MEDIA RELEASE Friends of Sherwood Arboretum Association                  (The Local Bulletin June 2020)

The Flamingo factor!

If you’re needing a real splash of colour in your life, the Queensland Lacebark could definitely be your tree.

Right now, in the middle of a winter we all wish was COVID-19 free, this hardy rainforest tree is content to display its distinctive maple-like leaves.

However, when warm weather finally returns next summer, it will shed those leaves and will likely produce a spectacular display of pink, velvet-like, bell-shaped flowers.

Sherwood Arboretum is fortunate to have two mature Lacebark trees, part of the dry rainforest collection, which include such wonderful Australian native specimens as the Queensland Bottle Tree, the Broad-leaved Bottle Tree and the Burdekin Plum, to name just three.

Unlike wet rainforest species, which often receive year-round moisture, dry rainforest species have adapted over millennia to conditions which can be very wet in summer but extremely dry in winter.

With the need to adapt to increasing climate variability, dry rainforest species also could possibly offer a helpful solution for future tree plantings in and around Brisbane.

It’s interesting to note that the tree’s botanical name Brachychiton discolour is closely linked to those boat-shaped seed pods which follow the summer flowering.

The Greek ‘brachys’ (for short) and ‘chiton’ (an ancient Greek tunic fastened at the shoulder) describes these eye-catching seed pods which mature from December to the start of winter.

Discolour describes the contrasting leaf colouring, dark green on the topside to pale green on the underside, on this tree which grows up to 30m tall in rainforests from Mackay south to mid-New South Wales.

Aboriginals sought out the seeds as a nutty roasted snack while the wood from these trees was valued for making hand shields and the bark for weaving dilly bags, commonly used for carrying food.

For more information, please visit the Friends of Sherwood Arboretum website at www.sherwoodarboretum.com.au

image captions

An Arboretum Lacebark in full bloom.

The velvet-like blossoms.

The eye-catching seed pods.