Thursday 21 January 2016

MELBOURNE STREET TREES 142 - LACEBARK TREE

Brachychiton discolor is a rainforest tree of eastern Australia in the family Sterculiaceae. It grows in drier rainforest areas, scattered from Paterson, New South Wales (32° S) to Mackay, Queensland (21° S). There's also an isolated community of these trees at Cape York Peninsula. Common names include Lacebark Tree, Lace Kurrajong, Pink Kurrajong, Scrub Bottle Tree, White Kurrajong, Hat Tree and Sycamore.

An attractive tree up to 30 metres tall featuring pink flowers without petals. The trunk is straight, grey and cylindrical, up to 75 cm in diameter. Not buttressed at the base. Twigs hairy, brown and smooth. Leaves are hairy; lobed in three, five or seven points, 10 to 20 cm in diameter. Whitish underneath, dark green above. Leaf veins visible on both sides.

Flowers form from November to February. The flowers are pink, almost without stalks, 3 to 4 cm in diameter. Separate male and female flowers without petals. The fruit is a hairy boat shaped follicle maturing from December to July. 7 to 20 cm long, containing up to 30 seeds, 9 mm long. Germination from fresh seed occurs without difficulty. It is widely planted as an ornamental tree. Wood used as shields by Indigenous Australians. Roasted seeds edible by humans.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.






1 comment:

  1. That is a beautiful tree. I have never seen one like it, though I don't get to Queensland at all. We had a Kurrajong when I was small but i different variety. It also had the brown pods lined with tiny hairs that burned your eyes if you handled the pod then rubbed your eyes. Ouch! I can still remember the sensation.

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