10 Sydney Wildflowers to Look out for This Spring

Wildflowers in Australia bloom mostly in Spring, and in Sydney there are hundreds of species bringing colour to the bushland. Venturing into any national park in the Sydney area will give you a good chance of finding some of these plants. Here are ten of my favourite wildflowers in the Sydney basin region, to find in spring. I took most of these photos in Muogamarra National Park, which is one of the best places in Sydney to see wildflowers.

Philotheca salsolifolia

Pretty star shaped flowers, in small shrubs.

Banksia (Proteaceae)

This is one of the easiest to spot flowers in the Australian bush. I think it’s one of the most unique shaped flowers in the world. Once they have flowered they turn into a large nut, that I personally find to look like a woody grenade.

Grevillea

Some species can be yellow, orange, red and pink.

Waratah (Proteaceae Telopea)

This is one of the most well known flowers in Australia, but is actually relatively difficult to find in the wild. It’s the emblem of Australian state of New South Wales. You really have to know where to find the plants. This one was in Muogamarra Nature Reserve. It hadn’t bloomed quite yet.

Wattle (Acacia)

Also a very easy to find plant in Sydney. On the walk home from the station I can find several wattles along the way. There are also similar species of wattle found around the world in warmer areas.

Boronia

If you see small pink flowers in a national park it’s probably Boronia. There are a bunch of successful species around Sydney which all look pretty similar from afar, but up close they vary by the amount of and shape of leaves. Fun fact – they have a distinctive smell not unlike marijuana. I have so many photos of different boronia it was hard to pick just one.

Drumsticks (Isopogon anethifolius)

These shrubs have interesting leaf shapes. The yellow flower starts off as a ball, spreads out like below then turns into a grey woody cone. I find them often in coastal heathland or growing around lots of sandstone.

Wax plant (Eriostemon australiasius)

If you touch the leaves of this tree it’s very waxy. This helps the plant to retain moisture and protect from the hot summer weeks.

Coral Heath (Epacris microphylla)

This plant sometimes looks like snow has fallen over the bush, and has a coral like shape reaching up to the sky. You can find these flowers throughout much of the year.

Parrot Pea (Fabaceae)

These tiny little yellow flowers are very cute and have adapted perfectly to the Australian environment. This family can be found all over Australia in various forms, the most famous of which is Sturt’s Desert Pea.

Purple Orchid (Glossodia Minor)

This tiny little orchid was growing in the undergrowth barely 10cm off the ground. It had one stem and a leaf. A few metres away was another one, so it wasn’t quite alone.

Where to find Wildflowers in Sydney

The best spot for wildflowers is in Muogamarra Nature Reserve. Check out my blogpost about Muogamarra Nature Reserve here.

To find out about the animals you can find in Muogamarra Nature Reserve, click here.

I also took some of these photos in Kuringai Chase National Park, which has a very similar type of environment.

Thanks to Justin Chan @jytc_botany for helping me identify many of these flowers.