Introduction

For a time I had the privilege of caring for these trees and this land
I planted almost all the trees in the nearer area, other than those on the roadside

Xanthorrhoea, a very atypical tree A 'grass tree', also known as a yacka (or yakka or yacca); botanical name Xanthorrhoea; they are endemic to Australia and are considered iconic. My beloved wife Denece noticed the view and suggested I took a photo of it. It was taken on one of the many times that we have climbed St Mary's Peak in the Flinders Ranges of South Australia and is one of my favourite photos. Xanthorrhoea are very slow growing, typically the trunk will grow at something like one or two centimetre a year, but I've recorded growth in the seed head of 9 centimetres per day. Home Top Index More photos of grass trees (aka yaccas or yackas or yakkas) are here, here, here, here, here, here and especially here on these pages. Gum trees, the quintessential Australian tree It would be remiss of me if I passed through the Introduction of this page without mentioning that most iconic of all Australian trees, the gum tree. Karri trees (Eucalyptus diversicolor) in Shannon National Park, southwest Western Australia. Trees in Kings Park, Perth, Western Australia Lemon scented gums on the main road up to Kings Park Botanic Garden and main visitor's centre. At least I think that they are lemon scented gums (Eucalyptus citriodora). To my shame I don't know what the species of this tree is, but whatever it is, it is a magnificent specimen. Swan estuary in the background. Trees, or limbs that have a mind of their own: Standing out from the crowd This one limb of (I think) a lemon-scented gum (Corymbia citriodora) in Kings Park decided it wanted to go any direction but upward. It didn't want to do the normal, accepted, standard, ordinary, thing. Home Top Index I can identify with that. Photo iPhone 11 Pro, standard lens, 2024/01/18 While the photo above recorded a limb that wanted to do its own thing, here, in the grounds of the University of Western Australia, is a whole tree with a mind of its own. Again, I think it's a lemon scented gum. Photo iPhone 11 Pro, standard lens, 2024/01/03 Mandurah Quay area, Peel Estuary

East side of main channel, Soldiers Cove, Mandurah A view of the main Peel estuary channel from the eastern side. There is a path along the channel for rather over half the distance between the two bridges. Home Top Index Photo iPhone 11 Pro, telephoto lens, 6mm focal length, 2022/08/11 The Flinders Ranges, South Australia Other photos of the Flinders Ranges can be seen here, here and especially here.

The Spirit of Endurance
The Cazneaux Tree, famous for a photo by Harrold Cazneaux, taken 1953/06/19, Art Gallery of NSW.

This photo was taken from a slightly different direction to that of Cazneaux's photo but both show a part of Wilpena Pound in the background. Remarkably, the tree seems to have changed little in the 61 years between the two images, other than growing more small branches near the base. Gum trees usually only produce shoots from the trunk at times of severe stress. This photo was taken 2014/05/27.

Early sunlight on gum trees at wilpena, a case of being in the right place at the right time. The original of this photo was on film, probably about 2005.

Callitris, common name native cypress pine Callitris trees (common name cyprus-pine), are one of the defining features of the southern and central Flinders Ranges. Even more than with the magnificent Eucalyptus camaldulensis trees (common name river red-gum) the place would not be the same without them. Home Top Index They can cling to rock walls, as this one is, they can be sparsely scattered over flat or sloping land, they can grow near water courses, or they be crowded together anywhere. Where they are crowded together they are especially susceptible to drought. This photo was taken 2007/07/23. As of March 2020 the Callitris trees were suffering greatly from the drought that any reasonable person would have to at least partly ascribe to the effects of climate change. Callitris (and Allocasuarina) trees, in my experience, are very palatable to sheep and kangaroos. In an area where there are hungry sheep or kangaroos the Callitris foliage will normally be eaten off in the sections that the animals can reach. I was puzzled that this browsing had not taken place in the vicinity of Willow Springs at the time of our visit. Clare Valley of South Australia The next two photos, taken by one of my drones, give a hint of how important Eucalyptus trees are in the Australian environment. The great majority of the trees in the two photos are Eucalypts.

Home Top Index Looking north from above the big cutting on the Clare-Blyth road on a morning with a ground-hugging mist. Emu Rock is at the far end of the ridge that rises above the mist on the right.

Looking northeast from the same point as the above image, Hicks Road is on the far side of the cleared paddock on the right. Armagh would be beneath the mist beyond that.

Jacobs Range Road, Armagh is west of Clare township, From this section of Jacobs Range Road, near the southern end, you get views over the Blyth Plain. Photo 2021/06/29, Apple iPhone 7, panorama

For the first 26 years that my wife and I have lived in the Clare 'Valley' Jacobs Range Road was just a narrow bush track. Sometime before this photo was taken it was widened and that has made it less picturesque, but it still has its attractive spots.

Photo 2021/06/29, Apple iPhone

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Japan This tree was in Kanazawa Castle Park. Sometimes, as in this case, it seemed to me that the propping of trees went too far to be aesthetically pleasing. But perhaps it was done for other than aesthetic reasons? This was in the Kenrokumachi area, to the east of Castle Park. Photo taken 2017/10/26 Ginkgo tree and cobwebs I'm an early riser. On my first morning in Japan I went for a walk in the grounds around the hotel we stayed in overnight. I knew that ginkgo trees were popular in Japan and was pleased to see this one on my first morning. One of the hotel garden beds was covered with cobwebs, all loaded with dew, making them conspicuous. Another image shows one of the many spiders in the same area on the same morning. (Like most spiders, these were unaggressive and probably almost harmless. In general a spider has nothing to gain in biting a human.) We only stayed in Narita for the night; we caught a morning train into Tokyo where we met the rest of our family.

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