#australian tree

[theallmusiclover-blog]

Calistemo rojo.

[drhoz]

#3606 - Agonis flexuosa - Western Australian Peppermint

A young tree in this case. The giant wheel on the hillside behind it in the second photo was part of the coastal defences in WWII.

Known to the Noongar people as wanil, wonnow, wonong, or wannang. First formally described in 1809 by German botanist and pharmacist Carl Ludwig Willdenow as Metrosideros flexuosa, and moved to its own genus in 1830 by British horticulturalist and ornithothogist Robert Sweet. Agonis comes from the Greek agon meaning 'a gathering' or 'collection', probably referring to the flower heads, and the Latin flexuosa referring to the zig-zag branches.

Formerly widespread here in SW, growing in coastal heath and woodland, and often as an understory in Tuart forest. Much of that forest has been cut down, which has been disastrous for species like the Western Brushtail Possum (Pseudocheirus occidentalis) that relies on it for much of its diet.

Point Peron, Perth.

[gaywoso]

Emily Gielnik

Bayern Munich ⚫ UWCL 19/20

[drhoz]

#2166 - Callitris glaucophylla - White Cypress-Pine

AKA white cypress-pine, Murray River cypress-pine, and northern cypress-pine.

Another native cypress. Some authors split it into three species - Callitris columellaris on coastal northeast New South Wales, southeast Queensland, Callitris glaucophylla throughout most of the southern half of Australia, and Callitris intratropica in northern Queensland, northern Northern Territory, northern Western Australia. C. columellaris, assuming it's a legitimate species or even subspecies, is naturalised in Hawaii and Florida.

Pollen release is explosive - hundreds of cones cracking open at once, and spraying the brown pollen up to a meter as the entire tree trembles.

Willans Hill, Wagga Wagga, NSW

[drhoz]

#2100 & 2101 - Brachychiton populneus & Dichocrocis clytusalis - Kurrajong & Kurrajong Bag Moth

The common names drives from Carrejun and carrejan - the indigenous names of the trees in the Blue Mountains foothills near Sydney. Brachychiton refers to the 'short tunics' of the seeds.

Kurrajongs are Australian trees in the same family as Hibiscus, with water-storing trunks and leaves that may be up to 9-lobed, or simple with pendulous tips as here. It grows in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland, from wetter areas and out into dry country, but has become somewhat invasive in SW Australia where it was introduced as an ornamental.

Indigenous peoples used the tree's seeds as food when cleaned and roasted, the seed pods as toys, the soft spongey wood as a water source and for shields, and the bark as a source of fibre. Apparently the seeds can also be used as a coffee substitute, if you're desperate.

The moths responsible for the object in the second photo are also known as Kurrajong Leaf-tiers, from their habit of binding leaves together with silk (often comunally) and emerge at night to skeletonise them. They also feed on Brachychiton rupestris (the Queensland Bottle Tree) and Brachychiton acerifolium (Flame Tree). Both species, like the Kurrajong, are popular oranmental trees, making the moths a bit of a problem for saplings, if they occur in large numbers.

The adult is photographed below, by Donald Hobern

[drhoz]

#1263 - Eucalyptus striaticalyx - Cue-York Gum

An interesting species of eucalypt, that grows almost exclusively on the calcrete and gypsum-rich kopi ridges around salt lakes, and surrounds itself with mulch made from its own bark. On satellite images of the area (Lake Austin near Cue) each tree is surrounded by a neat circle of mulch.

Lake Austin nr Cue

[drhoz]

#3306 - Xylomelum occidentale - Western Woody Pear

AKA danja, dumbung or koongal in the Noongar langauge. The other Woody Pear species I've seen over here - rather more often than the Sandplains species, in fact, since it's found on the Swan Coastal Plain, Peel region, and the rest of the SW below the Darling Escarpment.

It grows in sandy soils, and reachs about 8m in height.

The other five species of Woody Pear are native to New South Wales and Queensland, at the other end of the continent.

Various locations around Perth, and down to Australind.

[woadbluegum]

I walk past the silhouette of this tree- every day.

And every day it reminds me to stay grounded in the earth.

And so I make that tree a promise.

I promise to walk by tomorrow.

And to remember.