Out and about

Experiencing the seasons in Victoria's temperate forests
Winter
For many of us, the chill of winter is a good reason to stay at home in front of a warm fire, but for our native mosses, lichens and fungi, cool and damp conditions are ideal. Here's just a few of the species that can be easily seen during a stroll through the forests around St Arnaud during winter.

Special thanks to the late, Dr Graeme Ambrose, for assisting with identification and species notes before his death in 2016. For more information, download Graeme's notes about common mosses and lichens found in Victoria's temperate forests from our Events & Resources page.
Juniper Haircap Moss (Polytrichum juniperinum). A perennial moss with stiff leaves on erect wiry stems. Sexes are separate and only female plants produce capsules (each from a fertilised egg). Males produce a reddish splash-cup containing sperm at the branch tip. These will appear in the coming months. [Appears here with Stinking Pennywort, Hydrocotyle laxiflora, from the carrot family.] (Photo: D Saxon-Campbell).
Greater Plait-moss, or Cypress Moss (Hypnum cupressiforme var. lacunosum). The leaves are twisted so that the leafy stems look like plaits. Exposed specimens gain a brownish-yellow tinge. Photographed here alongside a male Juniper Haircap Moss which shows the red splash-cups, and a red-stemmed moss, Common Cord-moss (Triquetrella papillata) (Photo: G Ambrose).
Ruffle Lichen (Parmotrema sp.). This species has broad, rounded lobes with wavy edges, often with hair-like cilia, and grows on wood (Photo: G Ambrose).
Rough Beard-lichen (Usnea scabrida) is one of two local species of Old Man's Beard that is fertile (i.e. with spore-producing cups). This species grows on twigs and branches and may fall to the ground and continue growing. (Photo: D Saxon-Campbell).
Antlered Powderhorn (Cladonia subulata) grows on logs and stumps. The erect structures (podetia) tend to fork once or a few times, sometimes making them resemble antlers. The podetia are covered in greenish-white powdery material (soredia), which are bundles of erupting cells that wash or blow away to establish the lichen elsewhere. (Photo: D Saxon-Campbell).
Brittlegills (Lactarius eucalypti) is a mid-winter species of milk-cap fungi that is unique to Australia. Milkcaps exude a white latex when damaged. This species has a convex, brittle cap that becomes funnel-shaped over time, with a strongly in-rolled margin. The gills are cream to tan in colour. It has a symbiotic relationship (mycorrhizal) with the roots of eucalypts and is usually found close to these trees. (Photo: D Saxon-Campbell).
Summer
Parasitic mistletoes: woodland pests or just misunderstood?

The dense pendulous foliage and unmistakable tear-drop shape of parasitic mistletoes hanging from eucalypts in our native forests are a familiar sight to most people. Two species, the Box Mistletoe (Amyema miquelii) and Buloke Mistletoe (Amyema linophylla), flower during the summer months. Both are from the Loranthaceae family of mistletoes, which are known for their spectacular flowers. Their foliage is also unusual, particularly the long, slender and greyish leaves of the Buloke Mistletoe which has evolved to closely resemble that of its preferred tree hosts, Buloke (Allocasuarina sp.) and Belah (Casuarina sp.) species.

And yet, these unusual and interesting plants are thought by many to be introduced pests that facilitate the premature death of the host plants they parasitise. Is this bad reputation deserved or are mistletoes just misunderstood?

The fact is that all of the mistletoes in Australia’s woodlands are native. While it is certainly true that high concentrations of mistletoe can certainly place significant stress on their host trees, particularly in areas where remnant woodland has been highly fragmented, this can be managed through selective pruning or revegetation programs to replace the occasional lost tree.

Rather than being a pest, mistletoes are an important keystone resource in our native forests and a key driver of woodland bird species richness. A research study comparing woodland sites with and without mistletoe found that the number of bird species was significantly higher in the sites containing this parasitic plant (Watson & Herring 2012).

Mistletoe nectar and fruits, and the insects they attract, provide food for birds and arboreal mammals alike, often at a time when other food resources in the forest are scarce. Indeed, the Mistletoebird (Dicaeum hirundinaceum) is a specialist frugivore (fruit-eater) that has co-evolved with mistletoes, partaking of their nutritious fruits in exchange for seed dispersal. The dense foliage of mistletoes also provides sheltered nest sites for woodland birds, and their nutritious leaves enrich the soil when they eventually fall to the forest floor as litter.

So, rather than being forest pests, mistletoes play a pivotal role in maintaining biodiversity in our native woodlands.
Flowers and foliage of the Buloke Mistletoe (Amyema linophylla). (Photo: D Saxon-Campbell).
Flower of the Box Mistletoe (Amyema miquelii).
(Photo: D. Saxon-Campbell)
The curious Yellow-footed Antechinus

The Yellow-footed Antechinus (Antechinus flavipes) is a small carnivorous marsupial that is active in our woodlands during the warmer months, when sightings are common. Mostly nocturnal but also active during the day, these small mammals are about half-way in size between a house mouse and rat, and are distinguished by their pointed snout, prominent pale eye-rings, divided pinkish ‘cauliflower’ ears, and yellowish to russet flanks.

There are three species of Yellow-footed Antechinus, of which A. flavipes is the most common, with a range that extends from South Australia’s Mt. Lofty Ranges through Victoria and New South Wales to Queensland. In Victoria, it is commonly found on the inland slopes of the Great Dividing Range.

Antechinus are notable for their extreme breeding strategy. In winter, changing day length triggers simultaneous oestrus in the females, leading to two weeks of frenzied and often violent mating with multiple partners. The stress of this mating is such that all the males then die. In contrast, the females live for up to two seasons, raising their extraordinarily large (up to 14) litters alone. Unlike most other marsupials, female Antechinus have no pouch, so the young have no alternative but to attach themselves to a teat on their mother’s underside and hang on as she moves about in the forest.
Yellow-footed Antechinus (Antechinus flavipes).
(Photo: D Saxon-Campbell)
White-browed woodswallows: a summer visitor to our woodlands

Late spring and early summer heralds the arrival of nomadic White-browed Woodswallows (Artamus superciliosus) to our local forests to breed. Australia has six species of Woodswallow; however the White-browed is the most colourful, with deep blue-grey upper plumage offset by a distinctive white brow, and rich chestnut underparts, particularly on the male.

This fledgling (pictured) was spotted in Stoney Creek NCR after its nest was dislodged from a tree in high winds.
This White-browed Woodswallow chick tries its best to imitate a branch, an innate response to danger.
(Photo: D Saxon-Campbell)
Further reading:
Reid N., Yan Z. & Fittler J (1994) Impact of mistletoes (Amyema miquelii) on host (Eucalyptus blakelyi and Eucalyptus melliodora) survival and growth in temperate Australia. Forest Ecology and Management. 70, 55-65.
Watson D. M. (2011) Mistletoes of Southern Australia. CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Victoria.
Watson D.M. & Herring M. (2012) Mistletoe as a keystone resource: an experimental test. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 279, 3853–3860.
Sullivan R. (2011) Antechinus go out with a bang. ABC Science. Available from URL: http://www.abc.net.au/science.
Menkhorst P. & Knight F. (2010) A Field Guide to the Mammals of Australia. 3rd edition. Oxford University Press, South Melbourne.
Page last reviewed: 18/5/2020