Originally posted by dbs Hi Walt If you took that whilst in Aus then likely from a Wattle tree. Dave
I checked carefully into wattle trees (= genus
Acacia) in North America, and the flower I posted is definitely not a Wattle tree because:
1)
Acacia flowers have numerous long anthers, which on close inspection the flowers I photographed do not;
2) Wattle trees are generally adapted to semi arid or arid conditions. In the USA they are present primarily in southern Texas and to a lesser extent in southern New Mexico and Arizona. I encountered and photographed one in it's full flower glory along the Rio Grande in Texas. Wattle trees are not known anywhere in Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, and most of Louisiana (they may be present along the Texas border), probably because those areas receive too much rain.
I thought for a while the flowers might be "butterfly weed," the orange milkweed that is so attractive to butterflies, but I don't think that's correct either because the flowers aren't quite right and the yellow variant is more common to the west, not in Florida.
FOLLOWUP. After a little more work I'm convinced the yellow-flowered plant that I posted on the previous page is Florida yellow top =
Flaveria linearis