Botany Photo of the Day

Today's photograph is again courtesy of Katy S – thanks again! Katy photographed this plant last January in the Kings Park Botanic Gardens in Perth, Australia. This is the second in a series of (now) five featuring Australian plants.

Rose mallee is a Declared Rare species of eucalyptus native to the northern part of Western Australia and within the bounds of the Southwest Australia Biodiversity Hotspot. Fewer than four hundred plants are known to exist in the wild (source: Australian Dept. of the Environment and Water Resources).

The Australian Dept. of E&W also notes the major threats for this species: “Threats to the Rose Mallee include land clearing and the drift from herbicides and pesticides sprays. The Rose Mallee is also threatened by the Root-rot Fungus (Phytophthora cinnimonii), a fungal disease that causes its roots to rot. Other threats include weed infestation, commercial seed collection, and predation by feral rabbits.” The conclusion? Any sort of plan to manage the remaining wild plants is necessarily complex, due to the number and scope of threats. It also suggests that because of the human mistakes of the past, the future of this plant species is dependent on the actions of the humans of the present, i.e., an interventionist approach is required, as opposed to a preservationist one.

Photography resource links: two different interpretations on the photographic adage, “If your photographs aren't good enough, you're not close enough”: Michael Reichmann of the Luminous Landscape on Understanding the Art of Cropping and Paul Butzi on Getting Closer.