Conversation over morning tea

B. I think the botanists of this world must be pretty smart.

G. What has occasioned this sudden admiration for botanists?

B. Well, as you know, I like a walk to have a purpose. So, on today’s walk, I decided to search for one of those endangered species – the Nielsen Park she-oak (allocasuarina portuensis). It’s our local one.

G. Lot of different casuarina types on that Nielsen Park headland walk.

B. Exactly. That’s the problem. I took a photo of the one I thought it was, but is it?

G. Fool’s gold, you think?

B. Maybe. It seems there are more than 50 species of allocasuarina.

G. Tricky.

B. This one was only discovered in 1986, and there were only 10 of them there then.

G. I think I read somewhere that those 10 gradually died, didn’t I?

B. Yes. But they translocated them – that’s botanist-speak for gathering the seeds and replanting them. So there’s definitely some still there.

G. Show me the photo. I might be able to tell.

B. and G. Mmmmm. Tricky.

August 2020