Observe The Long Peduncles

Terence follows the Ranger, with his potato.

It's heartening to meet a young person with an interest in native vegetation, says the Ranger.

It's not a young person, says Terence. It's a parrot-potato.

I mean you, says the Ranger. We have a re-vegetation program going on here in the Coorong. Over five million plants are being planted.

That's quite a lot.

Are we there yet? asks Terence.

Yes, says the Ranger, stopping at a low shrub. This is a red parrot-pea. Not flowering at the moment, but September to November, you'd see the red flowers. Wings spatulate, red to crimson, keel acuminate, beaked, usually protruding from wings.

You know big words, says Terence.

I know my plants, says the Ranger. These are the leaves I was mentioning. Observe the long peduncles.

My potato doesn't like peduncles, says Terence. Wait, what are they?

Stalks, says the Ranger. And these are the stiff spreading hairs.

The stiff spreading hairs are disappointingly short, but the peduncles are long and impressive.

Terence holds up his potato.

The potato looks happy.

Can I pick some peduncles? asks Terence.

Go ahead. Not too many, says the Ranger.

Terence strips the leaves off a whole glabrous (free from hair) stem.

Woah! says the Ranger. A good Ranger would never do that. A good Ranger would take one or two peduncles from different locations.

Too late now though. Terence has a handful of red parrot-pea peduncles and may as well use them.

He sticks them into his potato.

Now the potato looks fearsome.

Be nice if you had the red flowers, says the Ranger. It would be a REAL red parrot-pea potato. Let's look for some seeds. You could plant them and then, next September......

He starts looking, but Terence is satisfied with his fearsome potato.

He trudges back to show Gaius.

Well done, says Gaius. It looks like a parrot, just not a red one.

It needs red feathers, says Katherine. Why don't you ask Saint Roley. He was talking to some red necked stints yesterday evening.

Cool! Sometimes grownups have good ideas when they concentrate on what's important.