We will walk from the Visitor Information Centre (VIC) along the Main Path today.

1. At the door of the VIC is a pot containing Rhododendron viriosum [Section 224] with bright coral bell flowers and shiny green foliage. This is one of the few representatives of the genus in Australia.
2. On the other side of the door is Banksia baxteri [Section 221] or Bird’s Nest Banksia, with tall spires of stiff, triangular pink-tipped foliage and green brush flowers.
3. Further on your right is Spyridium burragorang [Section 174] whose flower heads consist of a centre of tiny white flowers surrounded by large white bracts.
4. On your left is a pot of Grevillea juncifolia [Section 210] with narrow bootlace leaves and long racemes of yellowish-white flowers. This grevillea grows in dry inland Australia.
5. Go over the bridge and past the café to see a Syzygium sp. [Section 131] on your left with plenty of fluffy white flowers and neat shiny foliage.
6. Go up the hill to see on the left Babingtonia pluriflora [Section 30], a tall shrub with drooping foliage. It is currently covered in small white blooms surrounded by a cloud of beetles.
7. Stenocarpus angustifolius [Section 9] on your right has clusters of lemon flowers in attractive contrast to the lance-shaped light green foliage.
8. On the right-hand side before you cross the road is Grevillea ‘Coconut Ice’ [Section 25], which has large pink spider flowers with long red styles.
9. Crowea exalata [Section 112] is a mounded bush of fine foliage with pink star flowers.
10. Go into the Sydney Region Gully to see on your right Teucrium argutum [Section 191i], an upright groundcover with spires of purple flowers.
11. On your left is Platysace lanceolata [Section 191e], with white flower heads covering an open bush.
12. Also on your left is the Needle Geebung, Persoonia acerosa [Section 191e], with gold spikes of blooms on needle-like foliage.
13. Podolobium aciculiferum [Section 18] on your left has golden flowers and sharply-pointed dark green foliage.
14. Near the waterfall on your right is Eucalyptus macrocarpa or Mottlecah [Section 15s], with striking grey sword-like foliage and large red fluffy flowers.
15. Lythrum salicaria or Purple Loosestrife [Section 15v] has plumes of pink-purple flowers on light green foliage. This plant is widely distributed throughout Europe, Asia and Africa as well as Australia.
16. Eremophila christopheri [Section 15v] also on your right has mauve bell flowers on a small bush.
17. Babingtonia ‘Howie’s Feathertips’ [Section 110] is a large bush of dense light green foliage with masses of tiny white flowers.
18. Turn left at the waterfall down the hill towards the VIC to see on the right Callistemon pachyphyllus ‘Smoked Salmon’ [Section 110] with pink brush flowers on stiff foliage.
19. Also on your right is Callistemon brachyandrus [Section 110], which has red flowers with gold tips. Its common name is Prickly Bottlebrush and it lives up to this description!
20. Eremophila maculata [Section 302] has bright pink tubular flowers on a small bush.
21. Eremophila longifolia [Section 302] is a small tree with long narrow leaves and pink tubular flowers.
22. On the left is Eremophila strongylophylla [Section 302] with bright purple bell flowers on grey-green foliage.

 Rosalind Walcott