This beautiful Trigger plant is just starting to flower in the forest at the moment standing at 3cm. The flower is 2cm long, the trigger on this flower is very short and can be seen between the top petals. Stylidium plants have an irritable "trigger" which moves open and below the flower until an insect lands on the petals. The "trigger" moves over and pats pollen onto the back of the insect. The insect flies onto another plant, gets another pat on the back, thus pollinating the plants. The trigger resets itself after each insect visit.Website explaining trigger plant dynamics
A small ephemeral plant which grows in winter wet areas with other Stylidium plants. This plant is very similar to Stylidium emarginatum but has no throat appendages.
Stylidium scabridumThese trigger-plants grow in deep white sand. The shiny and reflective petals make it difficult to capture the delicate pink. The beeflies visit and pollinate the flowers.
The Stylidium carlquistii is a very pretty flower to find as the individual flowers are beautiful and distinctive as are the plants. They also grow in clumps together putting on a beautiful show.
Pretty and dainty, these Stylidium vary from white to pink. The white flowers have a lilac bud and lilac markings on the back of the petals. There are 8 throat appendages.Photos: Jean
Stylidium asymmetricum A special trigger plant which only grows in two known locations. It's nickname is 'The Hand' due to it having three petals going one way and one going off in its own direction. This is not usual, as they usually have two petals up and two down with the trigger going between them. Photo: Jean
I find this Stylidium quite grand as it can grow to nearly 1m tall with its yellow flowers up the flowering spike. The rosette of leaves at the base are unique with a membranous edge to the leaf. "Etymology. The specific epithet is taken from the Greek (hymen membranous, craspedus margined) in reference to the conspicuous hyaline leaf margin." Stylidium hymenocraspedum WegeNuytsia 16:250-252 (2006)The plants often grow among other plants. Here the rosette of leaves is green as it doesn't receive much sunlight to turn it orange. Photo: Jean
This bee visited many flowers, most flowers hitting the bee on its thorax with its irritable trigger before the bee moved onto another flower. Most of the time the bee moved on to a new flower very quickly. We noticed a couple of times that the trigger missed the bee, trapping it on the flower for a short while until it rolled over releasing itself from under the trigger. We saw two of these bees visiting the flowers Thyreus cf. waroonensisa cuckoo bee of Amegilla sp.