Along the banks of the Albert River amateur botanist and retired school teacher Glenn Leiper inspects a rich stretch of forest at Alexander Watt Park on the outskirts of Logan, south of Brisbane.
Mr Leiper narrows in on a small, green tree, about 4 metres high with shiny leaves.
"It's growing extremely well," Mr Leiper tells Lee-Anne Veage, an environmental planning expert for Logan City Council.
Mr Leiper is referring to the Gossia gonoclada - an endangered plant, named after Queensland's 34th premier, Wayne Goss.
For almost 100 years the tree was considered extinct, until the late 1980s when Mr Leiper was exploring a section of forest in Slacks Creek with fellow amateur botanist Janet Hauser.
"We stumbled across a population of these plants and we didn't know what they were," Mr Leiper said.
"So Janet took the specimens up to the Queensland Herbarium and there was a bit of excitement because I don't think it had been seen since the 1890s, so it was technically classified as an extinct species."
In 2001, a study found there were only 73 natural Gossia gonoclada species in the world, with 64 of them located in the City of Logan.
The number of trees has fluctuated over the years.
"Where they grow is along creeks and rivers, where they can get their roots down into a high water table and that seems to be crucial for the survival of the species," he said.
"[The Gossia] is found from the Brisbane River area, so Oxley and Hemmant, south to the Coomera River - there's been some recent discoveries of a few specimens down there."
To help the endangered species, the Logan City Council has created the 'Gossia gonoclada Recovery Plan 2019-2029'.
Council buys land to 'see this species thrive'
Deputy mayor and environment chair, Cr Jon Raven, said council had a responsibility to make sure the tree thrived and numbers recovered.
"Logan's got a 10-year plan for really supporting and making sure that this endangered species survives and we do that through our existing environment levy, which allows us to acquire valuable conservation properties in the city which have the habitat that this plant likes," Cr Raven said.
In 2019, a 48-hectare parcel of land at Bahrs Scrub - a known koala habitat and home to several rare trees - was purchased by the council for conservation.
The area is one of several land acquisitions as part of the council's action plan, with funds coming from its environmental levy reserve.
"A lot of the time people like to think of animals when they think of an endangered species and they focus on the cute and cuddly ones," Cr Raven said.
"But plants are just as important in our environment and we're really focused in making sure we do our part to see this species survive and ultimately thrive, so it can be removed from the endangered list.
"The long-term goal would be to have it all over the city in places where it would grow naturally so people can enjoy it, understand the value of it and the hard work that went into keeping it alive."
160 saplings planted
In addition to Logan City Council's acquisition of land for conservation management, environmental experts have been trying several different methods to repropagate the Gossia gonoclada.
Ms Veage is known as the council's Gossia expert.
In recent months and years, Ms Veage's team has planted nearly 160 new saplings around the city.
Six repropagated trees are also located just a few hundred metres from council's chambers in the Logan Gardens.
"We can take cuttings, we have taken seeds as well," Ms Veage said.
"To help try and generate some seed growth, we have gone out with some researchers to sort of hand pollinate.
"It's just ensuring that they are being pollinated, that they are trying to produce viable seed that they can grow and we can re-introduce into the wild.
"There is quite a number of threats to the Gossia gonaclada - from land clearing, to grazing, to weeds - but the most recent and significant threat is the fungal pathogen myrtle rust and that affects the Myrtaceae family.
"It's susceptible as the rust targets all new leaf growth and any fruiting or flowering."