The colour of summer

Summer: it’s a time when the bush can look stressed and under siege—but also when it can offer some pretty good sights, especially in the late afternoon or early in the morning. Clouds of butterflies around flowering  bursaria come to mind–or the flowering tea tree planted by Castlemaine Landcare along Forest Creek.

River tea tree (Leptospermum obovatum), Forest Creek, January 2014: ten years of work by Castlemaine Landcare have transformed the creek between the town and Wesley Hill.

But summer is a time when many species go onto the defence against heat and dry. In some cases, this can be quite picturesque: for example, a splash of startling bronze at the base of a tree which turns out to be a drying patch of Bronze Signal Moss [Sematophyllum homomallum]:

Sematophyllum homomallum, Kalimna Park, late December: as it dries, it often becomes a richer bronze colour–which might explain its common name, Bronze Signal moss.