Darwinia leiostyla Endemic
We were very lucky to see this rare plant which only usually grows on the upper slopes of mountains of the Stirling Range in the far south west of Western Australia. However we had signed up for a wildflower tour run by the Stirling Retreat and the leader knew that some plants had been knocked down to the lower reaches of the mountain slope (Bluff Knoll) by a rock fall which happened many years ago. There are only a few of these shrubs at this lower altitude and they should really be growing higher up the mountain where by all accounts they flourish.
We needed to fight our way through overgrown bush and up to a huge rock which was part of this ancient landfall. Around this rock the Darwinia leiostyla grew and was luckily for us in full flower. It is sometimes known as Mountain Bell but there are various Darwinia species which grow on these slopes also called Mountain Bell so that cannot be used as a unique English name.
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| Darwinia leiostyla No English name |
19th September 2012 Stirling Range National Park, South West Australia
Added on 23rd September 2012, updated 24th Sept 2012