Avid readers of BayNews will no doubt remember the recent discovery of a rare plant, Santalum Obtusifolium, at Rocky Point. But the finding was of most interest to long time BaysNews reader Maureen Anderson. Maureen and husband Bob lived in Morning Bay from 1963 before departing for warmer climes 20 years ago. But she was moved to write to us because she clearly remembered finding a similar plant on the Northern Lovett Bay slopes just above the Fire Shed. Furthermore she volunteered to come back to the Bays to go looking for it.
So a small party (Maureen & Bob Anderson, Margaret Richardson – co convenor of Morning Bay Bush care, Matt (a visiting native plant propagator and seedling nursery specialist borrowed from the Alans) and myself scrambled up to the Lovett Bay Fire Shed to begin the search. Maureen remembered the location with total clarity however, on reaching that exact spot, she found it now sported a very large clump of exotic ginger together with a couple of other exotics and sadly no sign of the mystery plant.
L-R, Bob and Maureen Anderson and Lesley Stevens
For another hour we hunted around the ginger in ever increasing circles but found nothing. As a last resort we idly wandered along the track. And there in plain view were 2 little seedlings with what seemed to be a very similar leaf form!
A more formal identification had to wait until one of the jury (Alan Hill, Alan Yuille, Paul Webb and Andrew Jennings) managed to get up there to see it. It fell to Paul Webb to pass on the sad tidings. In his view the leaf form is not identical, however, he has advised us that we need the seedlings to grow before making a final decision. So, for those of you who walk the North Lovett Bay track, resist the temptation to tug on a pink ribbon on the roadside behind the Lovett Bay Fire Shed. That’s surrounding our little plant just taking the time it needs to reveal its real self.
And as for Maureen and Bob – their familiarity with the slopes they last worked 20 years ago was as if they had just left yesterday. Apparently you can leave the Bays but the Bays never leave you.