BZ3620 Daintree Pt 2

Our first actual day in the Daintree was a blur of ID workshops and keying out, but the best part was going to the Marrdja Boardwalk to check out some endemic species. The boardwalk is located at the meeting of two creeks, one originating in a rich mafic valley, and the other from a nutrient poor granitic origin, so there is a nice spattering of some really cool things.

First up is an Entada, or matchbox bean. I'm not sure of the species because you need to get a good look at the leaflet structure, and this one didn't want to play the game. You can tell that it is Entada though, because of the keeled vine which isn't very obvious due to my shitty photography skills.

We move further along the boardwalk to what I think is Oliver Creek.

And just along from there we have some Lepidozamia hopei, a Queensland endemic cycad, and is the biggest cycad species in the world.

And also some Bowenia spectabilis, another Queensland endemic cycad.

This was the first wild one I had seen, but when I stopped at Tully on the way home, they were everywhere. I had not seen them there in previous years, so it may have just been a case of timing.

Poking around in the understorey reveals one of my favourites: Selaginella longipinna. Shitty pic.

Though fern-like in appearance, these are actually a type of spikemoss. They look really really cool in large drifts, and the reproductive structures are cool and show the resemblance to tassel ferns. But this one has no strobili so we will get to that later.

Just up the path is a really cool strangler fig, Ficus destruens. You can see how they begin as an epiphyte, then create a lattice of roots to strangle the host tree. The host of this individual has long since died and rotted away, leaving a cool tunnel, and a lopsided strangler fig.

Another really cool FNQ endemic at the boardwalk is Idiospermum australiense, called idiot fruit or ribbonwood. A rather nondescript looking tree, the flowers are pretty cool and smell sort of like bubblegum. The 'fruit' are technically naked embryos, because the flesh and any 'fruit' structures rot away on the tree. These embryos are quite large, and split into quarters when they sprout.
The story behind this species is quite cool. It was thought to have gone extinct when major sugar cane operations cleared rainforest, but many years later, a farmers cattle were all dying mysterious deaths. Suspicious that someone may be trying to take his land, autopsies of the dead cattle were conducted to find the cause of death. All that was found were these huge giant seeds that no one seemed to recognise. These seeds were sent off to a herbarium or museum or something and identified as Idiospermum, confirming that the species never went extinct. Now they seem to grow like weeds.
Another curious thing about Idiospermum is that it seems to have no effective seed dispersal method. The embryos are so toxic that anything that tries to eat them dies, so can not be spread through the dung of herbivores. Musky rat kangaroos sometimes take the embryos and bury them, but never eat them. Currently, pretty much the only way that Idiospermum spreads is by gravity, when the fruit roll down hills. It is thought that because it is so toxic to modern day creatures, that it was perhaps dispersed by now extinct megafauna, once upon a time.

Idiospermum flower

This little thing is Phricta spinosa, the prickly forest katydid. And yes, I did actually get close to it.

Walking further along the boardwalk reveals some of my other favourites - tassel ferns (Phlegmariurus). These ancient wonders are not true ferns, but a type of lycopod, like Selaginella. They are commonly grown in cultivation, with a reputation for being delicate and finicky. Yet, here they are in the wild, high in the canopy where they belong. So cool.

From here the vegetation starts to open up a little as it transitions to a mangrove rainforest. There is less of a shrub layer, and pools of water and ferns dominate the ground layer. There are large emergents festooned in epiphytes, with a notable one being an undescribed species of Freycinetia. Freycinetia are in the same family as Pandanus and are often called climbing pandans. They are root climbers, and a quick look at the roots, toothed leaves and the fruit reveals why they are in Pandanaceae. The specimens along the boardwalk were not fruiting though.

Undescribed Freycinetia. Cool stuff

Like I said, festooned with epiphytes. This single tree had a Piperaceae vine (right) a Schefflera (top left), some type of fern (Pyrrosia perhaps, bottom left), and a ginger (bottom right, which I have never seen growing as an epiphyte before).

