Back in early 2025, when we were looking for a Western Australia tour, we stumbled upon one that caught our eye. It promised to show us the stunning Australian wildflowers. We were especially thrilled about the chance to visit Stirling Ranges National Park. We had visited there in 2017 for just a day, and we regretted not having more time to explore. You can read about our visit here. But, as it turned out, the view of Sterling Ranges from a distance was the closest we got.
Instead of visiting the park, we took a quick break at a small hilltop, Sukey Hill Lookout, with a telecommunication relay station. But guess what? While we were exploring the bushes, we stumbled upon some really cool native plants and flowers! It was a bit of a bummer, though, because it only made us wish we had been in the National Park instead.
It was a refreshing respite after passing mile upon mile of wheat and canola fields. Sadly, much of western Australia has been transformed into dryland wheat and canola (rape seed) fields. The soil in western Australia is extremely nutrient-poor, but once phosphorus and nitrogen are added, wheat and canola can be grown with just the normal winter rainfall. Unfortunately, this practice kills almost all of the native vegetation, particularly members of the Protea family, which have specialized roots to locate trace amounts of phosphorus in the soil. Adding more phosphorus to the soil is almost always fatal to the native plants.
The Most Famous Find
Until researching a bit about the plant below, I had no idea that Synaphea spinulosa was actually the most famous plant we spotted! We’d caught glimpses of its acid yellow flowers from the bus windows, but it was wonderful to see it up close. Like so many unusual plants in Western Australia, I had guessed it was in the Proteaceae family, but what I didn’t know besides its name, was its fascinating history in Australian botanical history.
It turns out that Synaphea spinulosa along with Acacia truncata were the first two Australian endemic to be scientifically described and named way back in 1768. It was likely collected on Dutch voyage to Australia by William Dampier in 1699. However, in 1768 it was misidentified as a Javanese fern, Polypodium spinulosa. It’s easy to see how the mistake was made with the fern-like foliage. It wouldn’t show up in another collection until 1801 and was again misidentified as a Polypodium fern. It took until 1919 that American botanist Elmer Drew Merrill identified Polypodium spinulosum as Synaphea polymorpha. When it was realized that it been originally collected it was renamed Synaphea spinulosa. Still it wasn’t until 1995 that it was recognized as its own species when Synaphea was divided into 4 separate species.
The Orchids
Whew, that was a lot of botanical history. We need something less involved and pretty to think about. How about some terrestrial orchids? I recall the terrestrial orchids from our trip to Western Australia in 2017. We really hadn’t noticed them until we had stopped to view a very old cycad and found other people there crawling around on the ground looking at things. They pointed out the tiny orchids. After that it was game on at every stop to find more.
Orchids we found:
More Proteaceae
I would have guessed that this plant was an Isopogon. It turns out that Isopogon (Drumsticks) and Petrophile (conesticks) are closely related and grow together in sandy soils of Western Australia. The difference is that “Isopogon seeds are released as a fluffy mass upon maturity (when the cone breaks up), whereas Petrophile seeds remain within the woody, persistent cones.” OK, sure. Not that easy to tell apart when all you have are flowers.
Lechenaultia
There were two plants in Goodeniaceae growing here. Their vibrant flower colors, located on almost opposite each other on the color wheel, would not suggest any relationship between them. We would see their more famous cousin growing inland from Geraldton.
More Flowers
Carnivorous Plants
Three carnivorous plants. Both use stalked mucilaginous glands to trap and digest small insect to provide supplemental nutrients lacking in the poor soils of Western Australia.
From Wikipedia about how the Drosera traps and digests insect:
Each leaf is covered with touch-sensitive glandular tentacles, with sticky glue-tentacles at the centre of the leaf and non-sticky snap-tentacles arranged around the leaf margins. The trapping mechanism of this species is unique in that it combines features of both flypaper and snap traps. When triggered, the outer snap-tentacles catapult prey onto the sticky glue-tentacles at the centre of the leaf, which slowly draw the prey into the concave depression of the leaf over a span of approximately 2 minutes, after which digestion commences. Once a snap-tentacle has snapped, this movement is not repeatable
Grass Tree
And of course, there was the ubiquitous Australia Grass Tree, Xanthorrhoea. With over 30 species that look almost identical, I have no idea which one this one was.
We stumbled upon these amazing plants in a whirlwind 20-minute stop. It was a little treasure trove of plants! Now, we’re itching to visit Stirling Ranges National Park and explore even its many botanical wonders. But when will get back?