About/Contacts
The Society for Kimberley Indigenous Plants and Animals
is a group for Kimberley People who want to do any of the following;
Grow your own native plants
Promote sustainable and environmentally friendly gardening practices.
Learn more about Kimberley plants and animals
Participate in Kimberley field trips
Propagate
Advance the knowledge about Kimberley plants and animals
Seed collect
Collect herbarium specimens
Survey
Take Photos
Contribute to community and environment,
Share knowledge
Restore degraded sites and address environmental threats
Have Fun!
We meet most Tuesday afternoons from 4.30 at Kimberley Training Institute (the old Broome TAFE) horticultural compound. We also go on semi-regular field trips throughout the Kimberley. You don’t have to be located in Broome; this is for all of you flora and fauna nuts in the Kimberley. Get online, swap germination techniques, share photographs, ask for help with plant or animal identification and post stories about your groups floristic excursions or fauna sitings. We’d love to hear from you!
At the moment this site is a written multi-contributor blog, so if you want to do more than just comment you have to email us to become an author which allows you to post photos and stories. Otherwise, just contact us and we’ll post them for you.
For more information or to get on the SKIPA email distribution list
skipas@environskimberley.org.au
For information about Weeds & Biodiversity – Environs Kimberley
louise.natureproject@environskimberley.org.au
Ph: (08) 91921922
Thankyou also to our collaborative working partners who support us to contribute, collect and collate;
Kimberley TAFE, Australian Quarantine Inspection Service, Bardi Jawi Rangers/Kimberley Land Council, Department of Environment and Conservation, ABC Radio and Environs Kimberley.
Environs Kimberley supports SKIPA through its project activities with the West Kimberley Nature Project and the Environs Kimberley Community WEED Project.
The projects have been funded through Rangelands NRM WA.
www.environskimberley.org.au/weeds.htm
Invite sent! Be happy to have your contribution
Just make sure you resize your pics about 50-70kb is ok. Just using windows compress gen does the trick though Gareth was advocating a special rezise jpgs program that you might be able to figure out how to use.
Look forward to seeing your pics, just check the how to’s and drop a line if any dramas. Cheers
Louise
hey lulu, i accepted your invitation by setting up a blog:
http://bushmanmike.wordpress.com/
and added a post with tags…
so what now do i do about becoming and author?
cheers
G’day Bushman Mike, sorry about the glitch there. You are now an author. go ahead and post away but if you run into any dramas let me know by email and ill try and fix them up and let you know where youve gone wrong.
Hopefully too much time hasnt passed you by and your still intersted in posting
Cheers
Lu
I have just returned from a 6 week bush walk in the Kimberley. We roughly walked from east of the Berkeley river to Kalumburu close to the northern coastline. Whilst walking through the woodlands and in particular those between King George falls and Faraway bay the smell of aniseed wafted in the air. The woodlands were very wet and in many places were bogs with water up to boot level. There were many wild flowers in bloom but we smelt many and there were none with an aniseed scent. We smelt aniseed occasionally in other woodlands and we were unsure whether our boots squelching in the mud were releasing the smell from the ground or whether the breeze was wafting the smell in front of us from somewhere distant. As you can imagine there was no one in our group with any plant experience or knowledge.
We finally reached our destination at Kalumburu and we went out with some of the volunteers from the Kalumburu Mission looking at aboriginal art. On this trip one of the volunteers was recounting an aboriginal story. I was at the back of the group and I cannot remember the story but my ears pricked up when he showed us a small deep blue flower. When the flower was crushed it had an aniseed smell. In fact I think the whole plant smelt of aniseed and after crushing the stems of the flower there was a very strong smell of aniseed. They called the flower Pinjawinjal.
I know the above information is obscure and I have not got a photograph of the flower but I would be grateful if you could provide any information on the aniseed smelling blue flower of the Kimberley.
Thanks Bob for your descriptions about the hike; it sounds like a wonderful experience in a very beautiful part of the Kimberley.
As much as the visual beauty can make an impact, I too find the scent of plants can last as a memory well after the view has faded; the smell of spinifex resin on a hot Pilbara afternoon; Northern Cypress (Callitris intratropica) after a fire in the Kimberley; or the heady smell of Vicks Bush (Stemodia grossa) on the breeze.
Did the plant have sticky leaves which also smelt, like the Vicks Bush does. It too has blue flowers – like many Stemodia the blue flowers are fragrant. I would need to check if Stemodia grossa occurs in the region you walked.
I will ask some of our experienced members good on plant identification about your aniseed scented hike.
Please share any great plant or animal photos you took on the hike too!
PS: apologies for the delay in replying to your query.
Thanks broomegirl for your reply and interest in my mystery? aniseed smelling Kimberley blue flower. The plant did not have sticky leaves and did not look like photographs of Stemodia grossa on the Internet. But thanks for the suggestion. The flower was a simple blue structure and the aniseed smell comes more from the stem and leaves rather than the flower itself. I think in the local P’La language it is called Pindja Uindjal but this may confuse the issue. Apologies for no photograph. If you come up with anything,I would love to hear from you.
Robert,
A possible lead to follow up on- Syzygium anisatum is a rare rainforest species from NSW well known for a very distinctive aniseed scent to the leaves and stem. All Syzygium (Myrtaceae) produce essential oils, and 12 species/subspecies are known from the Kimberley. Aboriginals are known to use some species as bush tucker; the genus is home to the common Lilly Pilly. I can’t find reference to blue flowers however, most are cream or white. I’ll keep my eyes open when I’m up around Kalumbaru next.
Hi guys,
A quick response to one of your blogs- the mystery aquatic plant with the black sacs on its roots and inflated bladders is a Utricularia (Bladderwort), most likely U. inflata or U. gibba. The plant is carnivorous; the black sacs are actually tiny prey-filled suction traps which the plant uses to obtain nitrogen and phosphorous for growth. The inflated bladders hold the inflorescence above the water during the flowering season.
Adam
Good to know Adam. Isn’t it amazing how plants can be carnivorous, including even under water. Such a diversity of unqiue flora.
Hi Bob,
The herb with the blue flower which smells like aniseed is most likely Lindernia lobelioides.
Thanks Ben, I think you might be on the money!