Wildflower Wednesday – Mimosa

These gum blossoms are a riot of bright yellow

I read as a child about mimosa flowers and had no idea what they looked like. They sounded rich, exotic and lovely. The name conjured up sunlit slopes of some Mediterranean paradise and I saw a few pictures in books of trees covered in golden blossoms. Oh the romance!

You can see the peculiar “lids” to the flower buds that burst off when the flower is about to bloom

Now only yesterday I found out that the whole “mimosa” thing is a great disappointment because they are actually our native state floral emblem and that the “mimosa” is nothing more than Golden Wattle which the scourge of most Western Australians as it is notorious for causing allergies. Apparently in the 19th Century, samples of the plant were transported to Europe and America as ornamental plants. They thrived and naturalized themselves and so the yellow “mimosa” is actually a little touch of Western Australia in other climes.

This is a typical sight around Perth in spring.

These are not photos of Golden Wattle/Mimosa but of some Gum Tree flowers that were blooming in profusion nearby.

In response to Helene Parish’s Wildflower Wednesday