Vol. 53
Title: Propagation and Cultivation of Selected Central Australian Wildflowers
Author: Tim L. Collins
pp: 149-153
Abstract:
INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND
Central Australia is home to over 2000 species of plants, many of which exhibit remarkable adaptations to the harsh climate. Rain may not fall for long periods and then arrive in flooding quantities. Plants have evolved under these conditions and many survive the dry times by reproducing and growing opportunistically. The deserts are known to produce masses of ephemeral flowering plants after autumn and winter rain (Urban, 1990), which transform the desert landscape with a variety of flower forms and colour.
The first impression of a visitor to Central Australia is usually the vast scale of the landscape and the drabness of the dominant schlerophyllous (Jessop et al., 1981) vegetation. These visitors are unlikely to witness the floral bounty of rare precipitation. These reproductive events occur during the cooler months of the year when heavy rains cause dormant seeds to emerge and grow.
The Botany Team at the Alice Springs Desert Park is using some of the
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