education

Asparagaceae, The Asparagus Family

The asparagus family Asparagaceae was one of the monocotyledonous families that were split off from the lily family Liliaceae, along with other unrelated plants such as Amaryllis spp. and Agapanthus spp. Description Members of this family can differ quite a lot in appearance so it’s hard to give a single description for all plants; they tend to have tightly bunched

Continue reading

The Lomandra Genus

The Lomandra genus is a clade within the asparagus family Asparagaceae filled with Aussie native plants that are commonly called “strappies”.

A few varieties are widely planted throughout Australia because they are drought-resistant, and pretty difficult to kill.

They’re often planted in the wrong spot. They really do look best when they’re allowed to go strappy; if you’ve planted them along a driveway and keep them pruned back off the concrete edge, take a step back and look again. It doesn’t really look good, does it?

 

Continue reading

Asteraceae, The Aster Family

The Asteracaea family, also known colloquially as the asters, is a great dicot plant family to learn early on in your plant identification journey because their flowers are very interesting. The family includes genera (plural of genus) such as daisies, sunflowers, thistles and dandelions, which have members everywhere. A disproportionate number of the weeds we fight against are from the aster family.

Continue reading

Brassicaceae, The Brassica/Mustard Family

The brassica family, also known as the mustard or cruciferous family, is an economically important group of dicotyledonous plants that probably makes up a part of your everyday diet. Family members are generally small herbaceous plants but there are some shrubby varieties and even a few vines as well. Description Bisexual, radially symmetrical flowers are often bright yellow, though they’re

Continue reading

Rosaceae, The Rose Family

The rose family is a family of flowering dicots that are considered to be one of the most important plant families economically speaking. Under its umbrella are examples such as apples, pears, plums, cherries, almonds, strawberries, blackberries, and of course roses. Description Family members vary in size from tiny wildflowers to large fruit trees. They’re often woody with a few

Continue reading

Myrtaceae, The Myrtle Family

The myrtle family are a dicotoledenous group with members found across the world, with some noteworthy Aussie varieties. Description They are known for shedding bark, which may or may not be peeling off the stems depending on the species and time of year. This can be normal for these plants as long as it is natural and not mechanical (physical)

Continue reading

Eucalyptus, The Gum Tree Genus

Eucalypts are plants within 7 genera of the myrtle family Myrtaceae that share a number of characteristics, and are native to Australia and a select few other nearby countries and islands. They produce the medicinal eucalyptus oil which is anti biotic and anti viral medicine for external use, as well as being a nasal decongestant. Nothing says “Australia” quite like a

Continue reading

Callistemon & Melaleuca, The Bottle Brush Genera

Bottle brushes are in the Myrtaceae family along with eucalypts and lilly pillies. It’s contended whether or not Callistemon group is worthy of being described as a separate genus from the Melaluca group due to the fact that they are very similar. Because of this, they’ve been combined into a single post here. These plants are full of camphoraceous essetial oils and are responsible

Continue reading

The Citrus Genus

Citrus plants belong to a single genus native to Southeast Asia, Australia and Melanesia within the dicotyledonous Rutaceae family.

These plants are known as being easily hybridisable, hence a lot of varieties are hybrids of multiple species.

Description

Plants within this genus generally have the habit of a shrub or tree.

Continue reading

Arecaceae, The Palm Family

Palms are a family consisting of evergreen monocotyledonous trees, shrubs and climbers with characteristic compound leaves known as fronds. Even though they do not resemble other trees in the dicot and gymnosperm classes in the way those plants display true secondary (lateral) growth, palms sometimes display “anomalous secondary growth” where individual cells enlarge to thicken the trunk without a vascular

Continue reading