Ormeau myrtle

Brachychiton sp. Ormeau is a rare and endangered rainforest tree found in Queenslandormeau myrtle, Australia. A species of tree belonging to the genus Brachychitonit reaches up to 25 metres in height.

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!

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.

Regards Ash.

This incredible tree is a cousin of the more familiar Queensland Bottle-tree Brachychiton rupestris and other bottle-trees such as the Kurrajong B. It also appears not too dissimilar to the fascinating boab trees found throughout southern Africa, Madagascar and Western Australia. Indeed our native bottle-trees share the same genetic family group as the boabs; the Malvaceae family, and together they all bear varying degrees of plumpness around the waist! Without sounding too discouraging, these guys have a characteristic swollen midriff, which is a fantastic evolutionary trait developed for water storage! Both the boabs and bottle-trees generally live in arid and semi-arid environments and so, perfecting the art of water storage, certainly has its benefits in times of drought while surrounding plant species often die off due to dehydration. Zooming into the Ormeau Valley on the Gold Coast in the s, Janet Hauser, a local botanical illustrator and amateur botanist, discovers what looks like a young Bracychiton, or bottle-tree species, growing in wet sclerophyll forest near a popular route she often took with fellow nature enthusiasts.

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.

Ormeau myrtle

This incredible tree is a cousin of the more familiar Queensland Bottle-tree Brachychiton rupestris and other bottle-trees such as the Kurrajong B. It also appears not too dissimilar to the fascinating boab trees found throughout southern Africa, Madagascar and Western Australia. Indeed our native bottle-trees share the same genetic family group as the boabs; the Malvaceae family, and together they all bear varying degrees of plumpness around the waist! Without sounding too discouraging, these guys have a characteristic swollen midriff, which is a fantastic evolutionary trait developed for water storage! Both the boabs and bottle-trees generally live in arid and semi-arid environments and so, perfecting the art of water storage, certainly has its benefits in times of drought while surrounding plant species often die off due to dehydration. Zooming into the Ormeau Valley on the Gold Coast in the s, Janet Hauser, a local botanical illustrator and amateur botanist, discovers what looks like a young Bracychiton, or bottle-tree species, growing in wet sclerophyll forest near a popular route she often took with fellow nature enthusiasts. While observing the plant with fellow amateur botanist Glenn Leiper, a lightbulb suddenly came on in their heads. 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?

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Thanks for the interest, Dave Madden. Ormeau L. After deliberating over the causes of this successional pattern, the team at Healthy Land and Water concluded after their surveys that the tree might indeed be a pioneer species. Hi could you please let me know where this park is situated. Flowers are greenish white and pods are brown and mm long. We live in the Lamington area. Tree destined for Caloundra garden. On closer examination the new growth had fine hairs and the venation was similar to Cinnamon Myrtle Backhousia mytifolia. Article Talk. All rights reserved. He might be able to assist you.

Brachychiton sp.

It is a tree that can be easily propagated and is certainly worthy of cultivation. Pioneer species are sort of ecosystem engineers in nature. Species of tree. So what species was it… exactly? 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. Get in touch with North East Albert Landcare at: s. Can I send you some pictures for identification? Hi Peter. Taking that into account for an already limited habitat area, these areas are frequently subjected to temporary inundation, thus subjecting seeds and seedlings to what has been observed to be unfavourable growing conditions. 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. But in the meantime, it is certainly a tree to be celebrated and is already much-loved by local Gold Coasters in the Ormeau region. Article Talk. One, that the tree was doing better than originally thought during the s and s, with over juvenile trees now being found during the latest survey, which added to the adult trees known to exist prior. Hidden categories: CS1 errors: missing periodical Articles with short description Short description is different from Wikidata Use dmy dates from July Articles with 'species' microformats Automatic taxoboxes using manual parameters. Notify me of new posts by email.