Pandorea jasminoides (Bower of Beauty)
Form: Vine up to 6 metres long
Aspect: Full sun/ Filtered sun
Soil: Adaptable
Description:
Hardy, vigorous plant with dark green bushy foliage & showy pink flowers (sometimes white) Spring & Summer.
Seed pods attract birds.
Used as a nesting site by small birds.
Tolerates salt spray.
Family: Bignoniaceae
Special Features:
Suitable for trellis, groundcover, wall overhang, or pergola.
Alyxia ruscifolia (Chain Fruit)
Form: Shrub 2 to 3 metres tall by 1 metre wide.
Aspect: Full shade/ Filtered sun
Soil: Adaptable
Description:
Stiff upright shrub with pointed thick leaves.
Perfumed white flowers followed by 10mm orange fruits, often in chains of 2-4.
Loves dappled light or full shade and a sandy or well-drained soil.
Family: Bignoniaceae
Special Features:
Will grow well under larger trees.
An unusual rainforest species worthy of a sheltered garden.
Slow growing but tough and hardy.
Abrophyllum ornans (Native Hydrangea)
Form: Shrub or small tree to 5 metres tall
Aspect: Full sun/ Filtered sun
Soil: Moist
Description:
Large leaves to 20cm long, toothed at tips, sprays of tiny perfumed greenish-yellow flowers in Spring.
Black berries.
Suitable for heavy shade.
Grown for its attractive foliage.
Family: Rousseaceae
Special Features:
Good indoor plant.
Graptophyllum spinigerum (Native Holly)
Form: Shrub 1 – 2 metres tall by 1 metre wide
Aspect: Low sun/ Shade
Soil: Enriched soil, mildly acidic to mildly alkaline
Description:
This shrub has opposite leaves which have 1-4 teeth along each side.
Flowers are whitish with red to purple spots.
Fruit is a capsule to 2 cm long.
Lobelia alata (Sweet Lobelia)
Form: Groundcover to 25 cm tall
Aspect: Filtered sun
Soil: Adaptable
Description:
Trailing habit with elongated foliage.
Small pretty mauve-blue flowers throughout the year..
Good groundcover for shady areas.
Excellent for hanging basket.
Good alternative to native violet.
Lobelia trigonocaulis (Forest Lobelia)
Habit: Groundcover to 25cm tall
Aspect: Filtered sun
Soil: Adaptable
Description:
Trailing habit with heart-shaped leaves and small mauve-blue flowers throughout the year.
Excellent groundcover in shady areas.
Suitable for hanging basket.
Excellent alternative to native violet.
Family: Campanulaceae
Viola betonicifolia (Arrow-Leaved Violet)
Form: Groundcover
Aspect: Full sun/filtered sun
Soil: Moist/Well-drained
Description:
Delicate, tufted plant with slender leaves to 10cm long and white to purple-blue flowers to 8cm tall in Spring &
Summer.
Host to the endangered Laced Fritillary butterfly.
Excellent pot plant.
Rockery Plant
Mass plant 6 per square metre
Family: Violaceae
Christella dentata (Binung)
Form: Fern to 1 metre tall
Aspect: Part Shade
Soil: Adaptable
Description:
Tufting fern with fronds to 1m long.
Grows on creek banks and in swampy areas.
Grows well in partly shaded, sheltered areas.
Excellent for under decks and in areas where little else grows.
Family: Thelypteridaceae
Pararistolochia praevenosa (Birdwing Butterfly Vine)
Form: Climber. Stems to 15cm thick.
Aspect: Filtered sun
Soil: Good draininage, moderate water
Description:
Rare woody climbing vine, twining stems, young shoots densely hairy.
Tubular creamy or pinkish flowers to 20cm.
Richmond Birdwing Butterfly uses leaves as a food source.
Prefers slightly sheltered position when young, filtered light.
Family: Aristolochiacaea
Crinum pendunculatum (River Lily)
Habit: Lily to 1 metre tall
Aspect: Full sun/ Part shade
Soil: Adaptable
Description:
Attractive perennial, with strap-like fleshy leaves to 1m long & 10cm wide at base,
Large white scented flowers on long stems Oct-Jan.
Hardy, will grow in water and damp spots but is also drought & salt tolerant.
Family: Liliaceae
Castanospermum australe (Black Bean)
Form: Tree 8-20 metres with a spread of 4-8 metres (under cultivation).
Aspect: Filtered sun
Soil: Adaptable
Description:
A handsome tree with glossy dark green pinnate leaves and low spreading branches when grown in the open.
During October – November, it bears sprays of red and yellow pea-shaped flowers 3-4 cm long, which are partly hidden by the dense foliage.
Following flowering in March – May, large cylindrical pods measuring 12-20cm by 4-6 cm are produced.
These pods split in two, revealing 3-5 large bean like seeds weighing about 30 grams.
The nectar produced by the flowers attracts birds, bats and butterflies.
