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The rainforests of the Daintree contain outstanding examples of flora and fauna representing eight major stages in the earth’s evolutionary history.  These include the Age of the Pteridophytes, the Age of the Conifers and Cycads, the Age of the Angiosperms, the final break-up of Gondwana, biological evolution and radiation during thirty-five million years of isolation, [...]

Angiopteris evecta (the Giant or KIng Fern) is an ancient species with reputedly the largest fronds of any fern on earth.  The species was thought to be extinct in the wild in New South Wales (NSW) until a single specimen was recorded in the far north-east of the State in 1978. The Giant Fern is [...]

Plants that flower and fruit from their main stems or woody trunks rather than from new growth and shoots, are described as cauliflorous or cormiflorous; those that flower from the branches are ramiflorous.  The Scarlet Bean (Archidendron ramiflorum ssp. Cooper Creek), which is currently in bloom, is a spectacular example of both.The buds appear in [...]

Clusters of beautiful round berries, ripening from green to red with an opalescent sheen, enhance the rainforest with eye-catching splendour.  Identification has not been easy, however one helpful web site advised us not to confuse the Pearl Vine (Sarcopetalum harveyanum) with  the tape or snake vine (Stephania japonica).   The fruit of the two vines are [...]

The delicacy of Hoya seeds contributes to the complex variations within the Daintree Rainforest.   Hoya, the wax flower, is well-known as an indoors plant that is extremely hard to grow.  Its circular head contains about 30 small florets that make a beautiful “cameo” flower.  The leaves on Hoya pottsii are  large and are shiny with [...]

This image currently occupies ‘Home Page’ on our spectacular new website www.daintreerainforest.net.au and it is worthwhile mentioning that this is Australia! There may be a great many Australians that have never even heard of a cassowary, let alone their ancestry to the much more recognisable Emu. A fossil found within the World Heritage Riversleigh Site [...]

Even seeing this amazing spider with its newly hatched brood is an achievement, but its identification is yet another challenge for Cooper Creek Wilderness and Daintree Rainforest.  With his finely-tuned vision, Neil detected a shading on a leaf of the Small-leaved Fire Vine (Tetracera nordtiana), almost like a silhouette.  He discovered the green camouflaged female [...]

A visiting paleobotanist from Dresden, Germany, was returning to his homeland after presenting a paper  to a conference in Melbourne, entitled ‘Molecular Evolutionary History of Early Branching Angiosperms’.  One of the points that his dissertation made is that “Angiosperms might even be older than estimated in previous studies.” The scientist and his wife visited the [...]