A broom-like Tasmanian shrub reaching 1-3 metres, with hardened needle-like leaves and dense flower spikes in orange, yellow, red or white. Confined to exposed alpine terrain above 700 metres, where snow skinks pry open its blooms for nectar.
IUCN Red List assessment
Photographic archive · 1 work
For a brief window over the summer months in lutruwita / Tasmania's alpine plateaus, one of the most iconic species of the regions bursts into flower: Richea scoparia. Colloquially known as simply Scoparia, it occasionally goes by another much less appealing name -- Bushwalker's Nightmare.
With sharp, stiff blades set behind the ephemeral bloom, most of the year it lays in wait to slice unsuspecting ankles as they brush past. Here, under a rising partial moon and the first traces of Milky Way for the year, it fluoresces brightly in a range of colours under multispectral light.