Thursday 24 January 2013

MELBOURNE STREET TREES 29 - BRUSH BOX

The Brush Box, Lophostemon confertus, is a tree native to Australia, though it can be found in the United States, Africa and elsewhere. Its natural range in Australia is north-east New South Wales and coastal Queensland but it is commonly found as a street tree in Sydney and Melbourne. It is considered suitable as a street tree, due to its hardy nature, its disease and pest resilience, high tolerance for smog, drought and poor drainage, as well as needing only moderate-to-light upkeep.

It often requires lopping to accommodate overhead power lines but survives pruning quite well. It has a denser foliage and hence provides more shade than eucalypts, and is considered safer than eucalypts as it rarely sheds limbs. In form it is used as a replacement for the weedy Camphor Laurel (Cinnamomum camphora) while having a low potential for being weedy itself.

It was previously known as Tristania conferta and may be seen in old plant books under that name. Its common names also include Brisbane Box and Queensland Brush Box. In the wild its habitat ranges from moist open forest and rainforest ecotones, where it might reach heights of 40 metres or more, to coastal headlands where it adopts a stunted wind-sheared habit.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.







9 comments:

  1. So beautiful flowers on a huge tree.
    Marit.

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  2. What lovely blossoms and such a huge tree indeed!! Terrific captures for the day as always, Nick! Hope you have a wonderful weekend! Enjoy!

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  3. For a great tree, I Googled a bit. It could be up to 40 m high, the flowers are very nice too.

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  4. Hello Nick,
    what a nice tree with wonderful blossoms, great shots!
    Thank you for the informations about this interest street tree.
    Wish you a nice weekend,
    moni

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    http://www.reflexionblog.de

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  5. Hello Nick,
    another beautiful post about of one of your beautiful flowering native trees. A welcome sight for me in our cold winter.

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  6. Hi Nick,
    What beautiful flowers on such a large tree and they seem so delicate.Lovely.

    Would love if you checked out my blog:
    eclecticredbarn.blogspot.com

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  7. You have so many interesting trees with beautiful flowers!

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  8. They're amazing! I love the shape of these flowers.

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