My World Tuesday

These were taken during our visit to my sister's place in the lower part of the Blue Mountains west of Sydney. She has a big garden in their front yard with many native plants. One of the flowers that caught my attention was the Waratah (Telopea speciosissima) , our official floral emblem of New South Wales. It was proclaimed our official floral emblem on October 24, 1962. Since I don't have Waratah in my garden, I grabbed the chance to take couple of photos. The Waratah is a stout, erect shrub which may grow to 4 metres. The dark green leathery leaves, 13-25 cm in length, are arranged alternately and tend to be coarsely toothed. The flowers are grouped in rounded heads 7 to 10 cm in diameter surrounded by crimson bracts, about 5 to 7 cm long. It flowers from September to November and nectar-seeking birds act as pollinators. Large winged seeds are released when the brown leathery pods split along one side.

(the information above was taken from an article written by Anne Boden for a booklet published by AGPS for the ANBG in 1985)

Please click here to see more My World photos all around the world.