Edna Walling - exploited "in perpetuum"

Summer flowers in the Sandstone bush are not necessarily spectacular, but they are of interest.

Out near the Mt Murray powerlines, where they cross the Mt Murray Road (approach from the Macquarie Pass road) there is an easement which obviously has been cleared, bulldozed or whatever, at some stage about 4 or 5 years ago. Along that easement, heading towards the edge of the escarpment, there is a large area of interesting regrowth scrub.

At present this scrub is heavily in flower with a white-flowered shrub with masses of tiny white flowers in "umbels" - a distinctive compound flowering structure resembling the structure of an "umbrella". The plant in question is called Platysace lanceolata. It does not really have a "common name - just a translation of its latin specific name - lance leafed Platysace.

This plant is included in a free downloadable set of "Wildflower" screensavers made available throught the Shoalhaven City Council's website. How interesting! Well done them. It is a good choice, as it is certainly a dominant plant on the sandstone, at this time of year.

*****

There is a commercially released form of this plant named after the great Australian gardener Edna Walling, although the naming is purely exploitative - the plant itself is not one she appears to have used in her garden designs. Nor do any proceeds of sale go to any trusts set up by her, or to further her work, as far as I can see. This is a somewhat misleading practice, I feel, if not simply "cashing in" on the name of a famous, but dead gardener.

Moral of the story, if you are going to be famous, specify in your will that you do not wish your name to be abused, "in pertetuum".