Category: Queensland State Archives’ Photostream About Fortitude Valley

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When this tree is in bloom it’s a real showstopper. It’s the Hong Kong Orchid Tree and from February to November it’s a mass of colour. Bauhinias grow wild in tropical and subtropical regions of the world and this particular variety was found in China. Bauhinia x blakeana is though to be a chance hybrid between Bauhinia purpurea and B.variegata and it is the official floral emblem of Hong Kong.

Grow Bauhinia in the garden for its flowers alone. From a distance the tree is a mass of colour. Up close, the flowers, which are quite large, resemble orchids or butterflies and they range in colour from yellow through pink to deep purple. The flowers are also perfumed. On most Bauhinias the flowers are followed by long, flat legume like seed pods, which can stay on the plant for months and look a bit untidy, but

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Indigenous Australians enjoyed a diverse supply of interesting edible plants in the millennia before white settlement. Some, like macadamias, have been cultivated widely around the world for many years, but in the last few decades other lesser known “bush tucker” plants have been discovered by modern Australian chefs and gardeners. One of the estimated 5,000 edible plant species across Australia is Capparis mitchellii, commonly known as Wild Orange, Native Pomengranate or Mitchell’s Bumble Tree. The attraction of growing and eating these plants is not only their high nutritional value and unique flavours, but that they also provide habitat for native birds and insects and, therefore, a way of maintaining biodiversity.

Capparis mitchellii is a thorny tree which grows about six to eight metres high and four to six metres wide. It is slow growing. It apparently has a role in the dreaming stories of the Adnyamanthanha

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‘Eucalyptus’ is a combination of Greek words meaning ‘well covered’, in reference to the cap protecting the bud. The name was first published in 1788, the year of English colonisation.

It is likely that Europeans first encountered eucalypts not in Australia, but in the early 16th century when the Portuguese colonised Timor, which has at least two indigenous species. However, the recorded history of Eucalypts begins in 1788, when French botanist Charles Louis L’Hritier de Brutelle described Eucalyptus obliqua (Messmate Stringybark) from specimens collected in 1777. Plant collector David Nelson had collected the specimens at Adventure Bay, Bruny Island, Tasmania during Captain James Cook’s third Pacific expedition with HMS Resolution and Discovery.

Several more species were named and published between 1788 and the beginning of the nineteenth century, mostly by English botanist James Edward Smith. As may be expected, most of these species were trees of the

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In spring the blooms of the Jacaranda tree infuse the landscape with a distinct shade of purple. Jacaranda trees have been planted in both Queensland and New South Wales cities and towns to add colour and shade to public spaces and private gardens. The flowering cycle of the tree is dependent on the weather conditions, early rain can result in early flowering. Towards the end of winter the small fernlike leaves of the Jacaranda turn yellow and fall off. The branches remain bare until sometime between September and November, when the entire tree blooms in magnificent purple flowers. The flowers last a short while on the tree before dropping to the ground where they form an incandescent purple carpet. However, if it rains, as is likely at this time of year, the fallen blooms quickly break down turning slimy and brown. By December the tree

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The Silky Oak

By Estelle Thomson

In October and early November, Brisbane is all blue and gold – blue of jacaranda, and gold of silky oak, the cool blue of the one a foil for the glowing gold of the other.
The silky oak – Grevillea robusta is its formal name – is a fine tree at all times, but its elegantly shaped leaves are of a soft grey-green which makes it so unobtrusive when not in flower that we are suprised afresh each year to find how many we have and what a brave show they make.
The name “silky oak” is derived from a fancied resemblance of the grain of the wood to that of the English oak, but there is no real relationship and not much similarity either to the English oak or the Australian she-oak or casuarina.
The grevilleas, the banksias, and the waratah all belong

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Brachychiton acerifolius, commonly known as the Illawarra flame tree, is a large tree of the family Malvaceae native to subtropical regions on the east coast of Australia. it is famous for the bright red bell-shaped flowers that often cover the whole tree when it is leafless. Along with other members of the genus Brachychiton, it is commonly referred to as a Kurrajong.

Similarly to its kurrajong relatives the leaves are variable, with up to 7 deep lobes. it is deciduous – shedding its leaves after the dry season. The spectacular flowering occurs in late spring and new foliage is ready for the summer rains. In areas where the winter is not particularly dry, this natural rhythm may become somewhat erratic and the tree may flower only partially.

Flowers are scarlet bells with 5 partially fused petals. The pod-like fruits (technically known as follicles) are dark brown, wide,

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Acacia pendula belongs to the Mimosaceae family: leguminous plants, mostly wattles. Many of the Acacia species are endemic to Australia. Its common names include Weeping Myall, True Myall, Boree, Nilyah and Balaar.

There are quite a few recognisable characters of Acacias, the main one being that instead of leaves they usually have modified stems called phyllodes, which often look very similar to leaves. They can have many shapes and lengths.

Acacia pendula is a spreading or erect tree, growing up to 12m high.

In its native environment, it often grows in alluvial soils (soils that have been washed into by ancient seas, and consisting of sand, gravel, silt and clay). It is also found in relatively heavy clay soils in Victoria. Its habitat (mainly the western side of the Great Dividing Range), gets between 400-600 mm annual rainfall.

It has a number of desirable features: drought tolerant; has a

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Paw-Paw Culture.
(From Queensland “Agricultural Journal.”)

Notwithstanding that the pawpaw will almost grow and thrive in sand, it, like other plants, likes good soil. The position chosen for planting should be sheltered from cold, westerly winds, as the tree is apt to be seriously injured by frost and cold winds. The seed should be sown in September in rich soil in a sheltered spot. When the seedlings have attained a height of from 6in. to 9in. they may be removed to their permanent positions. It is better to plant close – say, 6ft. apart – which will allow for thinning out, a the first flowering of the trees (which will occur in ten or twelve months after planting out), of those bearing the long-panicled flowers, which are mostly male, the female flowers, if any, on them bearing poor fruit. Each young seedling should be shaded with a

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Banyan, a species of fig (Ficus bengalensis) of the family Moraceae (mulberry family), native to India, where it is venerated. Its seeds usually germinate in the branches of some tree where they have been dropped by birds. The young plant puts forth aerial rootlets, which, on reaching the ground, take root to form secondary trunks to support the giant horizontal limbs. Branches from these trunks ultimately send down more such prop roots until the banyan crowds out the host tree and becomes grovelike in appearance, often covering large areas. This undergrowth is sometimes trimmed to form arbors. Alexander the Great is said to have camped under a banyan tree that was big enough to shelter his whole army of 7,000 men. The seeds frequently germinate on walls and buildings, causing considerable damage, as do the related strangling figs of tropical America.

Description source: www.encyclopedia.com

Image source: Queensland

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Traveler’s tree, (species Ravenala madagascariensis), plant of the family Strelitziaceae, so named because the water it accumulates in its leaf bases has been used in emergencies for drinking. This, the only Ravenala species, is native in Madagascar and cultivated around the world. The trunk resembles that of a palm tree and attains a height of more than 8 m (26 feet). At the top of the tree are banana-like leaves, with pale midribs that give a fan-like appearance. The leaves are 4 to 5 m long, and each leaf base, shaped like a huge cup, holds about 1 litre (about a quart) or rainwater. The large flower cluster contains white blossoms and light blue seeds.

Description source: Encyclopaedia Britannica

Image source: Queensland State Archives, Digital Image ID 1225

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