There is something satisfying about the sight of the gaudy parrot in association with the improbably shaped plant. That particular combination was chosen for the cover of Penny Olsen’s biography of Bill Cooper (foreword by David Attenborough),
out of all the magnificent paintings that were available for that purpose. Perhaps it is the brilliant colours against the stark incongruity of the Australian plantscape - as brought out in the Cooper painting anyway. Probably Kangaroo Tail nectar was a
preferred food of lorikeets before European times. They would have a hard time finding it in the ACT though, as it does not thrive in the suburbs where the local lorikeets look for their easy pickings. I wonder if our chaps would recognise it when they come
across it in the odd yard where a Canberra gardener has been brave enough to try one. There’s a few in a corner of Wells Gardens, I notice.
Setting a fire to bring on the flowering could be hazardous.
