Volunteers have been hard at work raising rare plants as part of the Friends of Merri Creek’s three-year Secret Seven seeds project, which aims to increase the seed supply of seven rare Merri Creek plant species.  Northcote resident Jane Mullett has successfully raised Plains Yam Daisies to the seeding stage. She says "I am getting heaps of seeds off them. I am harvesting between 3-5 puffballs every second day!". The plants were initially grown by VINC.  

The key stages in the growth of these plants has been documented by renowned local photographer, David Tatnall. See the superb sequence under 'Read More.' 

This project is funded with the support of the Victorian Government. The Friends of Merri Creek have contracted MCMC to help deliver the project.

The Secret Seven plants are:

Plains Yam Daisy: A swamp-dwelling daisy that was an an important food source for Wurundjeri. In the Merri catchment, less than 300 remain in three remnant populations.

Common Everlasting: A very uncommon daisy in the Merri Creek – only a handful of scattered plants remain.

Variable Glycine: A valuable nectar plant, this pretty pea hangs on in a few nature reserves as well as some unlikely urban parkland in the Merri, emerging from a long-lived seedbank.

Arching Flax-lily: An elegant lily – favourite of Bluebanded Bees – occurs in several isolated and precarious locations along railway lines and cliffsides in the Merri.

Scaly Buttons: A little daisy that can indicator of grassland health. Dozens of plants survive at a few Merri sites but it has disappeared from other sites.

Spur Velleia: Sometimes called the Native Primrose because of its frilly pale yellow petals. In the Merri it is known from just a few plants at one location.

Basalt Daisy: A slender daisy of swampy depressions. In the Merri, currently known from just a few dozen plants at one threatened location.