle, Australia’s floral emblem, is also a legume.

Grass trees (Xanthorrhoea) are flowering in the park and you may observe flower spikes that have a yellow colouring. The yellow or golden colour is created by pollen attaching to the small flowers on the spike.

Further into the rainforest area of the park the yellow flower of the cabbage tree was on display.

Gymea Lily flower

A Waratah, the NSW floral emblem

A sea of showy Boronia

Pultenaea stipularis, known as Fine-leaf Bush-pea or Handsome Bush-pea

Dillwynia Floribunda, otherwise known as a parrot-pea

swamp honey myrtle

thin leafed drumstick

so many fantastic colours

grass tree flower spike coated in yellow pollen

yellow flower of the cabbage tree palm

We are well into Spring and the Royal National Park’s native plants are producing some splendid flowers.

A few of the most spectacular wildflowers seen whilst walking on coastal tracks include the Drumstick, Gymea Lily and Waratah.

Two varieties of Drumstick are the Broad-leaf Drumstick and the Narrow-leaf Drumstick.

Bright yellow flowers are common to both species with the Broad-leafed Drumstick having leaves that are flat and fork-like whilst the leaves of the Narrow-leafed Drumstick are needle-like in appearance.

The first photo below of a Narrow-leafed Drumstick shows the delightful purple tinges that may appear prior to flowering on the spherical fruiting body.

If you look closely at the photo there is a spiraling pattern of thorn shaped purple hairs.

Over time the fruiting body which is at the end of the small branches will turn grey in colour and develop a barrel or cone shape resulting in the plant being named a drumstick.

Gymea Lilies are very different to other plants in the Royal National Park and can be seen in many places as you drive through the park.

These plants are native to the Sydney region, sending up long narrow green shoots that reach several or more metres and are topped with a striking red flower.

A third wildflower we came across whilst walking on the Curra Moors Track to Eagle Rock, is the Waratah.

The Waratah is the floral emblem of New South Wales, having a vivid red-pink flower which grows in the state’s bush in clumps of tall stems.

In the second last photo the small attractive red/pink and white bell shaped flowers of the Fushia Heath are in the foreground.

The white flowers of the Heath Myrtle can be seen in the background.

pre-flowering purple power of a Thin-leafed Drumstick

Broad-leaf Drumstick and insects

Flaming red flowers of the Gymea Lily

Waratahs on the Curra Moors Track

Fushia Heath and Heath Myrtle

An explosion of colour on the track to Wedding Cake Rock

Callistemon pachyphyllus Green - a bottlebrush with a fantastic lime green flower

Returning to the Royal National Park yesterday was like seeing an old friend.

This park never ceases to provide a wonderful natural environment. And fortunately the park has been spared from devastation of recent bushfires.

The tour group was impressively hatted up and had no trouble with the Eagle Rock walk. The walk was followed up with a visit to Symbio Wildlife Park.

We also noticed a few late season blooming banksias and wildflowers.

A blooming banksia is easy on the eye

marching to Eagle Rock

Symbio Wildlife Park - hanging on a branch all day can be hard work

The Mt Tomah Botanic Garden is located in the Blue Mountains and is a cool climate garden. It can be found on the Bells Line of Road.

It is the first stop on one of our Blue Mountains itineraries.

Mt Tomah is one of three Botanic Gardens located in Sydney and surrounds.

The other two exist at Mt Annan and just near the city, the Royal Botanic Gardens.

The Botanic Gardens website for the Blue Mountains advises that the indigenous meaning of the word ‘Tomah’ is reputed to be tree fern.

Mt Tomah is more than alive with tree ferns. It has spectacular flowers and colour. Although they are of a high standard year round, Spring is the best season to visit these gardens.

The waratahs are sensational, whilst the proteas are also brilliant when in flower. In our opinion Mt Tomah is a must do inclusion in any Blue Mountains tour during Spring.

This blog is deliberately short as it is best to let the flowers do the talking. Enjoy the magic.

Protea perfection

proud and yellow

majestic

the viewing platform

wave after wave of waratahs came at us

One of the most delightful plants in the Sydney region is the Gymea Lily. It is flowering at the moment and if you keep your eyes out there are plenty to see on a drive through the Royal National Park.

The leaves are sword like and sprout from the ground. The flower is located on the top of a long narrow green shoot which can reach up to six metres.

When these plants are not in flower they are just your average plant in the bush. When they flower it is a whole different story.

Arising from the leaves below is a crimson red flower that will immediately catch your eye.

The Gymea Lily takes a while to flower, at least five or more years. They are a hardy native and a bush fire does not set the plants back for long.

The word Gymea originates from the local aboriginal people and is attributed to either the Dharug or Dharawal Language group. The word means ‘a small bird’.

When you look at the plant in flower the name makes sense.

The flower is a long way from the plant, many metres, and looks like it could be flying if you don’t take in the long narrow stork supporting it. It is roughly the size of a small bird.

Two nearby suburbs also go by this name, Gymea and Gymea Bay.

If you take the Royal National Park tour with Sydney Nimble Tours in Spring you will see the Gymea Lily and a number of other native plants in flower.

The flowers of the Gymea Lily are followed by oval shaped capsules and in late summer the capsules split and release seeds.

It is a great time to be out and about in a Sydney national park.

sword shaped green leaves and long green shoot

a striking Australian wildflower

wild red

power of one plus Australian navy vessel and Sydney city