Some plants and fungi from Toowoomba Field Nats Club trip to Wondul Range National Park & Inglewood State Forest

Photographs and explanation by Mike and Deb Ford, ably assisted by their daughter, Lisa

Eriocaulon sp. Possibly Eriocaulon scariosum, commonly named common, rough
or pale pipewort, a species of tufted grass-like herbaceous plants,  constituting part of the plant family Eriocaulaceae.  Common pipewort plants
grow naturally in wetlands, bogs and drainage areas, from central and eastern Victoria, through eastern New South Wales, including the Australian Capital Territory, to eastern and north Queensland, Australia  (Wikipedia)

.

Cortinarius sp.  Possibly Cortinarius areolatoimbricatus.  Caps to 150 mm across, deeply convex at first, becoming broadly convex and irregular at maturity.  Cap surface is generally covered with overlapping fibrillose
scales.  A robust, fleshy fungus usually found in dense caespitose (several fruiting bodies arising from a common base) clumps with caps distorted by mutual pressure.  Common and widespread in eucalypt forest. (Bruce Fuhrer, A Field Guide to Australian Fungi, Blooming Books Pty Ltd, Melbourne, 2005.









Cryptes baccatus (Wattle Tick Scale) (Family COCCOIDAE, Soft Scale Insects) is a light bluish grey scale insect when young and turns brown with age. Forms colonies of 30-40 on some Acacias including A. melanoxylon. Tended by ants, who take away the sugary exudates.  The insects live within these convex, protective "shells". Scale insects constitute a very large group of unusual plant feeding insects. This group is commonly divided into soft scales and armored scales. (Wingless and legless) adult scales spend their lives under protective shells. Soft scale insects have a waxy film secreted
over their body wall. Armored scales are protected beneath a separate cover secreted over their bodies. Some caterpillars ( e.g. Stathmopoda melanochroa) feed on various species of Scale Insect. Female scale insects
lay their eggs under their bodies or scale covers. When they first hatch, young scales have legs and are quite active. At this stage, they are called
crawlers. Crawlers disperse, locate new feeding sites, and then transform
into immobile adults. (http://www.saveourwaterwaysnow.com.au/ article by
Robert Whyte and
http://www.brisbaneinsects.com/brisbane_softbugs/WattleTickScale.htm)

Hardenbergia violacea.  Hardenbergia is a small genus of three species, the most common and best known of which is Hardenbergia violacea.  A widespread species occurring in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia. It occurs in a variety of habitats from coast to mountains, usually in open forest/woodland and sometimes in heath. Hardenbergia violacea is usually a climbing plant whose branches twist around the stems of other plants. It is moderately vigorous but rarely covers other plants so extensively as to cause damage. Shrubby forms without any climbing tendency
are known. The leaves are dark, glossy green with prominent veins and are 75-100 mm in length. (Australian Native Plants Society (Australia)
http://anpsa.org.au/)






Cyanicula caerulea (Eastern Tiny China Blue Orchid).  Terrestrial orchid of shady forest areas in well-drained soil.  Single leaf to 6 cm x 5 mm.  One bluish-purple flower to 30 mm, on stem to 15 mm tall, winter to spring.
Labellum with dark bars. (Glenn Leiper, Jan Glazebrook, Denis Cox, Kerry Rathie, Mangroves to Mountains, A Field Guide to the Native Plants of South-east Queensland, Logan River Branch SGAP (Qld Region) Inc., 2008.