Ground Covers
Bower Spinach
Tetragonia implexicoma
Scrambling shrub that forms dense leafy patches of up to 4m. The leaves are alternate, clustered with yellow flowers. The leaves are edible and were blanched like spinach by the early European settlers.
Coastal Groundsel
Senecio pinnatifolius
Small annual daisy bush that attracts butterflies and insects. Also known as Fireweed. It will self seed throughout the dunes and come up annually, making a spectacular yellow flower show.
Coastal Lignum
Muehlenbeckia gunnii
A large hardy vine often climbing in living trees and shrubs to a height of several metres. It produces tiny, five-petalled greenish-yellow flowers in clusters in Spring.
Native Pelargonium
Pelargonium australe
Has large green velvety leaves and produces pale pink flowers with purple stripes during the spring and summer. Can grow up to knee height. A striking plant which makes a great garden plant, with seeds attracting birds and ants. It thrives best when planted in protected swales in the hind dunes.
Native Pigface
Carpobrotus rossii
Karkalla is the Kaurna word for this hardy plant. It is a thick fleshy ground cover with bright pink flowers. The fruits are edible and eaten by lizards, insects and people, and the leaves can be used as a salt substitute
Muntries
Kunzea pomifera
The name for this plant is derived from the Kaurna word Mantirri. It is a tough ground hugging plant which is bright green with white flowers and purple berries. The fruits when ripe are edible and it also provides an important habitat for lizards.
Running Postman
Kennedia prostrata
A ground cover with a spread up to 2m. It has bright red pea-like flowers which are produced from winter through to summer. Bird and butterfly attracting. The nectar was used as a food source by indigenous peoples and the stems were utilised as a fibre.