In September 2016, after spending the night in Bremer Bay we headed back inland to Stirling Ranges National Park. The area is of great biogeographic and evolutionary interest and displays one of the richest floras in the world. Stirling Range National Park encloses the only major mountain range with in the southern half of Western Australia.
The mountains and hills look a lot like Arizona, but with an entirely different plant pallet. From a distance the short growing plant communities that hug the hillsides covered with mallee-heathland look a lot like our own native chaparral. However, as is the case with many Australian national parks and despite the low soils fertility the area supports over ninety plant families, 384 genera, and over 1500 plant species occur there, 87 of which are found nowhere else. Most notable to us was species of grass tree, Kingia australis, that grows taller with a long trunk and multiple flowers heads as compared to the grass trees from lower elevations. It looks similar to more common grass trees (Xanthorrhoea) found throughout Australia, but is in a totally different family.
Cycads, terrestrial orchids, and a few more variations on banksias and pea bushes also caught our attention. On leaving the park, we encountered our only viewing of an Emu running down the road and quickly disappearing into the bush. A short while later, we stopped to get a closeup look at Eucalyptus tetraptera. As the name suggested, it has 4-sided flowers that are bell shaped and also are an eye-catching scarlet red.
As we drove on the unpaved road through the eastern part of the park, the landscape became more open with shorter shrubs and plant community that from a distance looked like much of California. We parked and did a short walk through the bush to the top of a knoll with great views.
