PLANT PUZZLER

Ready for some plant-inspired sleuthing? Solve the crossword and unscramble the coloured letters to find the hidden word

across

1. Pie popular in the US (5)

4. Plant of the genus Arthrochilus (5,6) 10. Delicately patterned insect (7)

11. Plant with small white, yellow or red flowers, found on rocky or stony ground (9) 12. Utter, total (8)

14. Beats out the grain (eg. from corn) (8) 16. Town famous for serenity, Bonnie … (4) 17. Popular root vegetable (6)

20. Bay that abuts the city of Geelong (5) 22. Red wine grape (8,9)

24. Genus of the elms (5)

26. Disease causing plants to wither (6) 28. Mark left by damage (4)

31. Medicinal honey comes from flowers of these plants (3,5)

33. Poisonous plant once thought to have magical powers (8)

36. Vine with funnel-shaped flowers (9) 38. Definite, exact (7)

39. Beverage served at end of a meal (7,4) 40. Similar vegetable to 17 across (5)

down

1. Tree cut back to promote bushy growth (7) 2. The plant Celosia argentea (9) (Picture A) 3. Irregular luminous area in the night sky (6) 4. Fungal cereal disease (5)

5. The inner bark of a tree used as fibre (4)

6. Myrica cerifera or … myrtle (3)

7. Firearm with a long barrel (5)

8. Ling or ... (7) (Picture B)

9. To wear casual clothes (5,4)

13. Organ of hearing (3)

15. Evergreen shrub Dodonaea viscosa (3,4)

18. Functional, operable (7)

19. Asian pear with green-yellow skin (5) 20. Stiff fibre made from coconut (4)

21. This flower (4) (Picture C)

22. Area enclosed by walls or buildings (9) 23. Smooth-skinned peach (9)

25. Highly contagious viral disease (7)

27 & 37. Woody fruit of eucalyptus (6)

29. First woman flag bearer for the Australian Olympic team, … Boyle (7)

30. Milk suppliers (6)

32. The Asian shrub Boehmeria nivea (5) 34. Popular fruit of the Malus genus (5) 35. Tourist destination for Australians (4) 37. See 27 down