kangaroo paws

We know Ellenbrook is about to burst into flower. Anigozanthos are putting out big stalks ready to open into the familiar "kangaroo paw" flowers. Here's one of our local kangaroo paws; Mangles Kangaroo Paw, also known as Red and Green Kangaroo Paw (Anigozanthos manglesii).

It's the floral emblem of Western Australia. The photo below was taken in an area that had been cleared - the seeds were in the sandy soil and the plants popped up later. In bushland, kangaroo paws are sometimes difficult to find because the kangaroos love to eat them!

We have two other species of kangaroo paw in Ellenbrook. One is quite small, and has yellow and orange flowers. The common name is Catspaw (Anigozanthos humilis). Both the Catspaw and Mangles' Kangaroo Paw have flat strappy leaves. The photo below is a very large flowery specimen of the Catspaw. (Normally they are tiny, especially if the kangaroos have been chewing on the leaves.)

The third species is the Green Kangaroo Paw (Anigozanthos viridis). The green of the flower is a very unusual chrome-green colour, quite unexpected. The leaves are shaped like long tubes.


Kangaroo Paws are in the family Haemodoraceae, the "blood root" family. Many have red juice in the underground parts of the plant.

Here's another plant in the same family, and if you look closely at the flowers you will see some resemblance to kangaroo paws; strappy leaves, soft fluffy flowers on stalks - Grey Cottonheads (Conostylis candicans).

Here comes the rain!

The rain gauge has been dry for over a month, and we've had unusually high temperatures (up to 28 ~ 300C) during that time. We've been looking wistfully at the weather charts for Qld, which have shown heavy showers, and even flood warnings. But this week looks like the end of the dry spell for Ellenbrook; the Bureau of Meteorology is forecasting showers for the next few days. Hopefully this will be the start of the "winter rains".

The little kangaroo paws known as Catspaws (Anigozanthos humilis), and the local daisies called Golden Longheads (Podotheca gnaphalioides), have started to push their new green shoots out through the dry soil. Most likely it's the lengthening nights that are triggering this. Plus the cooler temperatures at night. I used to think that it was rain that stimulated winter growth in plants, but today I remembered about "photoperiod" and "day length" (which should actually be called "night length"). Soon we will see a flurry of botanical activity in our bushland and gardens, as seeds germinate, new leaves appear, and mature plants start to develop flowers for the coming spring.

Now, here's an interesting thing; "photoperiod" affects animals too. And people. There's evidence that too much artificial light at night is probably harmful to humans, and could affect weight, metabolism and mental health. Perhaps we should go with the flow of shorter days and longer nights in winter; go to bed early, fall asleep to the sound of rain, wake up to a misty sunrise.