… is a famous line from the movie Poltergeist II, in which a young girl answering her toy phone in the middle of the night declares the evil spirits have returned. Then the action really gets spooky. Yesterday, the line represented something completely different.
Clover Glycine
Last year we discovered to our complete surprise two populations of Clover Glycine (Glycine latrobeana) flowering on our property. Surprise, because the plant is listed as Vulnerable under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. According to the Victoria Biodiversity Atlas, ours is the first record of this plant in the Murrindindi Shire and one of only ten sightings in the Goulburn–Broken Catchment. We fenced off the area surrounding the plants with chook wire, and because of work commitments we missed the opportunity to collect the seed.
For the last 12 months there has been an anxious wait to see if the plants would flower again. Yesterday a yell of ‘They’re back’ echoed around the hills. The Clover Glycine on one of the northern slopes is in full flower, and the plants on a more shaded eastern slope are healthy but not flowering yet.
The next task is going to be trying to collect the seed. I plan to sleep outdoors just so I don’t miss the event (shades of queueing for KISS tickets a long, long time ago!).
Focus on flora and fungi 