Numbers for the Kwinana / Rockingham / Mandurah Branch September meeting were down due to many members being away on holidays. For those of us at the meeting Andrew Motherwell came prepared with a large number of plant specimens from his garden and nearby dunes (Andrew’s home is near Warnbro beach and the garden and surrounds have a large variety of our coastal native trees, shrubs and sedges).

We were divided into two groups and each group was given half of the specimens. The aim was to identify the plant by common name, scientific name, family and whether it was native or introduced. Without our flora gurus this proved to be a bit of a challenge but we quickly got down to work and gave it our best shot. After a suitable period we swapped over so that we had a chance to identify all of the thirty or so specimens.

Andrew then took us through the identification and names of the plants some of which we had identified, many others we should have known and a few that had us stumped. Thankfully we did not have to add up and announce our scores. It had been a very informative and enjoyable exercise and I am sure that we all learned quite a bit about our local vegetation. We all expressed our gratitude and appreciation to Andrew for the considerable effort that went into preparing the exercise.

To round off the meeting Colin Prickett presented a selection of photographs taken on recent KRMB field trips and other walks through reserves. Some of the photographs were taken on the weekend at Goodale Sanctuary and included shots of a female Quenda, a Brush tail Possum, Slender Tree Frog taken during the evening. Other photos showed some of the orchids that were in flower at Goodale Sanctuary as well as other shrubs and fungi. Colin also showed a series of orchid photographs taken at Paganoni and also in the South West during late winter and early spring.

Colin Prickett