CONSIDER BEST ORDERING OF ACTIVITIES, AND ENSURE GROUP HAS KNOWLEDGE TO

COMPLETE ACTIVITY BEFORE BEGINNING

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Pop quiz the great floral quiz of Kosciuszko

Equipment: Sheet with questions and answers, prize for winning team
Estimated time: 5 minutes
Aim: Test the knowledge of the group on flora, and aim to cement knowledge a little bit more
through the activity. Tell them prior that there will be a quiz later, so hopefully they will
remember more
Instructions: Split group into two teams. Get each group to come up with a team buzzer.
Explain there will be ten questions, first team to buzz in gets to answer first. If they get it
wrong, it goes back and forth amongst the teams until someone gets it right.
Questions:
o

What plant communities are found in permanently wet areas? Bogs and Fens

What is the distribution of each plant community in terms of percentages?

Feldmark, snow patch 1.6%

Feldmark, windswept 0.3%

Short alpine herbfield 0.9%

Tall alpine herbfield 55.3%

Tall alpine herbfield, sod tussock 6.3%

Fen and bog 5.8%

Describe an adaptation of plant species to the harshness of feldmark environments.

Needle shaped leaves high surface area to volume ratio so they can cool down
efficiently.
Prostrate/ground hugging low growth allows the plants to avoid high winds, thus
staying warmer, and when snow is under, the wont stick out above the snow pack.

The change from sub alpine to alpine vegetation occurs around what altitude in the
Kosciuszko?
1830m

Why is tree growth limited when average mid-summer temperatures are around 10
degrees?
Because the amount of energy available for photosynthesis is not greater than the
amount of energy lost in respiration; therefore the plant is unable to develop the woody
tissue needed for the trunk and root system.

Who was a key naturalist in the collecting and identifying of flora around Mt Kosciuszko?
Ferdinand Mueller. In 1854-55 he collected samples on the Main Range.

What has historically been some of the major threats to Kosi flora?
Cattle grazing and associated burning, and the Snowy Hydro Scheme

What are some of the current and future threats to Kosi flora?
Recreationists trampling, track erosion, resort development, water pollution,
disturbance, invasive species.

How many flowering speices are there in Kosi, and how many of these are endemic?
There are 212 flowering species, 21 of which are endemic

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Question below

List/describe 3 environmental factors associated with each of the alpine plant

communities *understanding the communities*

Feldmark
- Snow patch grows at top of
patch (1)
- Windswept (2)

Herbfield (tall and short)

Bogs and Fens

Snow-covered (1)
Very windy (2)
Rocky
When rocks exposed, really hot
during day, and really cold at
night = extreme temperature
fluctuation
Below semi-permanent snow
patches (short)
Moist and nutrient rich (due to
snow melt)
Common, moderate areas (not
very rocky, windy, wet, etc.)
Low lying areas, mainly along
valleys (sod tussock)
Rock faces, crevices, shady
boulders (tall)
Permanently wet (either spring
fed, or low lying flat areas)
Often acidic
Accumulation of organic matter
exceeds decomposition
Deficient in minerals (bogs)
Pools of water (fen, less acidic,
more nutrients)

Card game: match up the plantalliances with the right plant community.
Equipment: 2 sets of cards to match up
Estimated activity time: 5-10minutes
Aim: To increase familiarity between plant alliances and plant communities
Instructions: Spilt the group into two teams and give each team a set of jumbled up cards. Get
them to match up the plant alliance with the plant community it is associated with.

Sedges and rushes

Epacris-Spaghnum
Bog Heath Spaghnum moss
Carex-Spaghnum
Tufted sedge -Spaghnum moss
Coprosma-Colobanthus
Snow patch coprosma-Snow patch
cushion plant
Epacris-Chionohebe

Fens
Raised Bogs
Valley Bogs
Snowpatch Feldmark

Windswept Feldmark

Coral Heath, Snow Heath Feldmark

snow-hebe
Plantago glacialis, Neopaxia
australasica, Caltha introloba
Small Star Plantain, White Purslane,
Alpine Marsh-marigold
Poa, Celmisia
Chionochloa frigida
Ribbony grass
Brachyscome nivalis, Austrodanthonia
alpicola plus ferns
Snow daisy, Crag wallaby grass

Short alpine herb field

Tall alpine herb field common

Tall alpine herb field tall tussock
grassland steep, relatively inaccessible
western slopes of Kosciuszko
Tall alpine herb field rock faces,
crevices, shady boulders

Cross section map (like pg. 23 plant life of Kosi): place the plant community, including
sub-communities in the right place. Undertake in game/competition style, and then
tick of the communities once weve seen them? (know when along the walk we should
see them before we go, in case were not paying heaps of attention) *understanding
the communites*

Print map PDF file

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Plant ID bingo
Aim: To pay more attention to the flora species around us over the duration of the walk
Equipment: Bingo sheets, pen/pencil
Estimated time: One day, or until someone wins
Instructions: Everybody gets a different bingo sheet with 9 plant species and 3 key identification
features for that species. Once you ID that plant species, you can cross it off your list but only
if you identified it! First person to cross off 3 species in a row (including diagonal) wins a prize
in drop box!
Logistics: Personally, I should have an idea of what communities were going to walk through
and what plants were likely to see for the day of the activity.

