The Qualup Bell
Jun 6th, 2006 by Duncan
In 1990 Coral and I spent six weeks in Western Australia, immersing ourselves in the floral wonders of that great state. When we rolled into Fitzgerald River National Park, we were dismayed to find that two thirds of it had been devastated by wildfire, but happily, we saw beautiful orchids that had sprung up after the fire, and in the unburnt section, the Qualup Bell, Pimelea physodes. This striking plant, growing in sand, is so unlike the pimeleas of the eastern states, and I never dreamed that sixteen years later I would have it flowering in my garden. A friend grafts it on to a stock of Pimelea ferruginea, in itself a beautiful plant, but one that has the added quality of being hardy in our humid conditions.
Today the sun is shining after lots of dull damp days, and the Qualup Bell is a picture, glowing in the dappled sunlight beneath the ironbark.
There’s a bigger version of this picture here.
Fitgerald River NP has some wonderful memories for us too. It has been well over 25 years since our only visit – far too long.
Certainly a wealth of plants there Trevor, the Barrens were just bare quartzite gravel when we saw them, all vegetation was gone, but orchids were popping up everywhere. Some appeared that hadn’t been recorded there before.
Isn’t it amazing how so many of our plants respond to fire. Friends (now sadly both deceased)had a 50 acre block of mallee scrub about 40km SE of here. Ross burned some rubbish weeds he was trying to get rid of – and a very rare orchid came up the next spring. Can’t remember which species it was but it had hardly ever been recorded around these parts – his wife was a native orchid expert and had even written a book on SA orchids.
Last year we did extensive 4WDriving in Ngarkat National Park on the eastern border from here. This park was extensively burnt (over 75%) in January 05. We were there in June 05 and the regrowth was phenomenal. Bird numbers were severely down, however.