Ormeau myrtle

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

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.

Ormeau myrtle

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. Even after intense insect and rat attacks, was such a good year that these minor setbacks did not affect the amount of seeds that were produced. 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. It was very disappointing.

Regards Ash.

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.

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 myrtle

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.

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The largest stand, regarded as the most viable population, is reported to consist of plants. 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! I hope the future holds much much more of this. What is Biodiversity anyway? While observing the plant with fellow amateur botanist Glenn Leiper, a lightbulb suddenly came on in their heads. Open in Google Maps. This all led to an exciting survey conducted in by Healthy Land and Water. The fruit-pods bore hairy little yellow seeds which were likely dispersed by hungry birds more on this later! The base is about 3inches in diameter. Well, a gentleman by the name of Lloyd Bird collected the first specimens of the tree with the group and sent them off to the Queensland Herbarium, where experienced botanist Dr Gordon Guymer pondered over it. Crushing the leaves yielded a typical myrtle or Eucalyptus smell while B. Cheers, Blake. Where did you get yours from?

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.

The perch-trees that the plants often grew under were likely areas where seed-eating birds could easily rest and defecate in the open canopy, deposited seeds into the nearby soil at the perch-tree base. Dear Bruce Watson, 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. And is it important? Can I send you some pictures for identification? So what species was it… exactly? The federal government has named this tree as one of thirty plant species to be the given the highest priority for protection from extinction, and that its status be improved by the year 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 leaves however were only cm long while the leaves of typical B. Ormeau L. I just purchased one from the Logan River tree farm Beenleigh. View Full Newsletter. 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. Keen to know how you can get involved in restoring the precious bottle-tree habitat in the Ormeau Valley? The trees were, over the succeeding years of ventures out to the valley to find them, found to grow to over years old, up to 35m in height and over 1m in trunk diameter. The group raced back to the main road, out of the forest, to the old tree they thought they knew so well, and lo and behold, upon closer inspection, it was a bottle-tree!