Look for the following plants around the car park and as you walk to the beach.
Common Boobialla
Myoporum insulare
Family: Myoporaceae
This plant is commonly found in coastal sand dunes.
The foliage is fire resistant and the leaf litter minimal.
Tammar Wallabies often browse on this shrub, even
standing on their hind legs to reach the higher leaves.
Coast Daisy-bush
Olearia axillaris
Family: Compositae
This common
grey-green, aromatic coastal plant acts as
a sand binder. The undersides of the leaves are white and
woolly. Strongly scented, inconspicuous flowers appear
between February and April and the seeds are dispersed
by wind.
Kangaroo Island Spyridium
Spyridium halmaturinum var. halmaturinum
Family: Rhamnaceae
Spyridium is from the Greek spyridion, meaning a little basket,
alluding to the tiny white flowerheads. The white petals
surrounding the flower are actually ‘floral leaves’ designed to
attract pollinating insects to the otherwise unappealing flower.
Halmaturinum means 'island'. This plant is endemic (found
nowhere else) to
Kangaroo Island.
Slender Honey-myrtle
Melaleuca gibbosa
Family: Myrtaceae
The Slender Honey-myrtle is widespread in both coastal
and swampy areas. In late spring and summer the pink
or mauve flowers that cluster on the stems look like mini bottlebrushes.
Coast Beard-heath
Leucopogon parviflorus
Family: Epacridaceae
This shrub is known locally as ‘native currant’ for the edible white berries
it produces in summer. The single seed is surrounded by juicy flesh which
many birds find palatable. At fruiting time it is common to see flocks
of Silver Gulls hovering above the shrubs, plucking off berries.
Dryland Tea-tree
Melaleuca lanceolata
Family: Myrtaceae
In such an exposed site Dryland Tea-trees hug
the ground, much reduced in size by the
salt-laden winds. On your return drive look
out for the same species growing in the form
of a large shrub, its canopy dense enough
to provide wallabies with effective shelter
from the cold, wind and rain.
Coast Cushion Bush
Leucophyta brownii
Family: Compositae
The dense, rounded Coast Cushion Bush
is often found facing the sea on cliffs and dunes.
‘Leucophyta’ means ‘white leaves’. The tiny leaves
that are pressed against the white stem are covered
in a mass of white hairs, giving the bush its
silvery appearance.
Sea Spurge
Euphorbia paralias
Family: Euphorbiaceae
Originating in the Mediterranean region, Sea Spurge has
become a weed of coastal sand dunes in Australia. Herbs from
the Euphorbia family have a poisonous milky white sap in the
stems and leaves, that is a skin irritant.
Sticky Goodenia
Goodenia varia
Family: Goodeniaceae
This shrub grows to waist high in mallee and coastal areas and flowers
for much of the year. The lime green leaves are round and thick
and the new growth is often sticky.
ound-leaf Correa
Correa backhouseana var. orbicularis
Family: Rutaceae
This round-leaved subspecies is endemic to
Kangaroo Island. The tubular bell-shaped flowers
face the ground inthe winter, allowing rain to run
off. However, in summer the 'bells' invert to face the
sky to allow for easier fertilisation by birds such as
honeyeaters as they search for nectar.
Drooping Velvet-bush
Lasiopetalum schulzenii
Family: Sterculiaceae
Lasiopetalum means ‘hairy petal’, but on this plant the
drooping, heart-shaped leaves are also hairy. This plant
grows on a range of soils and is therefore found in many
different habitats on
Kangaroo Island.
Coast Velvet-bush
Lasiopetalum discolor
Family: Sterculiaceae
The dense leaves on this shrub are rusty coloured on
their undersides. Pale pink flowers with hairy insides
appear from winter to early summer.