Eungella National Park is in wet tropical rainforest so there's a great diversity in fern species.

This is Cyathea rebeccae, a very slender trunked tree fern. The trunk is about as thick as a shovel handle.

The leaflets on this Cyathea have a rippled effect which makes them look quite spectacular.

A fairly small fern and very wide spread, Rough Maidenhair, Adiantum hispidulum.

This is a Sticherus species, most probably flabellatus, Umbrella Fern.

Another Cyathea species, this time C. cooperi. In Eungella it doesn't seem as common as the earlier one, C. rebeccae. It was growing across the other side of the creek so could only get a distant photo.

A collection of ferns growing on a palm tree trunk (Archontophoenix sp.). The top two ferns are Asplenium nidum (or australasicum). The next down is an Elkhorn, Platycerium bifurcatum. And lower down is a Basket Fern, Drynaria rigidula.

Hi
fantastic !! need to seek out the sticherus for my own developing fern garden. looks like there's an incredible array of lichens and mosses. Seems very hilly and rocky as well as a distict mist . Second growth paradise!!! Thanks for sharing!!! gary

Wow... thank you for posting them.
Rgds

Thanks for those comments. I've been out doing more walks, hence the delay in replying. Just finished a 5 day trek across Hinchinbrook Island which is a mainly tropical rainforest clad mountainous island. Although it's the dry season, it still rained. I guess you've got to expect that in rainforest. Got so many photos from there it'll take time to sort and try and identify everything.

Gary, Eungella only really gets very short dry spells during the dry season, and being mountains and gullies the wind doesn't get in to dry things out. That's one of the problems at my place for growing rainforest plants (and probably for you too), it's all flat country and the wind just races through drying things out.

Hi
have always been a big fan of epiphytes so built a Greenhouse very early in my gardening experience .
The BIG problems here are "winters" much variation from year to year. We average a hard freeze about every 5 years . Also the humidity drops then but with irrigation can get through it.. have been in a long sustained drought but now about half the area is inderwater due to record rainfall from a tropical storm.. Hurricanes are very tough to work into the gardening plan as are hard freezes lol Anyway enjoyed your pix !!! gary

Wow! Great pictures. Thanks for posting them.

You're right the Cyathea is spectacular. The rough maidenhair is gorgeous too.

Tina

Wonderful shots!

Thanks for the extra comments. I like ferns a lot, but unfortunately most of them don't like my climate. But I still persist. :O)

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Heck who wants to grow things that fit into your climate?? I have enough trouble fitting into my yard lol
See any orchids in the area?? must be a BUNCH of species?? gary

Gary, I agree, but it does make it difficult.

There were quite a lot of orchids. The ones I readily recognised were Dendrobium canaliculatum, D. discolor, Dockrillia linguiforme, D. bowmanii, Dipodium ensifolium, Cymbidium madidum, and a couple of Bulbophyllums. There were a few others I couldn't ID.

Hi
On my trip to Costa Rica /Panama i saw four out of 1700
known species and two of those were dendrobiums lol
The Cattleyas were at least 50 feet above ground .needed binoculars to see the leaves none were in flower. There was so much second growth couldn't tell where one plant ended and another began.. I did climb one tree but the army ants HATE foreigners they have jaws like pliers lol. Next time I will take the "orchid tour"
Funny story about my guide . I asked if he could point out some of the plant species and he said .Heres a light green one and over there is a dark green one " Even more knowledgeable about birds. "Large black one ,small colorful one " NEVER get a guide from a bar!!
gary

Gary, I didn't think Dendrobiums were native to that area. But I know what you mean about the odds for find orchids. There'd have to be around a couple of thousand species in that region I visited but the number I noticed was insignificantly small. Things like Bulbophyllums often cover the tree tops but are so small you never see them from below. You'd be right about the guide from the bar. I didn't use one and that's probably why I saw more species than you, LOL.

Next year I'm planing on going to the south west of the country. A temperate climate zone but they have a huge number of terrestrial orchids, many of them endemic. They also have the Underground Orchid, Rhizanthella gardneri. It's one of the "biodiversity hotspots" of the planet. And what's even better, I'll be there with a local friend who is right into the native plants of the region and knows most of them. He doesn't grow them, just photographs them.