The vegetation changes quite suddenly to the mangrove rainforest, which is really cool. Due to the saline conditions, only a select few plants can grow here. The trees are not as large as the rainforest emergents, but are considerably larger than others I have seen in the mangrove forest elsewhere in Queensland. The ground layer is very sparse, with mangrove ferns (Acrostichum speciosum) dotted here and there. A specialised marine moss also grows in patches on the mud. Epiphytes such as basket ferns (Drynaria), Dischidia, and orchids grow plentifully here, which makes me wonder about the degree of orchid thieving that occurs here.

A basket fern (Drynaria) with ribbon fern (Vittaria) growing from the basket

 Cymbidium madidum

Pandanus solms-bauchii

Bulbophyllum baileyi

Dischidia major

Dischidia major (above) is in the same genus as the button 'orchid' Dischidia nummularis that we saw at Machens Beach (and was also growing here). but these two species have distinctly different leaf morphologies. This is because major is a myrmecophyte, meaning that it lives in a mutualistic association with ants. The leaves are swollen due to tunnels which house the ants. Cool stuff.

A whisk fern (Psilotum), featuring Dr Field's pointing staff

A shit photo of a shit specimen of Dischidia nummularis

Dendrobium baileyi

A dead Dendrobium nindii :c

Dendrobium nindii (above) has been on my botanical bucket list for quite some time now. It is a really cool, special Den, with showy soft purple flowers with twisted petals which has earned it the name of antelope orchid. It is listed as an endangered species, due to poaching and habitat degradation.

A Cymbidium madidum growing on a root of a Xylocarpum granatum (I think). It was really close to the mud. Crazy Stuff

More Bulbophyllum baileyi

A Dendrobium that I can't remember the name of

That pretty much concludes that day in the Daintree. The night was taken up with our debate assignment and copious drinking and singing of Khe Sahn. Best field trip ever.

BZ3620: Daintree Pt 1

On the way to the Daintree, we had a quick stop at Mt Lewis just outside of Julatten to look at upland rainforest.
We stopped at the blue faced parrot finch site, which is a clearing at the beginning of the Ho Chi Minh trail. This little area is kept clear to provide habitat for the blue faced parrot finch, which only occur at this altitude.

As would be expected, the plants in and around this clearing are primarily pioneer species, lots of Alphitonia, some eucalypts and Acacia, as well as Rubus.

Plenty of epiphytes, too.

The upper branches of the large emergents are completely festooned and encrusted with epiphytes, which is always a nice sight.
Especially when some of those epiphytes are one of the oldest lineages of extant vascular plants - tassel ferns.
Not actually a fern, they are a type of spikemoss and they are AWESOME. Very special plants. So seeing them growing and thriving in the wild was a very cool experience.

The ropey dangling tassels are the reproductive structures.

While going along the track, we came upon a fallen log which had a lovely little pile of bird guts on it, accompanied by a little powder puff of feathers on the ground. The work of a quoll, perhaps?

After a bit more walking, we stopped for lunch in a dry ecotone on the side of a hill. Large granite boulders dotted the hillside, and these were in turn covered by orchids. The whole ecotone was a little orchid hotbed. So cool.

Bulbophyllum newportii

Cymbidium madidum (this one was in a fallen log)

Dendrobium jonesii (I think)

More jonesii, with Dianella in the foreground

More newportii

A horrible photo, but you can see how Den jonesii and Bulb newportii grow together on the boulders with that lovely Casuarina/Allocasuarina leaf litter mulch.

Also plenty of basket ferns (Drynaria)

Cymbidium suave on a tree

Now this really is a horrible photo. But it is a cooktown orchid, Dendrobium bigibbum, which is pretty unusual for it to be this far south. Something to keep an eye on for future trips.

After all that, it was time to kiss Mt Lewis goodbye and get back on the road.

Finally made it to the Daintree River! There is no bridge, so everyone has to go over on this cool looking old ferry. Apparently there is a tree kangaroo that hangs around the boat ramps here, but we didn't see it this time.

