Ormeau myrtle

This incredible tree is a cousin of the more familiar Queensland Bottle-tree Brachychiton ormeau myrtle and other bottle-trees such as the Kurrajong B.

Brachychiton sp. Ormeau is a rare and endangered rainforest tree found in Queensland , Australia. A species of tree belonging to the genus Brachychiton , it reaches up to 25 metres in height. The leaves are dropped during the dry season, a time of year the species favours for reproduction, and return as pale to coppery coloured new growth. The flowering period is during September, the profuse display of green to white bell-shaped flowers appearing at the terminus of the branches;the width of each flower is around 10 mm. Fruiting pods appear from January to February, these are 3 cm long, brown, and boat-shaped. During the later stages of growth the trunk begins to form an exaggerated bottle-shape, and the leaves alter from a deeply lobed shape, divided from five to nine times, to a glossy and often elliptical leaf 12 to 20 centimetres long.

Ormeau myrtle

Last weekend I was with two other plant enthusiasts walking through the bush in a remote gorge between the suburban sprawl of Brisbane and the Gold Coast. Our aim was to increase the knowledge of and try to save a little known bottle tree species which occurs no where else on earth. Many of these majestic trees are in land earmarked for a Gravel Quarry so we were counting, measuring and mapping each tree with GPS. While searching for these odd pot bellied trees I noticed a shrub up to 2. The shrub grew on a rocky scree slope on the edge of the gorge under a dry rainforest canopy with emergent Ormeau Bottle Tree, the canopy included Huer Dissilaria baloghoides Yellow Tulip Drypetes deplanchei and Peanut Tree Sterculia quadrifida. At first I thought the shrub was a member of the Gossia genus due to its small leaves and fine reddish bark. On closer examination the new growth had fine hairs and the venation was similar to Cinnamon Myrtle Backhousia mytifolia. The next thought was that it was a mutant small leaved plant of Backhousia mrytifolia the normal form of which were common in other areas of the gorge but not at the site of the mystery shrub. The leaves however were only cm long while the leaves of typical B. Crushing the leaves yielded a typical myrtle or Eucalyptus smell while B. The mystery shrub was also profusely suckering and air layering a process where branches bend down to touch the ground and grow roots to become new trunks this habit was not like the B. The bark of this tree was smooth to finely fibrous while the bark of B. A Myrtaceae taxomomist from the Queensland Herbarium has confirmed this shrub as a probable species new to science.

The group raced back to the main road, out ormeau myrtle the forest, to the old tree they thought they knew so well, and lo and behold, upon closer inspection, it was a bottle-tree!

I have made some interesting observations over the years regarding the Brachychiton endemic to the Ormeau area, Brachychiton sp. It is listed as critically endangered under the federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act and endangered under the Queensland Nature Conservation Act Fairly typical to many of the Brachychiton species, it will go through an array of morphological changes before it reaches mature foliage, which is simple; however, juvenile foliage is deeply lobed with long fingers. Flowers are greenish white and pods are brown and mm long. Pods generally contain one to five bright yellow seeds, but I have observed up to

I have made some interesting observations over the years regarding the Brachychiton endemic to the Ormeau area, Brachychiton sp. It is listed as critically endangered under the federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act and endangered under the Queensland Nature Conservation Act Fairly typical to many of the Brachychiton species, it will go through an array of morphological changes before it reaches mature foliage, which is simple; however, juvenile foliage is deeply lobed with long fingers. Flowers are greenish white and pods are brown and mm long. Pods generally contain one to five bright yellow seeds, but I have observed up to The seeds are covered in a hairy exotesta, the hairs are easily dislodged and cause some irritation. Of the limited population of mature specimens of this species that remain, only a few bear any quantity of seed, and even then, since the beginnings of my observations about 18 years ago, I have seen two fruiting episodes! Limitations on seed production and natural recruitment in seeding events are noticeable even before ripening. It can be seen that the pods are absolutely plagued by exotic rats. A good proportion of what is left is attacked by a grub, which eats the seeds before moving onto the next pod.

Ormeau myrtle

Ormeau, a residential suburb on the Pacific Highway in the Gold Coast hinterland, is 42 km from central Brisbane and 30 km north of Southport. Its northern boundary adjoins Yatala and its southern boundary is the Pimpama River. Ormeau was named after an early sugar plantation c owned by A. The birthplace of Boyd's wife was apparently Ormeau Road, a main south-eastern thoroughfare of Belfast, Ireland, that leads to a bridge and a park of the same name. Ormeau was one of the numerous stopping places on the South Coast railway , set among farms that were transferring from sugar, maize and arrowroot to dairying. A school, opened in , was on the South Coast road just north of Pimpama Creek. Situated between Yatala which had a hotel and a store and Pimpama, Ormeau had few facilities.

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Why not come along to our Ormeau Bottle-tree film release night along with three other features films on the 30th April at om at the Robina Community Centre Auditorium, Robina. On a number of visits to the seeding trees, I had noticed that one tree in particular had been subjected to highly unethical seed collection methods and quantities. Article Talk. Genetic and essential oil tests will be carried out as we wait for this species to flower, we may one day grow this plant in our gardens. The shrub grew on a rocky scree slope on the edge of the gorge under a dry rainforest canopy with emergent Ormeau Bottle Tree, the canopy included Huer Dissilaria baloghoides Yellow Tulip Drypetes deplanchei and Peanut Tree Sterculia quadrifida. And is it important? Do we need a second tree for fertile seed? Could that very tree, a tree which always did seem a bit out-of-place to the group, in fact be a mature specimen of the young bottle-tree they were looking at at their feet? A friend and I would like to see the small patch you mentioned in your post, but I could not pin down the location of the reserve. After testing and comparing it with other bottle-tree specimens Dr Guymer is the Queensland expert on these trees it was decided by the experts, that what had just been found, not far from the urban center of the sprawling Gold Coast, was absolutely a brand new species to science!

This incredible tree is a cousin of the more familiar Queensland Bottle-tree Brachychiton rupestris and other bottle-trees such as the Kurrajong B.

The next thought was that it was a mutant small leaved plant of Backhousia mrytifolia the normal form of which were common in other areas of the gorge but not at the site of the mystery shrub. Hi, Have just seen this tree on gardening Australia Griffith Uni , am looking for an evergreen shade tree with non invasive roots, that I can prune to a 3 metre canopy for shade. This work remains to be completed by the experts at the Queensland Herbarium and other local academics. A good proportion of what is left is attacked by a grub, which eats the seeds before moving onto the next pod. Without sounding too discouraging, these guys have a characteristic swollen midriff, which is a fantastic evolutionary trait developed for water storage! Jan Drynan most kindly gave me some seed and after two weeks the first one germinated this morning with the cotyledons sticking out. Ormeau The Ormeau Mrytle my first new species discovered November last year Last weekend I was with two other plant enthusiasts walking through the bush in a remote gorge between the suburban sprawl of Brisbane and the Gold Coast. Natural limitations are often beyond human control, but regulations put in place on collection to protect already dwindling species must be upheld to allow for optimal self-recovery of these species within their environments. After a reproductive dormancy of 12 years prior to the recent seeding event , a huge crop of seeds was produced just before the torrential rains that south east Queensland experienced in the summer of Keen to meet some of the crew in person?