Less than half an hour from Jurien Bay is one of those rare gems we were fortunate to visit whilst in Western Australia. Lesueur National Park may not be big but for plant/flower enthusiasts it is fabulous. After travelling part of the way there on a sealed road the last part is gravel. However on the way in we found ourselves stopping at frequent intervals to check out the flora. These two sure caught our eye as we drove along. Love to know what they are.

This Calothamnus stood out too. I think it’s a Calothamnus sanguineus.We also spotted this Grevillea trailing along the ground.Here’s a close up of one of the flowers about to open up  with a background of some other prickly dead plant. I haven’t been able to identify it yet either.We were also happy to spot some more Banksia menziesii plants in flower.This pea flowered plant looked like it had multiple red tongues.Once we had parked we read this signboard first. It gave some good background information on what plants and other things we might see.As we started our walk the first plant in flower we found was this rugged Hakea conchifolia.Next we saw this tiny ground cover, Astroloma xerophyllum, (White Cranberry) growing in the gravel.After a short walk we came upon this signboard with information about the available short walks. We decided to follow the Botanical path along to the Lesueur trail and continue on that at least as far as the lookout point.Along this section of the path many, (but not all) of the plants had name tags which was very helpful. We weren’t the only ones inspecting this lovely Hakea neurophylla, which is only found on the sandy soils of Lesueur.Lots of grass trees (Kingia australis) were scattered throughout the landscape.As we reached the junction of the two paths we came upon this shoe cleaning device. We duly used it before continuing our walk along the track.Our next floral find was this Hibbertia hypericoides. Apparently the Noongar indigenous people would chew the flowers as an appetite suppressant.According to the tag the Macrozamia fraseri was also an important plant for the Noongar people.To the left of the path we passed a stand of Corymbia calophylla (Marri) trees.Our next find was one we had been hoping for but had wondered if we had missed its flowering season. It was Banksia tricuspis, a Banksia only found in Lesueur and nearby areas. It was at the end of its flowering time but we did manage to see a few cones.Sadly even though we found some Hakea flabellifolia, it was not in flower but its fan shaped leaves are striking.At the viewpoint we had views in a number of directions. As you can see the park is very heavily wooded.

With the shadows creeping in as the sun started to drop we decided to not finish the whole trail as so made our return walk back to the car. Lesueur National Park may be small but with a number of rare and unique plants it is well worth the visit.