Snow wood s a much better common name than Stinkwood!
Stinkwood is the unflattering name given to Pararchidendron pruinosum, and I prefer snow wood, which aptly describes the flowers when they first appear. "Stinkwood" refers to the smell given when the tree is cut down... all the better reason to leave it alone!  More >>

Fungi are really important. Worldwide, fungi are the second largest group of living organisms...second only to insects. It is estimated that there are over 1,500,000 species, of which only 5 % have been described. This is just one fact I learnt at a recent Biodiversity workshop help in Brisbane. The speaker was Patrick Leonard, President of the Queensland Mycological Society, a most entertaining and knowledgeable speaker. I wanted to share some of Partick's insights with the blogosphere.  More >>

We  bang on a lot about weeds...[well I do...!].. .but why? Sure they can be a nuisance...like cobblers pegs getting stuck in your socks...but do they really cause a problem? We do know that weeds cost Australians lots of money in control and lost production...it is generally agreed that weeds cost the agricultural sector alone over 4 billion dollars per year. Certain species of weeds do not get a great deal of publicity, but have a serious effect on our nations biodiversity. Weeds can been loosely defined as "a plant growing where it is not wanted". This works, but I tend to think a weed is serious when it upsets the balance of an ecosystem. Weeds behave much like a school bully...they out-compete our native plants and can easily form mono-cultures. More >>

Some years ago Noosa & District Landcare Group (NDLG) did a project at the Pomona transfer station. The project involved planting trees on an old landfill site. We worked with local boy Richard Yeates from Phytolink and a youthful Doug Barnes from the then Noosa Council. It was called 'phytoremediation'. More >>

This butterfly is fairly common in our region. It is black & white on the upper surface, and yellow-orange, black & white underneath. It is around 50mm in width. It is particularly common west of the Great Dividing Range, but still comes to the coast on occasion  More >>