User Profile

Emma Rooksby

Emma Rooksby is a local volunteer bush regenerator and environmental educator who helped establish the Growing Illawarra Natives website. She is passionate about protecting and restoring local biodiversity in the Illawarra region and collaborates with many groups and individuals who share that passion.

Science & Nature

A classy grass showing off right now

Right now many local grasses are looking simply spectacular. I’ve previously featured the Native Sorghum (S. leiocladum), Basket Grass (Oplismenus sp.), Pygmy Panic (Panicum pygmaeum) and the Love Grasses (Eragrostis species) and they’re all doing...

Emma Rooksby

December 2024

Science & Nature

Flooding and Illawarra’s native vegetation

High rainfall events and flooding are regular occurrences in the Illawarra region, as in many parts of the world. The last four years have included three very wet summers (due to influences such as La Niña phase of the El Niño-La Niña Seasonal...

Emma Rooksby

December 2024

Science & Nature

Wake up and smell the Coffee Bush!

In fruit right now is one of the most common and widespread local shrubs of the Illawarra region: the Coffee Bush (Breynia oblongifolia). And it’s looking spectacular!! The foliage and ripe fruit of the Coffee Bush (Breynia oblongifolia). Perhaps...

Emma Rooksby

December 2024

Science & Nature

Fruiting now: the Cheese Tree

The Cheese Tree (Glochidion ferdinandi) is a lovely thing, particularly at the moment when many plants are in full fruit and covered in their colourful pinkish-red, very vaguely cheese-like capsules. Cheese Trees are some of the most widespread...

Emma Rooksby

December 2024

Science & Nature

Resilient native meadows can cope with wet and dry

I’ve written about many of Illawarra’s local native ground covers, grasses and ferns. Individually each species has its appealing (or not-so-appealing) features, and environmental preferences, with everything from grasses that prefer to grow in mud...

Emma Rooksby

November 2024

Science & Nature

Flowering now, the spectacular Swamp Lily

With the warm and now wet spring we’re having, many local plants are flowering and fruiting brilliantly. It’s an excellent time to observe local native plants and see what they’re up to. One local plant that is doing particularly well is the Swamp...

Emma Rooksby

November 2024

Science & Nature

Future Proofing the Cabbage Tree Palm

Cabbage Tree Palms are very significant to local First Nations Peoples. They are also immensely important to many fruit-eating birds, particularly but not only local pigeons and doves. For this reason they are a really valuable element of local...

Emma Rooksby

November 2024

Science & Nature

Croom BioBlitz an opportunity for budding citizen scientists

This Friday and Saturday, local citizen scientists have the chance to explore and document the amazing biodiversity of Croom Reserve in Shellharbour. Croom Reserve is a precious remnant of the Illawarra’s original vegetation, a beautiful place to...

Emma Rooksby

November 2024

Science & Nature

Snow-in-Summer, a local tree showing off right now

I found it almost impossible to choose a plant to feature this week, as there are just so many species looking absolutely spectacular around the region. Wildflowers are still doing wonderfully in areas such as Maddens Plains, Sublime Point...

Emma Rooksby

November 2024

Science & Nature

Alyxias: rare in Illawarra, all around on a nearby paradise island

A week’s holiday on Lord Howe Island, thanks to a wonderful raffle prize, has given me a bit of an insight into the vegetation and ecology over here, and how it relates to those of Eastern Australia, Southern Africa and the Pacific islands. One of...

Emma Rooksby

October 2024

Science & Nature

The Shield Ferns share centre-stage

Illawarra is home to an immense range of fern species, and we are lucky to live in the midst of massive fern abundance and diversity. New species are added to the list occasionally, such as when Dr Kevin Mills recently published his book South Coast...

Emma Rooksby

October 2024

Science & Nature

In flower now: Branching Grass-flag

It’s always enjoyable to look around and see what local native plants are in flower. An edging bed of Branching Grass Flag (Libertia paniculata), showing the scrappy leaves and the overall habit of the plant. The flowers are not particularly showy...

Emma Rooksby

October 2024

Science & Nature

Oh my darling Turpentine!

The Turpentine trees (Syncarpia glomulifera) are in flower right now around the region and looking pretty spectacular. Turpentine is a tall, robust tree in the Myrtaceae family (related to Eucalyptus, Corymbia and Angophora), and it is widespread...

Emma Rooksby

October 2024

Science & Nature

Flowering now: the incredibly decorative Tall Rice Flower

If you go down to Saddleback Mountain today, or to Mount Keira (Djeera) or Mount Kembla (Djembla), you might be lucky enough to come across a truly incredible flowering experience of a local plant that’s almost unknown on the coastal plain, or in...

Emma Rooksby

September 2024