Anemone Buttercup

Trigger plant

Mountain plum pine

Peach Heath

Ranunculus

Stylidium

Podocarpus lawrencei

Lissanthe strigosa

anemoneus

graminifolium

- white flowers up to

- deep pink to

6cm across

purplish-red flowers

- common near snow

- stem minutely hairy

patches

- pointed, densely

- stem clasping leaves

tufted leaves

Yam daisy Murnong

Billy Button

Snow Patch Coprosma

Spaghnum moss

Microseris lanceolata

Craspedia sp.
Ribbony grass
Chionochloa frigida

Coprosma niphophila

Spaghnum cristatum
Alpine Marshmarigold
Caltha introloba

Chocolate lily
Dichopogon strictus

Snow Heath
Epacris petrophila

Yellow kunzea

Silver daisy

Tufted sedge

Dark Fen-sedge

Kunzea muelleri

Celmisia costiniana

Carex gaudichaudiana

Carex hypandra

Example Bingo sheet. These 16 species will be used to create a different Bingo sheet comprising
of 9 species for each member of the group.
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Scientific name spelling be

Aim: Fun activity, that may help with remembering plant species
Equipment required: A list of scientific plant names, chocolate bar in drop box for a prize.
Estimated time: You could cut it shorter if you needed, but probably 10 minutes.
Instructions: One at a time each group member will step forward and have the scientific name
of a local plant read to them. They may ask for the common name (not to spell though), and for
the word to be repeated as many times as they like. In spelling bee style, they must spell the
word, and if correct move on to the next round. And so on until one person is left. Words that
have not been spelt correctly may be chosen for another person if youve gone the whole way
through the list.
LIST

Ranunculus anemoneus
Plantago glacialis,

Anemone buttercup
Small Star Plantain,

Neopaxia australasica

White Purslane

Caltha introloba

Alpine Marsh-marigold

Microseris lanceolata

Yam daisy

Podocarpus lawrencei

Mountain plum pine

Spaghnum cristatum

Spaghnum moss

Stylidium graminifolium

Trigger plant

Coprosma niphophila

Snow patch coprosma

Eucalyptus niphophila

Snow gum

Colobanthus nivicola

Snow patch cushion plant

Carex gaudichaudiana

Tufted sedge

Epacris microphylla

Coral heath

Epacris petrophila

Snow heath

Chionochloa frigida

Ribbony grass

Astelia psychrocharis

Kosciuszko pineapple grass

Pictionary
Aim: Fun activity that challenges comprehension of plant knowledge and memory.
Equipment: Print out of a Pictionary board, one Pictionary card per person, dice, mini
whiteboard or small notepad and something to write/draw with. Grab a stick or rock for team
marker, timer
Estimated time: 20 minutes
Instructions: Get everybody to write in each coloured block on the Pictionary card something
feel like they know about plants for example a plant alliance, community, feature or species.
Collect cards and spilt group into two teams. One team roles the dice, the colour square they
land one relates to the colour they have to draw on the Pictionary card. They have 30 seconds
to draw whatever is and for their team to correctly guess. If their team guesses right, they get
to roll again, otherwise they cant move on. First team to complete a lap of the board wins, and
the losing team has to give the winners a 3 min back massage.

Pictionary Card
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Glossary cards complete this activity before Pictionary.

Equipment: Glossary cards
Aim: To try and understand all that naturalist speak that you cant interpret.
Estimated time: 10 minutes
Instructions: Give group matched up pairs for a minute to familiarise themselves, then they
play the game memory need to have some way or matching up the pairs.. maybe the
matching photo on each card of what it actually is. Potential with this version is that it could be
a bit slow, particularly in a large group. If you only give people like 10 seconds for their turn
that might keep things moving.

Peat

Accumulation or partially decomposed

vegetation

Anther

The part of the stamen containing the

pollen grains

Stamen

The pollen-bearing organ, usually

consisting of a stalk or filament and the
anther containing the pollen; hence
staminate male.

Spores

A unicellular or few-celled asexual or

sexual reproductive unit; not containing
an embryo

Basal leaves

Leaves growing from the lowest part of

the stem

Subglabrous

Almost without hairs of any sort

Petioles

The stem of a leaf; hence petiolate

having a petiole

Pilose

With weak soft hairs, less dense than

hirsute

Hirsute

Covered with long, not interwoven hairs;

this term has been used by various
authors to denote either sort of stiff
hairs.

Lamina

The blade of a leaf or petal

Cauline leaves

Leaves pertaining or belonging to the

stem

Sessile

Without a stalk, e.g. a leaf without a

petiole

Sepal

One of the separate parts of a calyx,

usually green and foliaceous; hence
sepaloid resembling a sepal

Calyx

The sepals collectively, which comprise

the outer whorl of the flower

Foliaceous

Leaflike

Whorl

More than two organs of the same kind

arising at the same level, e.g. a whorl of

leaves at a node
Node

That point on a stem which normally

bears a leaf or leaves

Glabrous

Without hairs of any sort

Dioecious

Unisexual, the male and female elements

in different plants

Decumbent

Reclining or lying on the ground but with

the ends ascending

Coriaceous

Leathery texture

Rhizome

An underground stem

Hypolithic moss hunt around Carruthers peak and other wind swept feldmark
communities
Identify on map where these communities are likely to occur, know what day. On the first day
well encounter that community, brief group about what to look for issues with stopping to
look at stuff all the time, especially when you really need to be down on your hands and needs
to do it with 25kg on your back..

Other ideas, think of something to do with

o

Itty bitty parts of plants

Mindfulness

Humans and plants

The wonder in plants

Bush tucker and flora uses