Our guide has been prepared with seasonal blooms in Oatley Park. The park protects important examples of the natural environment which occurred throughout the area before the spread of suburbs. Within its boundaries are numerous micro-habitats giving protection to a variety of native plants and to animals which rely on those plants for food, shelter and nesting.
Common Correa – Correa reflexa
Small shrub with opposite leaves and yellow-green bell flowers. Common, especially in sheltered spots.
Eggs and Bacon – Dillwynia retorta
Shrub mostly about 1 m tall. Leaves narrow and crowded; flowers yellow with red centre. Widespread on drier plateau.
Spine-leaf Banksia – Banksia spinulosa
Small shrub with narrow toothed leaves. Flowers in golden-yellow spikes with hooked dark styles.
Fuschia Heath – Epacris longiflora
Shrub with small heart-shaped leaves. Flowers pendulous, tubular, red with white tips. Cream-flowered varieties also can be found. Common on sheltered slopes.
Prickly Beard Heath – Leucopogon juniperinus
A low shrub with prickly leaves and numerous small white flowers within the foliage. Widespread.
Guinea Flower – Hibbertia monogyna
Shrub to 60 cm tall, with wedge-shaped leaves and yellow flowers. Open forest, including Headland Track.
Prickly Moses – Acacia ulicifolia
Small shrub with needle-like phyllodes and creamy globular flowers. Widespread.
Fringe Head Orchid – Corybas fimbriatus
Small hooded ground orchid with a solitary heart-shaped leaf and reddish-purple flower. Uncommon, but occurs along Headland Track.
Sydney Golden Wattle – Acacia longifolia
Tall spreading shrub with long broad phyllodes and many flowers in attractive spikes. Widespread in Park.
Hairy Zieria – Zieria pilosa
Low shrub with leaves in 3. Stems hairy. Small white flowers with 4 petals. Sheltered slopes, including Headland Track.
Muttonwood – Mysine variabilis
Formerly Rapanea. Large shrub with leathery toothed leaves. Tiny white to pink flowers are clustered along old wood. Sheltered sites.
Myrtle-leaf Wattle – Acacia myrtifolia
Low shrub with elliptic phyllodes to 5 cm long and light yellow flowerheads. Widespread.
For More information on the Flora of Oatley Park and Sydney Region check out the publications below:
- Native Plants of Oatley Park, A Photographic Guide Published by Oatley Flora and Fauna Conservation Society
- Native Plants of Oatley Park Compiled by Alan Fairley, copies available at Oatley Flora and Fauna monthly meetings.
- Native Plants of the Sydney District an identification guide, by Alan Fairley & Philip Moore, available in book shops.
- D’harawal Seasons and Climatic Cycles, Compiled by Frances Bodkin & Illustrated by Lorraine Robertson 2008