Ashby Reserve Audio Guide
Flora
Cheese Tree (Glochidion Ferdinandi)
The fruit of the Cheese Tree resembles small cheese wheels. Showy bright red seeds appear from November to April.
This tree depends on leafflower moths for its pollination and birds love to nest in its dense foliage. The birds love the fruit too and new leafy shoots are eaten by the Rainbow Lorikeet.
Native Ginger (Alpinia Caerulea)
This edible perennial herb is a good bush tucker plant. The fragrant white flowers are followed by blue berries.
Broad-leaved paperbark (Melaleuca quinquenervia)
Melaleuca quinquenervia, or broad-leaved paperbark, is one of the most common trees in the Ashby Reserve because it loves swampy soil. It has cream or white bottlebrush-like flowers from September to March.
Slender Palm Lily (Cordyline Stricta)
Slender or Narrow-leaved Palm Lilies are only native from the southern border of Queensland to the Sydney area. This evergreen plant loves the wet and shady conditions in the Ashby Hall Reserve, although it can also grow in the sun. It's known to flower in summer with purple flowers followed by black berries.
Hairy Psychotria (Psychotria loniceroides)
The hairy psychotria, as its name suggests, has soft downy leaves. It's a shade-loving shrub that can grow up to 5 metres tall. Clusters of white to yellow flowers appear in late Summer. The cream-coloured berries that follow are in theory edible, but can irritate the throat.
Blue Lilly Pilly/ Scented Satin Ash (Syzygium oleosum)
The Blue Lilly Pilly, also known as Scented Satin Ash, is a small but fast-growing tree with cream or white fluffy flowers. It thrives in the sub-tropical forests of Northern NSW. The hairless, dark glossy leaves have distinct lateral veins and smell lemony when crushed. Its purplish red fruit turns blue when it ripens in autumn, giving it the nickname "blue cherry".
Blue Flax Lily (Dianella caerulea var. assera)
The blue flax lily is also known as the blueberry lily. It's a perennial herb, which means it keeps growing from year to year. This hardy plant with stiff leaves is very common in the Ashby Hall Reserve. It has distinctive lilac-and-white flowers with yellow stamens and shiny blue berries in November and December. You can eat the berries and the roots, but since there are similar Dianella species and also cultivated varieties that are toxic, it is best to leave this plant be.
Pink Bloodwood (Corymbia intermedia)
The tall Pink Bloodwood tree is endemic to north-eastern Australia, as far as Cape York. The dark pink to reddish-brown wood is a popular hardwood for fences. It flowers from December to March and has sweet smelling cream or white flowers. The fruit is an oval, urn-shaped or barrel-shaped capsule. it doesn't have large gumnuts or winged seeds, like the Red Bloodwood has. Some species of gliders pierce the grough, brown bark to feast on its sap.
Illawarra Flame Tree (Brachychiton acerifolius)
While not endemic to our area, the Illawarra Flame Tree happily grows in the Ashby Reserve and can get up to 35 metres high. Its bright red bell-shaped flowers gave it its name, which many know from the famous song "Flame Trees" by Cold Chisel. Before the tree flowers in winter it drops its leaves, which makes it extra showy. First Nations people used, or use, the inner bark for making fishing nets or traps and string and the large seeds taste a bit like raw peanuts, but are best cooked before eating.
Swamp Mahogany/Swamp Box (Lophostemon suaveolens)
The swamp mahogany, swamp box or swamp turpentine is native to Australia and New Guinea. Not to be confused with the Eucalytus robusta, which is also nicknamed swamp mahogany and is also common here, but tends to be taller. The Swamp Box has dull green, weeping foliage that koalas will eat. Its creamy flowers in spring and summer a good source of honey for bees.
White Beech (Gmelina leichhardtii)
The white beech tree by the picnic area was planted here in the 1990s by the community volunteers who built the Ashby Hall and still functions as a shade tree today. The fast-growing tree was identified in the Clarence Valley in the late 19th century and was extensively logged as a timber tree. The White Beech loses part of its canopy in late spring, when purple, yellow and white flowers appear. The dark purple round fruit ripens from April and is a favourite of certain types of pigeons and doves.
Morinda (Gynochthodes jasminoides)
The Morinda is a common woody climber or scrambling shrub with dark green glossy opposite leaves. The shrub has creamy white to orange clusters of tubular flowers from spring to summer. and orange fleshy fruit in autumn. The perfumed flowers attract insects, including butterflies.
Bangalow Palm (Archontophoenix cunninghamiana)
The Bangalow Palm can be invasive and has become a noxious weed in many parts of the world, but is native to the subtropical and tropical rainforests of Australia. The feather-leaved plant can easily grow 20 metres tall. It has evergreen foliage and flowers in summer. Its red round fruits appear in drooping clusters underneath the foliage.
Bracken (Pteridium esculentum)
Bracken isn't a weed in our region, as some people assume, but instead it's a native perennial fern found in open forest, or on cleared land, where it can form extensive colonies due to its underground root network. Spores easily germinate in moist, sheltered spots. The bright green fronds are coiled when they first emerge, then unfurl to become a hardy, dark green plant.
Bird's Nest Fern (Asplenium australasicum)
The Bird's Nest Fern, is an epiphytic fern, which means that it clings onto branches of trees, rather than growing on the ground, but it doesn't feed off the host plant. The fern sends out large fronds from a central point, to resemble a large nest. Like all ferns, this plant thrives in humid conditions. Its shiny leaves love the shade and are leathery to the touch.
Prickly plants
Cockspur Thorn (Maclura cochinchinensis)
The Cockspur Thorn is one of the few prickly plants in the Ashby Reserve. The juvenile leaves are smaller than its long thorns, but in adult plants the leaves are larger. The straggling shrub or woody climber does well in our subtropical climate and if left alone it may live hundreds of years. Small birds hide in the foliage and pick the juicy yellow-orange fruit, which is fleshy and sweet. The edible fruit is ripe between January and March.
Prickly Beard Heath (Leucopogon juniperinus)
The Prickly Beard Heath is common in eastern Australia. It is a low and dense shrub with sharp oblong leaves growing in clusters. The prickly plant has elongated white flowers between May and October and its yellow-orange berry-like fruit appears in summer.
Climbers
Twining Guinea Flower (Hibbertia Scandens)
Also known as the Snake Vine, this climber with beautiful yellow flowers that attract butterflies. The plant provides seeds and insects for birds, including Eastern Rosellas and native bees.
Wonga Wonga Vine (Pandorea Pandorana)
Pandorea pandorana, commonly known as the Wonga Wonga Vine, is a climber with pink bell flowers in spring and summer.
Three-leaved Water Vine (Tetrastigma Nitens)
The leaves of this climber can change significantly, to appear far less toothed over time. Brown flowers appear from August to November and its green berries only appear if the plant is in full sun. These are edible but not great for bush tucker because it can give you a scratchy throat. Older leaves are said to be edible after cooking.
Monkey Rope (Parsonsia straminea)
The Monkey Rope vine or Silkpod starts out as a delicate climber on tree trunks, but can grow into a very strong vine that was used by Aborigines as rope. It has tube-shaped, perfumed cream, white or pinkish flowers. The woody seed pods are shaped like cigars.
The flowers attract bees and butterflies, the leaves are food for caterpillars and the old vines can be good hiding places for possums.
Lawyer Vine (Smilax Australis)
Also called "Barbwire Vine" or "Lawyer Vine" or even "Sarsaparilla", Smilax Australis is a vigorous climber with very broad leaves and prickly stems. It has small cream perfumed flowers and red to black berries which attract butterflies and birds.