Comment: Small Blue Flower - help please

Forgot, click on google images after getting to page.

Not at all like the climber we have here Pop.

I now see the photos Val has shown us were taken in September. The Billardieras I know are summer bloomers.

Hi Pop,
I think the centre of the unknown flower is rather different to Billardiera. Keep the ideas coming though, I think this one will be a tough one.

Cheers,

Val

I was up until near midnight Val, and I didn't get a lead on it, but I bonused because I got a few of my elusive ones. That little blue flower is exquisite so had me fascinated.

Thats a marathon effort MH! Glad you got some spin offs though. I am really stumped on this one.

Cheers,

Val.

Not a lot of activity on that Facebook page Val, but you never know. So hard to identify wildflowers without a name - a real catch 22.

Val,

Have you considered the possibility that you have come across a plant that is yet to be classified?

Hmmm, xxxxxxxxxxx valeryii does sort of roll off the tongue.

Good hunting.

Cheers
Pop

I doubt it Pop, as the two photos are from very different places; Bremer Bay and Badgingarra (allowing for a typo) and have similarities. While I bet there are flowers out there not classified, they would have their family classified.

You sure MH,

lizard

This little guy didn't just stand there. He scampered around the sand dunes just south of Perth and still only just got "discovered".

What are the chances that some little blue,red, yellow flower got missed in the vastness of our bush.

Just saying.

Cheers
Pop

New species of creatures are being discovered all the time, and with flowers most times it is because when seen were thought to be a specific plant, but botanists decided it was different and another sup species or species was named.

valeryii does sound good, and such a pretty flower, but odds on someone has already put a name on it.

PS: Val will have her answer when she wakes in the morning; it has been ID'd by an expert, so I won't tell tales out of school ;)

Yes, that's it Peter.Florabase

Belated birthday greetings for yesterday Peter - I missed it this year :O.

Well done Peter.

So after all that it turns out to be an introduced weed that apparently originated in the cape area of South Africa and found our soil types and climate to it's liking.

Sounds a bit like the ever present (during spring) Cape Weed (Arctotheca Calendula), and not let's forget the ubiquitous dandelion. (;=)).

Cheers
Pop

Thanks so much Peter - you get the chocolate frog award! And as MH spotted (she must have eyes in the back of her head LOL) I got a response from a WA wildflowers Facebook group too so there is no doubt that this pretty little flower is in fact an introduced weed. Not much like our east coast Wahlenbergias either - though in the flesh might be more recognisable.

So now Cienne, what is your next challenge for us? Your photos have really kept us on out toes.

Thanks everyone for your efforts.

Cheers,

Val

Not as invasive as Capeweed Val, and much prettier, but is certainly has spread a long way, as has the far less appealing South Aftrican Orchid Disa bracteata which has also spread from Albany to Geraldton and much of the hinterland.

Yes, eyes in the back of my head Val; I am a Mother after all. You had a good victory with that page.

MH I didn't know what to expect from that FB group - often there are nice photos there but no names which is really frustrating. So I was pleased to get such a quick response.

That little blue flower is a good example of something that looks quite innocent but is nevertheless a weed. I wonder how it got here - garden escape maybe.

Cheers,

Val.

Probably as a garden flower Val as it is so pretty. The Disa I mentioned was a garden escapee as are a number of listed wildflowers. It doesn't make them a weed, just an alien species. The alien species tag comes up quite a few times on Florabase. I have seen a number of wildflowers around here that I suspect were originally not native to this area; same with birds and insects.

When I first joined Facebook (under a pseudonym for my family's privacy) I joined a WA Orchid page, and Di correctly ID'd an orchid I found and posted. So I followed her home and joined her WA Wildflower page too, although it is a lot less active than the orchid page.

Thank you everyone for all your efforts in identifying my beautiful weed.

I am a novice to wildflowers. Easy to take the pictures, but trying to identify them is something else!

I'll see what else I can find.....

Cheers.

So well photographed Cienne. I have a lot of trouble getting my camera to focus on blue and white flowers. I have some lovely little rich blue Lobelia gibbosa flowering outside my front gate, and in three days of trying to get them, all my photos have failed :(.

Hi Motherhen. A couple of things for you try that may help. Use an umbrella or such so that the flowers are not in full sun and if still overexposed back the exposure off till they are right. Not sure what camera you have but it will probibly have to be a manual setting to do this. I usually have mine set on AV 10 or higher and use manual focus. Because the shutter speeds will be slow a tripod will help. If you can use the rear screen to focus through even better as you should be able to increase the subject size and focus more clearly. Hope this is some help.
cheers Graeme.

Hi Graeme and thanks for your tips :). The umbrella is a great idea as often a mixture of light and shade in the bush makes it difficult. I use point and shoot cameras and it is just about impossible to get them with an eye view these days. I cannot use the screen for accurate focus so use automatic settings.

Cheers

Judy