Tasting like a smoky sundried tomato, the desert raisin has been a staple for Australian desert communities for thousands of years.
Articles on Beating around the bush
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With unusual inflated winged fruits growing on “sickness country”, the tree flummoxed local botanists who had not seen anything like it before.
The Instagram-able Eucalyptus salubris, better known as the Gimlet Gum, is well worth getting off the beaten track for.
Present in Asia and Australia, the origins of swamp foxtails have not always been clear. Genetic studies put uncertainties to rest.
What grows everywhere and looks good doing it? Clematis aristata.
The moss that grows in pavement cracks and on the edge of basketball courts in every town and city in Australia has a secret superpower.
The guinea flower grows right across Australia.
During its first few decades, this tree is the runt of the rainforest. And then it starts its growth spurt, and can go on to live for millennia.
Firewood banksia don’t just survive in Western Australia’s sandy plains, they thrive, showing off with vibrant, pink-red flower spikes.
This native succulent is a tasty bush food.
Wander in the dark forest and you might spot the radioactive glow of the ghost fungus.
Walking towards this tree, which grows only on a select few mist-shrouded mountainsides in Queensland, can feel like stepping into a prehistoric dinosaur-filled fantasy.
This retiring violet tucked away in the Australian bush holds the key to future generations of medically-engineered plants.
Move over Benedict Cumberbatch, there’s another oddly shaped pale figure stealing the limelight.
Native cherries are everywhere, but we know surprisingly little about them.
It takes a eucalyptus tree more than a hundred years to develop hollows suitable to shelter Aussie animals, and just moments to cut it down.
Australia is the world centre for sexual deception in plants, tricking wasps along the way.
One of the great Australian trees – messmate stringybark, Eucalyptus obliqua.
Spinifex grass is a (slightly ugly) Aussie battler that keeps on giving.
European settlers suspected Australia’s high tropical forests hid native rhododendrons.
Top contributors
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Senior Research Associate, School of Agriculture, Food and Ecosystem Sciences, The University of Melbourne
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Honorary Fellow at Menzies School of Health Research, Charles Darwin University
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Research Fellow, Curtin University
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Laboratory and Technical Support Officer, Australian Tropical Herbarium, James Cook University
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PhD candidate, James Cook University
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PhD Researcher, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington
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Associate Professor in Environmental Science, Western Sydney University
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PhD Candidate, Australian National University
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Honorary Associate Professor, Forest Measurement and Management, Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University
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Adjunct Assoc. Professor, The University of Western Australia
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Professor and Head of School, School of Environmental & Rural Science, University of New England
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Visiting Fellow, Lecturer & Consultant (Writing Clear Science), The University of Melbourne
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Adjunct Associate Professor, Murdoch University
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Senior Lecturer in Ecology, Environment & Evolution, La Trobe University
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Research Scientist in Biodiversity and Human Health, Edith Cowan University