Acacia menzelii salutes contribution of Menzel family and the wider German input to South Australia horticulture
The South Australian wattle, acacia menzelii, named in honour of Otto Ernst (Oscar) Menzel, who first collected the specimen in flower in August 1897, at Monarto, east of Adelaide. The inset map shows area where the wattle was possibly or more likely to occur in South Australia.
A rare South Australian wattle, acacia menzelli, recognised the contribution of the Menzel family, amid a wider German input, to South Australian horticulture.
Acacia menzelii was named in honour of Otto Ernst (Oscar) Menzel, who first collected the wattle specimen in flower in August 1897, at Monarto, east of Adelaide.
Oscar Menzel was the son of Munich-trained landscape gardener Ernest Wilhelm Menzel who gained repute in South Australia for his work on some of the most attractive gardens in the Stirling (the Druid Avenue plantings), Blackwood and Mitcham areas of the Adelaide Hills. He designed and planted the upper section of the South Australian state-heritage-listed garden of the Forest Hill estate at Stirling, started by John Bagot and expanded by his son Walter.
Menzel’s sons, Oscar and Bruno, grew up working with their father in the gardens and picking up the expertise to starts their own horticultural floricultural pursuits in the Adelaide Hills.
Oscar Menzel’s discovery of acacia menzelii brought attention to a rare species that remained threatened through to the 21st Century. The 414-hectares Kinchina Conservation Park became the largest area in South Australia’s Monarto crown lands region devoted to protecting its native vegetation including Menzel’s wattle and the Monarto mint bush (prostanthera eurybioides). The park was proclaimed to protect those species that were in decline in the Mount Lofty Ranges. The park was the only area where Menzel’s wattle was formally protected, with more than 4,000 plants in the park. The park also protected grassy woodland communities.
The Rocky Gully creek meandered through Kinchina Conservation Park to the north, with granite outcrops forming features to be enjoyed from the Lavender Federation Trail. In the later parts of the year, the area blossomed with orchids, lilies and spring wildflowers. It also offered possible sighting of several rare birds, including the diamond firetail, restless flycatcher and hooded robin.