Hi
Dendrobiums are not native they were in pots in the hotel lobbylol Had a magnificent stand of sealing wax palms along the pool as well as bird of paradise. While gorgeous i can see these in the local Bot gdns!!
When you go into the "wild" areas particularly the wet forests there is SOOOO much to look at you end up looking at nothing !! By far the most interesting are up in the canaopy at least 50 feet from the ground . they have facilities and tours of the canopy as well as themed tours such as "Birds "Mammals" Palms"Orchids "Ferns "Bromeliads."
But I wanted to see it on my own though i had a GREAT time i saw maybe a third of what is there lol
The most enjoyable was the "montane rainforest" temps stay below 60 and always shrouded in mist ,wonderful except for the almost constant rain. No wonder they call them rainforests?? lol
Good luck on your next tour. Orchids are my favorite flowering plants . We have around 140 species native here and I've seen 20 5 were growing in pots lol
gary

Gary, a bit surprised at Sealing Wax Palms (Cyrtostachys) and Bird of Paradise (Strelitzia) growing together. The BOP isn't a tropical (from South Africa) and the palm is an ultra-tropical.

Rainforests are a bit overwhelming, there's no wasted space. Everything has got something growing on it, and that "it" sometimes has something else growing on it again. I like the way Elkhorns and Basket Ferns become hosts to other ferns, particularly the Ribbon Ferns, and also orchids and Hoyas.

I did a lot of walking in the high altitude rainforest in Papua New Guinea, it was breathtaking. Was going to try it on Bartle Frere this last time in Queensland but the weather had set in bad on the mountain, becomes a bit dangerous on the slippery boulders near the top.

You're doing a lot better for local native orchids than in my locality, we've only got about 46, I think. Most are terrestrial. Over in Queensland they have thousands. Our only epiphytes are Dendrobium affine, D. canaliculatum, Cymbidium canaliculatum and a rather obscure rare one I can't remember the name of. But at least we have a lot more native orchids than all of Hawaii. (Although, even Alaska has more native orchids than Hawaii, oh well...)

Hi
Better than the national garden about 80 percent roses lol Though they were fantastic the "weeds "were more interesting to me lol
They have 10 climate zones due to the mountains ,ranging from low 40's to low nineties. with from 10 to 300 inches of rain depending on the rain shadow.
No snow but they are high enough to frost but rarely.
The remarkable part is the areas are no more than 20 miles apart!! So almost anything will grow lol
Can't imagine a trip to N. Guinea. Would require a LOT of planning due to distances and topograpy Guess you'd have to settle on one type of environnment?? Parts of it must be very hard to access??
So tempted to visit Colombia or maybe the Guiana highlands guess I'd have to become a mountain climber lol
gary

New Guinea is "different" but I still loved it. Went out from Port Moresby by truck up into the mountains and descended again to the start of the walk, about 400 metres asl. Walked just over 90 kms, up to about 2600 metres asl, then down again to about 400 metres. From there flew back to Port Moresby. Saw the giant bananas, Musa ingens, and the giant Pandanus, P. brosimos. It was unreal.

Hi
One Asian plant that has always fascinated me is Rafflesia.. Any of the Bo gardens in Australia trying to grow this ?? They would be a REAL challenge ??lol
Tetrastigma grows like a weed here in florida but to my knowledge none of the gdns are attempting it .
gary

They might be, but I've never heard of any of them trying it. I'd say more than likely not. It would be an interesting plant to have but I don't think you'll see seeds/plants available any time soon.

Hi
From what I gather the method of "infection " is a closely guarded secret but apparently it is being done in habitat. Supposedly they are seriously threatned by habit loss,yet there doesn't seem much interest in spreading the gene pool.Would suppose they bring in a lot of tourist dollars which might have a little to do with it?? lol
many of the gardens here are growing Amorphophallas including the titans spectacular to say the least!! lol
Wonder if the Rafflesia smells as bad as the Amorphos??
My wife couldn't get within ten feet of the flower without gagging but to me while disagreeable not unbearable lol. Certainly was attracting flies !!
gary