Serenades of the saltmarsh
January 30, 2009
Saltmarsh at Sorrell. The grey patch is a large mat of the Silky Wilsonia (Wilsonia humilis)
In November 2008 I had the privilege to participate in an African Boxthorn (Lycium ferocissimum) weeding trip at a beautiful saltmarsh in Sorrell with DPIW staff Mick Ilowski and Adam Smith.
The reason we were doing weeding there was because a threatened species, the Silky Wilsonia (Wilsonia humilis) grows there. The Silky Wilsonia (Wilsonia humilis) is listed as rare under the Tasmanian Species Protection Act and the African Boxthorn invasion into the saltmarsh would possibly be quite detrimental to the Silky Wilsonia.
Flowers of Wilsonia humilis
If you have ever seen morning glories you would never have imagined that Wilsonia humilis is anywhere remotely related to it. Unlike it’s typical twinning morning glory cousins, native Tasmanian Wilsonias have succulent leaves and very small flowers (compared to typical morning glories). It is only by virtue of their floral structure that the Wilsonias belong within the morning glory family (Convolvulaceae).
Leaves of Wilsonia humilis
I imagine that the Silky Wilsonia would make a fabulous lawn plant. Those succulent greyish and densely overlapping leaves are simply exquisite.
The succulence of the leaves is an adaptation to the saline conditions of the saltmarsh habitat and it never fails to amaze me how numerous unrelated families of plants have adopted succulence in order to survive in saline environments.
Narrowleaf Wilsonia (Wilsonia backhousei)
In any case, the exuberance of Silky Wilsonia in the Sorrell saltmarsh was simply amazing.
According to Richard Schahinger, a botanist from DPIW’s Threatened Species Unit, this salmarsh probably has one of the most healthy looking populations of the plant. The Sorrell saltmarsh also has another very different looking Wilsonia species there, the Narrowleaf Wilsonia (Wilsonia backhousei).
The Narrowleaf Wilsonia is not threatened but is no less fascinating. The thin elongated sky-ward pointing corollas made me think of little trumpets. What serenades they would be playing, if I but listen.
May 9, 2009 at 12:04 am
[...] In saltmarshes, There is always something worth looking out for. I have written about one such plant, the Silky Wilsonia (Wilsonia humilis) in a previous post. [...]