Australian Botany: The Floral Emblems Quiz

Answer: Queensland and Western Australia

Western Australia's emblem, the red and green kangaroo paw (Anigozanthos manglesii), and Queensland's, the Cooktown orchid (Vappodes phalaenopsis), are the only monocots. The Australian Capital Territory's emblem, the royal bluebell (Wahlenbergia gloriosa) is often mistaken for a monocot because of its herbaceous habit and slender leaves, but the five-petalled flowers are a giveaway that it is a dicot.

Answer: South Australia

South Australia's emblem, Sturt's desert pea (Swainsona formosa), and the national emblem, golden wattle (Acacia pycnantha), are both legumes, belonging to the order Fabales. Legumes are characterised by their fruit: a single-chambered elongate pod. These two species belong to different families of legume though: Sturt's desert pea belongs to the family Fabaceae, and golden wattle to the Mimosaceae.

Answer: Northern Territory

Sturt's desert rose (Gossypium sturtianum) is the emblem of the Northern Territory. Gossypium hirsutum is the main species of cultivated cotton. The flowers of Sturt's desert rose indeed resemble small Hibiscus flowers.

Answer: South Australia and the Northern Territory

Sturt's desert pea and Sturt's desert rose both grow widely through central Australia. Golden wattle's distribution approaches the arid zone, growing on the margins of semi-arid areas like the Eyre Peninsula, but doesn't quite make it. The rest are temperate species, except for the Cooktown orchid, which is tropical.

Answer: the emblems of Australia, Queensland, New South Wales, and Western Australia

Golden wattle, the Cooktown orchid, the New South Wales waratah (Telopea speciosissima) and the red and green kangaroo paw are endemic to their regions: Australia, Queensland, New South Wales and Western Australia respectively. Tasmanian blue gum (Eucalyptus globulus), Victoria's emblem pink heath (Epacris impressa) and the royal bluebell are all found in at least two states/territories in the south-east, and both Sturt's desert pea and Sturt's desert rose are found in multiple arid-zone states and the Northern Territory.

Answer: Tasmania

The national floral emblem genus Acacia contains about a thousand Australian species. The genus of Tasmania's emblem, Eucalyptus, is runner-up with about 850 species.

Answer: Queensland

The older name 'phalaenopsis' was reinstated for the Cooktown orchid by orchid botanists Mark Clements and David Jones in 2002. In 2005, the same botanists changed the genus name from the well known Dendrobium to their new genus Vappodes. Name changes for orchids are very common and often controversial.

Answer: Asteraceae

Asteraceae, the daisy family, is one of the largest plant families in the world, with 1,100 genera and 25,000 species (second in species number only to the Orchidaceae). It is one of the largest in Australia too, but none of the major floral emblems belong to this family. (These statistics sourced from the Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research website www.anbg.gov.au/cpbr/australian-plants/statistics.html).

Answer: New South Wales

The name 'waratah' comes from the language of the Eora people, the traditional owners and caretakers of the Sydney region.

Answer: Australia

Wattles produce copius wind blown pollen, which often causes hay fever reactions in spring. Sturt's desert pea, the red and green kangaroo paw, and pink heath are all pollinated by birds, as evidenced by the red or pink colour of flowers (which attract birds).

The tubular shapes of the latter two species' flowers are ideal for slender-beaked honeyeaters. The kangaroo paw can also be pollinated by long-tongued small mammals.