2015

Australian Wildflowers

First Day Cover

Western Australia is the country’s hot spot for wildflowers, home to around 10,000 species of the approximately 20,000 that occur across the country. This flourishing botanical scene is the result of a temperate climate and isolation from eastern Australia. Some 60 per cent of the species are endemic to Western Australia.

Rose Coneflower (Isopogon formosus) is a low, bushy or slender, upright shrub that grows between 20 centimetres and two metres high. Its compact, divided foliage has pointed tips, and its blooms, which begin as tight globular cones, open to around six centimetres in diameter. The stamp design shows the subspecies dasylepis.

Spiny Mirbelia (Mirbelia spinosa) is an erect or ascending spiny shrub that grows from 20 centimetres to 1.5 metres. It has short, oblong-shaped leaves and its pea-like flowers cluster along its branches.

First described by Alexander von Bunge in 1854, Blue Devil (Eryngium pinnatifidum) is a perennial herb that grows from 20 to 50 centimetres high. The bold bloom is a little pineapplelike in shape, with spiked “petals” protruding from the flower head.

The delicate Golden Rainbow (Drosera microphylla) is a perennial tubular herb that grows to between 10 and 40 centimetres high. It prefers laterite and sandy soils and can often be found on rocky outcrops in the south-west of the state.