Arabic version: الأمطار تشعل إزهاراً هائلاً لبازلاء صحراء ستورت

According to ABC News, heavy rainfall has triggered a super bloom of Sturt’s desert peas across large parts of South Australia and New South Wales, covering sections of the outback in colour. Flinders and Outback Parks and Wildlife manager Phillip Strachan said rain totals in the region were three or four times the average.

Wildflowers arrived early and have continued flowering in large numbers around the Flinders Ranges, Mr Strachan said. Park rangers described the display as the greatest number of Sturt’s desert peas seen there since 1974. The species is usually recognised by elongated red petals and a large black centre.

On the South Australia–New South Wales border, flowers have spread through paddocks and fields. Zanna Gale, who runs a sheep station 270 kilometres north of Broken Hill, said her family had documented unusual white, purple and pink blooms. She said they had never previously seen the flowers in the house paddock in such numbers.

Adelaide Botanic Gardens senior horticulture curator Matt Coulter said the colour variations were unusual, with the familiar red-and-black form accounting for about 99 per cent of sightings. He said the scale of this year’s flowering had made the different colours more visible. Seeds can remain dormant in arid land for many years until suitable conditions encourage germination, he said.

Sturt’s desert pea is South Australia’s floral emblem and is protected, making it illegal to pick on public land. Mr Coulter said the Adelaide Botanic Garden grows plants from seed collected at Roxby Downs in 1997. Growing the species can be difficult: seeds are scarified to promote germination, while soil needs strong aeration so moisture can move away from the roots. Humidity is the plant’s biggest threat, he said.