Small Wonders: nature in miniature

This is the first in a series of photo-essays about the tiny flora, fauna and fungi that live in the Cairns Botanic Gardens.

We tend to wander through this marvellous place and are fascinated by the large flowers and the birds that live in the Gardens without really appreciating what a spectacular place and vital conservation reserve it really is. Much of that fascination and conservation value lies in the tiny things that we usually don’t see because we are mentally attuned to the large and conspicuous.

The bush you walk past may have a myriad of tiny structures, animals and fungi that are mind-boggling in their beauty and complexity. This series of photo essays will, we hope, bring to your attention a few tiny parts of our world, and encourage you to look more closely. A whole new perspective awaits!

This is a close-up of the flower head of Osmoxylon lineare, from the Philippines. There are several of these plants in the Gardens, including one near the main entry. Also called Maigos or Green Aralia, the flower head has tight clusters of flowers about a centimetre across, followed by black fruit. In the Philippines it likes to grow in wet soil, such as along the margins of creeks, and has been widely introduced around the world for landscaping and as a hedge.

The Green Tree Ant Mimicking Spider (Amyciaea albomaculata) holds its two front legs up high so that they look like the antennae of the Green Tree Ant (Oecophylla smaragdina) on which they prey. This female is about 4mm long. They belong to the Crab or Flower Spider family (Thomisidae). These spiders have eight eyes arranged on little knobs in two rows of four and can judge distance and direction very accurately. At night they hide in a folded leaf.

These fabulous little fungi, Mycena roseolignicola, stand about 25mm high and are common in the Gardens at almost any time of year, if it has rained. They will grow on the bark of trees, or on fallen logs, and may form clusters of a dozen or more. They are tiny, but part of the huge suite of decomposer/recycler fungi which break down logs and branches and return the nutrients to the soil for reuse by living plants. They disperse their spores by dropping them from under the cap when there is a slight breeze.

References

Aussie Macro Photos Bridgette Gower https://aussiemacrophotos.com

Philippine Medicinal Plants (2022) Maigos. Philippine Alternative Medicine. Whyte, R. & Anderson, G. (2017). A Field Guide to Spiders of Australia. CSIRO.

GAPFORCE - FEBRUARY GROUP

The Gapforce International volunteer group spent a couple of weeks in February supporting Green Space Our Place program activities. Here they are keeping up with the Down ‘n’ Dirty volunteers moving 10m3 of mulch within an hour at Cairns Botanic Gardens. Great effort in very hot, humid conditions.