QUEENSLAND SILVER WATTLE

Acacia podalyriifolia is a perennial tree which is fast-growing and widely cultivated. It is native to Australia but is also naturalised in Malaysia, Africa, India and South America. Its uses include environmental management and it is also used as an ornamental tree. It is very closely related to Acacia uncifera. It grows to about 5 m (16 feet) in height and about the same in total width. It blooms during winter. Common names for it are Mount Morgan wattle, Queensland silver wattle, Queensland wattle, pearl acacia, pearl wattle and silver wattle.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

HIBBERTIA

Hibbertia scandens (also known as Snake Vine, Climbing Guinea Flower or Golden Guinea Vine) is an Australian native vine in the Dilleniaceae family.

Hibbertia scandens occurs in an area that extends from south-eastern New South Wales upwards to north-east Queensland. This species is commonly cultivated, and adapts to a wide range of growing conditions. Although it readily grows in semi-shaded areas, it flowers best in full sun.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme

ST JOHN'S WORT

Hypericum perforatum, also known as St John's wort, is a flowering plant species of the genus Hypericum and a medicinal herb that is sold over-the-counter as a treatment for depression. Other names for it include Tipton's weed, rosin rose, goatweed, chase-devil, or Klamath weed. With qualifiers, St John's wort is used to refer to any species of the genus Hypericum. Therefore, H. perforatum is sometimes called common St John's wort or perforate St John's wort to differentiate it.

Hypericum is classified in the family Hypericaceae, having previously been classified as Guttiferae or Clusiaceae. Approximately 370 species of the genus Hypericum exist worldwide with a native geographical distribution including temperate and subtropical regions of Europe, Turkey, Ukraine, Russia, Middle East, India, and China.

St John's wort is a perennial plant with extensive, creeping rhizomes. Its stems are erect, branched in the upper section, and can grow to 1 m high. It has opposing, stalkless, narrow, oblong leaves that are 12 mm long or slightly larger. The leaves are yellow-green in colour, with transparent dots throughout the tissue and occasionally with a few black dots on the lower surface. Leaves exhibit obvious translucent dots when held up to the light, giving them a ‘perforated’ appearance, hence the plant's Latin name.

Its flowers measure up to 2.5 cm across, have five petals, and are coloured bright yellow with conspicuous black dots. The flowers appear in broad cymes at the ends of the upper branches, between late spring and early to mid summer. The sepals are pointed, with glandular dots in the tissue. There are many stamens, which are united at the base into three bundles. The pollen grains are ellipsoidal. When flower buds (not the flowers themselves) or seed pods are crushed, a reddish/purple liquid is produced.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

AFRICAN BUSH DAISY

Euryops chrysanthemoides (with the common names African bush daisy or bull's-eye) is a small shrub native to Southern Africa that is also grown as a horticultural specimen in tropical to subtropical regions around the world. It occurs in the Eastern Cape, along the coast and inland, to KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga and Swaziland.

It is usually found on forest edges, in riverine bush and in ravines, as well as in coastal scrub, grassland and disturbed areas. It is a compact, densely branched, leafy, evergreen shrub, 0.5 to 2m in height. The species was moved to Euryops from the genus Gamolepis on the basis of chromosome counts. It is a ruderal weed in New South Wales, although it is not weedy in all places where it is cultivated or has naturalised.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme

YELLOW ECHINACEA

Echinacea is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants in the daisy family, Asteraceae. The nine species it contains are commonly called purple coneflowers. They are endemic to eastern and central North America, where they are found growing in moist to dry prairies and open wooded areas. They have large, showy heads of composite flowers, blooming from early to late summer.

The generic name is derived from the Greek word ἐχῖνος (echinos), meaning "sea urchin," due to the spiny central disk. Some species are used in herbal medicines and some are cultivated in gardens for their showy flowers. A few species are of conservation concern.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme

OPUNTIA

Opuntia ficus-indica in the family Cactaceae is a species of cactus that has long been a domesticated crop plant important in agricultural economies throughout arid and semiarid parts of the world. It is thought to possibly be native to Mexico.

Some of the common English names for the plant and its fruit are Indian fig, opuntia, barbary fig, cactus pear, spineless cactus, and prickly pear, although this last name has also been applied to other less common Opuntia species. In Mexican Spanish the plant is called nopal, while the fruit is called tuna, which are names also used in American English, especially as culinary terms.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

TEASING GEORGIA

Rosa 'Teasing Georgia' is a beautiful climbing rose. The rosette blooms are a rich shade of yellow, the outer petals falling back and fading to palest yellow, providing a most pleasing two-tone effect. There is a lovely strong Tea Rose fragrance. It is a DavidﾠAustin rose introduced in 1998.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