A lovely rainforested Jurassic Park-esque drive later, we arrived at the CSIRO Daintree Rainforest Observatory (DRO) facility smack bang in the middle of the rainforest. We were lucky in that we were the first group to use the new upgraded facilities. Oh boy. It was so fancy. I would pay good money to stay there again.

Anyway that will have to do for now, the next part of the trip is deserving of it's own post.

BZ3620 Trip 3: Smithfield Regional Park and Machans Beach/Redden Island

Smithfield Regional Park is the large rainforested conservation area behind the JCU Cairns campus. There are plenty of trails winding their way through the area. This area was pretty normal rainforest, large emergent trees, defined shrub layer, epiphytes, woody and herbaceous climbers. I didn't take many photos, but I did get some photos of a stinging tree (Dendrocnide moroides) which is one of my favourite plants, because they will fuck your shit up with their stinging hairs.

They are pretty easy to find and identify. If you can find a patch of sunlight from a tree fall in the rainforest, or any disturbed area in general, you will probably find a stinging tree. They have large, furry leaves held out horizontally, and their leaves are often chewed up by beetles.

This one had fruit on it. Yes, you can eat the fruit, but you have to brave the stinging hairs to get it. Bear in mind the hairs cover every part of the plant, and often cause severe allergic reactions that often lead to hospitalisation. Even if you aren't allergic, being stung is not a walk in the park.

After lunch, we headed out to Machans Beach to look at mangroves and sandy soil forest. This was a really cool part of the trip for me, because I finally got to see a proper tropical mangrove forest.

This is Bully the bull, he lives in the park and is taken care of by the public.

So yeah, tropical mangroves forests. So cool. There were epiphytes galore in there, as well as other understorey plants. The trees themselves were nice and tall, and there were species other than Rhizophora and Avicennia. Back at home, there are huge mangrove forests covering the mudflats. These forests are mainly made up of Avicennia and Rhizophora. There are other genera present, like Bruguiera, Ceriops, Excoecaria, Xylocarpus, and Acanthus, but you have to look very hard for them.

Platycerium in the mangroves.

Dendrobium discolor. We have this growing at home, both in the wild and in the greenhouse. Such a nifty orchid, it can take a beating and just bounce back. I have seen it growing on primary dunes in full sun enduring salt spray and very little rainfall.

Crinum pedunculatum. Swamp-lily, it can take some shit as well. Really pretty white flowers.

The mangroves at Machans Beach were so cool, but they don't even begin to measure up against the mangrove forest we saw at Marrja Boardwalk in the Daintree. Still, waaay better than the ones down around Gladstone.

We then left the mangroves to walk along the main track through the park and do some botanising.
The forest was pretty open in places, with a shitty shrub layer, and plenty of vines.
Another botanical bucket list tick was made with Myrmecodia beccarii. This is an epiphyte, and has a symbiotic relationship with ants. The swollen stems of the ant plant are riddled with tunnels, which the ants inhabit. The plant gives the ants a home, and the ants protect the plant and it is thought that the plant gains some nutrients from dead ants, ant poop, and bits of leftover meals. A really, really cool plant. What is even cooler is that there are heaps of plants that have this sort of relationship with ants, like some african acacias, and an apocynaceous vine, Dischidia major, which we will encounter later.

Those little white nubs are the flowers. Myrmecodia is in Family Rubiaceae, which includes gardenia, coffee, those sorts of things.

Growing as an epiphyte alongside Myrmecodia beccarii was Dischidia nummularia, which many people know as button orchid. It is not an orchid, but a succulent in Apocynaceae.

There was another Apocynaceae at Machans Beach - Tabernaemontana orientalis, also called Boat Tree.

 

I also found some Cardwell lilies, but they weren't flowering. Still, a nice find.

Next trip is the Daintree trip! Yay! Proper mangrove forests, Australian endemics, and super old rainforest. Very cool stuff.