More than 600 endangered plants have returned to Mernda after being propagated in a nursery over the past 2 years.
In 2017, around 120 Matted Flax-lily (Dianella amoena) plants were identified for relocation before construction started on the new 8km Mernda Rail Extension in April that year.
A team of ecologists, botanists and horticulturalists removed the plants by hand for transfer to a specialist nursery to ensure their protection.
They were divided into around 600 new plants at the nursery, and have now moved to conservation sites at Quarry Hills Park in South Morang and Plenty Gorge Park in Mernda, where the Mernda Line runs parallel.
The Matted Flax-lily is a flowering plant that prefers grassy wetland and woodland habitats, and can reach up to 90cm in height when flowering.
Indigenous to Victoria, it is estimated there are between 1400 and 2500 plants left in the state.
