Wildflowers of the Birdsville Track and Simpson Desert

Depending on what time of the year you visit this normally parched desert landscape of South Australia and Queensland, one would be forgiven to think that wildflowers can exist there and would be the last thing on your mind as you travel this vast area of Outback Australia. Even though the last heavy rainfall in this area were around March 2011, there still must have been enough moisture in the ground to germinate the many small seeds that can lay dormant for years and then given the right conditions will come to life, even if only for a very short period before completing the plants life cycle and then wait again for the right conditions to start their life cycle all over again.

In early August 2011 when Fiona and I made another special return visit out into the Simpson Desert (See Blogs Our Return to the Cooper and Kayaking in the Simpson Desert) we were in no hurry and stopped many times along the way to investigate many of the plants that I could see in flower. What I did see is no way a complete list of what is there, as there were a number of times when I stopped to photograph one particular plant that I found other smaller flowering plants that I was unable to see from a distance.

There were a number of plants that were common to both the Birdsville Track and out in the Simpson Desert, while there were many flowers that were only seen in one area only. A good number of the plants I have been able to identify from the Wildflower books that I have, while there are still some that I still cannot pin point on what they are. If you know any of the untitled images and can help put a name to them, it would be great.


The images will be in the sequence that I photographed them, as well as were I have taken the images.

Stephen Langman
September 2011