Outing to Little Llangothlin Lagoon

by John Nevin

On Sunday 20 November 2005, the group met early near the roundabout to the north of Armidale and drove in convoy to Little Llangothlin Lagoon. This is a body of water about 5km in circumference and is just off the New England Highway a little north of Llangothlin.

There was a good rollup, with Dr Dorothy Bell with Ian Telford from the UNE Herbarium leading the group . We had a couple from Wollongong tag along, having read of the trip in the State newsletter.

The area is set in the middle of extensive cleared grazing land with rich volcanic basalt soils. Originally, there were many wetland areas like this on the tablelands but most have now been drained. Fortunately, Little Llangothlin has been preserved as a Nature Reserve and is an important habitat for water birds.

Recently several new species of as yet to be named plants have been found there and we were privileged to see many of these. One of the most interesting was a new Xerochrysum with large yellow paper daisy flowers. It differs from Xerochrysum bracteatum in having a basal rosette of leaves with flowers on long leafless stalks. the plant is early-flowering and was at its peak in November with patches of Xerochrysum bracteatum just starting to bud up. I think the different flowering times explains the lack of hybridisation as the two species seem quite distinct.

While there, Ian Telford was captivated by the vigorous habit of a Bulbine and secured a specimen for the Herbarium to check if it might be an undescribed species.

Other plants that impressed were:

• Carex fascicularis (tassel sedge),
• showy displays of Hybanthus monopetalus (slender violet-bush),
• Viola betonicifolia (showy violet),
• Lomatia fraseri,
• Bulbine bulbosa,
• Nymphoides montana (a small water lily with 5 cm fringed yellow flowers),
• several species of Ranunculus (inundatus and lappaceus)
• and two new species of Eryngium (prostrate Blue Devil).

There were very large swathes of Leucanthemum vulgare (Oxeye Daisy), an introduced daisy that is flourishing and in some areas, quite dominant.

The more fit amongst us circumnavigated the lagoon and were impressed by the bird life, plants and (fortunately) lack of snakes on the day.

After lunch we motored home impressed by an area few of us had seen before. Thank you Dorothy and Ian.

APS Armidale gratefully acknowledges the financial support of New England Mutual for this website.