Family: Fabaceae
Cordyline rubra (Red Palm Lily)
Form: Palm lily 2 to 3 metres tall.
Aspect: Full shade/ Filtered sun
Soil: Moist, well drained
Description:
Erect stems with leaves up to 60cm long, small, white-purple flowers on long sprays in Spring/Summer & bright
red berries.
Excellent indoor plant.
Hardy.
Butterfly host.
Grows in full shade.
Family: Asparagaceae
Mazus pumilio (Swamp Mazus)
Form: Creeping herb.
Aspect: Full shade/ Filtered sun
Soil: Moist, well drained
Description:
Leaves tufted, erect to 4cm by 15 cm.
6 mm mauve to pinkish flowers held above foliage in Spring to Autumn.
Family: Scrophlurariaceae
Cordyline stricta (Narrow Leaf Palm Lily)
Form: Palm lily 2 to 3 metres tall by 0.8 metres wide.
Aspect: Full shade/ Filtered sun
Soil: Moist, well drained
Description:
Lovely slender stems topped by thin leaves to 50cm long, with small, tubular purple flowers on long sprays in Spring & Summer, followed by masses of black berries.
Excellent understory plant and indoor plant.
Family: Asparagaceae
Linospadix monostachya (Walking Stick Palm)
Habit: Palm to 3 metres
Aspect: Filtered sun.
Soil: Adaptable/ Moist
Description:
Small palm that has a mature form closer to a cordyline shape.
Uncommon.
Distinctly ringed trunk, used by physically disabled service people as walking sticks after the First World War.
Edible red fruit to 10mm on spikes.
Prefers sheltered position.
Family: Arecaceae
Alocasia brisbanensis (Cunjevoi Lily)
Habit: Lily up to 2 metres tall by 1 metre wide
Aspect: Full shade/ Filtered sun
Soil: Moist
Description:
Very ornamental habit, large (up to 70cm long) “elephant ear” light green leaves on long fleshy stems.
Highly fragrant creamish flowers followed by red berries.
Plant sap is toxic.
Family: Araceae
Special Features:
Reputed remedy to the effects of the Stinging Tree.
Scaevola albida (Pink Fan Flower)
Form: Groundcover 30 cm tall up to 1 metre.
Aspect: Full Sun
Soil: Adaptable/ Well-drained
Description:
Prostrate, spreading habit, smallish green leaves & pretty fan-shaped mauve flowers most of the year.
Hardy, thick groundcover, hanging basket and rockery plant, likes a bit of moisture.
Family: Goodeniaceae
Special Features:
Host to Meadow Argus butterfly.
Viola banksii (Native Violet)
Form: Groundcover 10 cm tall
Aspect: Part Sun/ Full Shade
Soil: Moise areas
Description:
Attractive creeping groundcover, small rounded light green leaves & delicate purple & white flowers (fragrant on warm days) on upright stems to 9cm long.
Flowers all year, and are edible.
Good rockery & edging plant.
Perfect understory groundcover in moist areas.
Family: Violaceae
Special Features:
Frog Habitat.
Viola silicestris (Sandstone Violet)
Form: Groundcover 40 cm tall
Aspect: Part Sun/ Full Shade
Soil: Moist areas
Description:
Spreading herb with broad leaves.
Pale mauve-blue flowers in September – November
Fruits pale green with or without purple blotches; seeds 1.5–1.7 mm long, glossy purplish black when mature.
Family: Violaceae
Alpinia caerulea (Native Ginger)
Form: Perennial herb to 2 metres tall by 1.5 metres wide
Aspect: Full Shade/ Filtered Sun
Soil: Adaptable
Description:
Erect stems, large light green leaves, white flowers in Summer followed by bright blue edible fruit.
Attracts birds.
Young rhizome tips, buds & roots eaten raw taste like ginger.
Good understorey feature plant, creekside plant, or around a pond.
Clumping.
Family: Zingiberaceae
Hoya australis (Common Waxflower, Waxvine)
Form: Twining Vine to 6 Metres Tall
Aspect: Full Sun / Semi-Shade
Soil: Moist, Well Composted
Description:
Perennial Vine with fleshy leaves
White / Pale Pink waxy flowers in Spring
Perfumed flowers
Family: Apocynaceae
Special Features:
• Host to Common Crow Butterfly
• Suitable for Indoors / Pots
• Bird attracting
Geitonoplesium cymosum (Scrambling Lily)
Form: Vine to 4 Metres Tall
Aspect: Shade / Semi-Shade
Soil/Conditions: Adaptable / Moist
Description:
Climbing Habit
Green shiny leaves with raised Mid-Vein
White flowers in Spring to Autumn
Black Berry fruit
Family: Philesiaceae
Natural Habitat: Wet Eucalypt Forest
Special Features:
• Bird Attracting
• Aboriginal Food and Tool Source
• Unsupported plants become Ground Cover