AUTUMN SUNSHINE

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

GOODENIA

Goodenia ovata, commonly called the hop goodenia, is a flowering plant endemic to Australia. It grows in all states except Western Australia and the Northern Territory, near the coast as well as in drier inland areas. The plant is usually a fast-growing groundcover, though upright shrubby forms also exist. As a shrub it grows to about 2 m high. Goodenia ovata has glossy green ovate (oval) shaped leaves, and yellow flowers. It flowers for most of the year, but especially from October till March.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

WATTLE

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

JONQUILS

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

WATTLE

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

HEALESVILLE COUNTRYSIDE

Countryside near Healesville in the Yarra Ranges Shire. The Shire of Yarra Ranges is a local government area in Victoria, Australia, located in the outer eastern and northeastern suburbs of Melbourne extending into the Yarra Valley and Dandenong Ranges. It has an area of 2,469.9 square kilometres, and at the 2011 census, it had a population of 144,541.It was formed in 1994 by the merger of parts of the Shire of Sherbrooke, Shire of Lillydale, Shire of Healesville and Shire of Upper Yarra. It has rich farmland, vineyards and magnificent areas of native forest.

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme.

DAISIES

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

YELLOW ECHINACEA

Echinacea is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants in the daisy family, Asteraceae. The nine species it contains are commonly called purple coneflowers. They are endemic to eastern and central North America, where they are found growing in moist to dry prairies and open wooded areas. They have large, showy heads of composite flowers, blooming from early to late summer.

The generic name is derived from the Greek word ἐχῖνος (echinos), meaning "sea urchin," due to the spiny central disk. Some species are used in herbal medicines and some are cultivated in gardens for their showy flowers. A few species are of conservation concern.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

WASP

Yellowjacket or Yellow jacket is the common name in North America for predatory social wasps of the genera Vespula and Dolichovespula. Members of these genera are known simply as "wasps" in other English-speaking countries. Most of these are black and yellow like the eastern yellowjacket, Vespula maculifrons and the aerial yellowjacket Dolichovespula arenaria; some are black and white like the bald-faced hornet, Dolichovespula maculata. Others may have the abdomen background colour red instead of black.

They can be identified by their distinctive markings, their occurrence only in colonies, and a characteristic, rapid, side-to-side flight pattern prior to landing. All females are capable of stinging. Yellowjackets are important predators of pest insects.

This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme.

FLORAL SKY

Jerusalem artichokes are in bloom in our garden.

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme.

ST JOHN'S WORT

Hypericum perforatum, also known as St John's wort, is a flowering plant species of the genus Hypericum and a medicinal herb that is sold over-the-counter as a treatment for depression. Other names for it include Tipton's weed, rosin rose, goatweed, chase-devil, or Klamath weed. With qualifiers, St John's wort is used to refer to any species of the genus Hypericum. Therefore, H. perforatum is sometimes called common St John's wort or perforate St John's wort to differentiate it.

Hypericum is classified in the family Hypericaceae, having previously been classified as Guttiferae or Clusiaceae. Approximately 370 species of the genus Hypericum exist worldwide with a native geographical distribution including temperate and subtropical regions of Europe, Turkey, Ukraine, Russia, Middle East, India, and China. St John's wort is a perennial plant with extensive, creeping rhizomes. Its stems are erect, branched in the upper section, and can grow to 1 m high. It has opposing, stalkless, narrow, oblong leaves that are 12 mm long or slightly larger. The leaves are yellow-green in colour, with transparent dots throughout the tissue and occasionally with a few black dots on the lower surface. Leaves exhibit obvious translucent dots when held up to the light, giving them a ‘perforated’ appearance, hence the plant's Latin name.

Its flowers measure up to 2.5 cm across, have five petals, and are coloured bright yellow with conspicuous black dots. The flowers appear in broad cymes at the ends of the upper branches, between late spring and early to mid summer. The sepals are pointed, with glandular dots in the tissue. There are many stamens, which are united at the base into three bundles. The pollen grains are ellipsoidal. When flower buds (not the flowers themselves) or seed pods are crushed, a reddish/purple liquid is produced.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

'TROILUS' ROSE

'Troilus' is a David Austin old-fashioned rose with beautiful, large, deeply cupped blooms of a wonderful shade of honey-buff colour on a strong growing bush with mid-green foliage. It is a fragrant rose that performs outstandingly well when grown in a warmer climate.

Troilus was released by David Austin in 1983. It was named after the Trojan War hero in Shakespeare’s tragedy, 'Troilus and Cressida'. The Troilus rose flowers continuously from spring to late autumn. It is a sturdy, upright shrub of medium height.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

YELLOW IN WINTER

Yellow seems to be a late Winter colour in Melbourne as far as flowers are concerned. In the mosaic below, from the top left and clockwise: Hope Goodenia; Yellow Jasmine; Daffodils & Felicia; Jonquils; Cape Ivy; South African Daisy Bush; Wattle.

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,

and also part of the Through my Lens meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme,

and also part of the Macro Monday meme.