Significant Flora FACt sheet Bullock Bush, Rosewood Alectryon oleifolius Bullock Bush is a common small tree or large In other areas many or most of the trees have shrub which occurs throughout the southern succumbed to grazing, or died from natural arid zone of South Australia and forms low causes such as fire, wind or hailstorms. woodlands in the valleys of the Gawler Ranges and southern Flinders Ranges. Its Identification main method of reproduction appears to be Bullock Bush is usually a small tree of one The fact that the by root suckers after damage or good rains. to several main stems, which often grows in tree is still commonly It is thought that whole valleys or continuous clonal colonies of several to one hundred or found in the areas colonised by this tree may originate more individual stems. southern arid zone from just one individual, with each plant is a testimony to Leaves are broadly linear or lance-shaped, genetically identical. its toughness and dull green, with a blunt end and prominent longevity. Bullock Bush has very palatable foliage, veins. Although they are shed each year, the which is avidly consumed by native, feral trees are never bare, as the next season’s and stock herbivores. Although it readily growth takes place before the older ones are propagates from suckers when trees are shed. damaged or after good rains, few young Flowers are tiny and greenish yellow, in small plants establish unless areas are completely sprays or racemes (groups). The seed, which protected from grazing. develops within a roughly spherical green The fact that the tree is still commonly found husk, is shiny black, about 5mm in diameter in the southern arid zone is a testimony to its and attached to the husk with a large bright toughness and longevity. red seed stalk. Many of the surviving mature stands are only Bark is persistent, rough and fissured. just above goat and cattle grazing height. Heartwood is reddish (hence the alternative Unless and until the canopy is grazed off common name Rosewood) and easy to work or broken down, the trees can live for more being relatively soft. It is non-durable when than one hundred years. Some individuals used outside or in the ground. in photos from the 1940s still look much the same today.
Flowering branch A. Robinson
South Australian Arid Lands Natural Resources Management Board Contact Us distribution South Australian Arid Bullock Bush occurs throughout the sandy threats Lands Natural Resources and calcareous soils areas of the southern By far the most serious threat to Management Board arid zone of South Australia and is particularly Bullock Bush is continuous grazing, www.saalnrm.sa.gov.au abundant in the Gawler Ranges, where it with the tree showing growth near the forms dense low woodlands in the granitic ground and young plants only in some (08) 8648 5977 soil areas in the southern higher rainfall parts protected areas. [email protected] of that district. Scattered trees of this species Larger herbivores such as cattle and are common in the south of the Kingoonya camels often break down the canopy Produced June 2010 district. Outside the Arid Lands region it is of smaller trees, inevitably resulting in common in the Eastern districts (north of their death as regrowth is continually the River Murray in South Australia) and it is grazed off. abundant throughout the western division of Bullock Bush can survive adequately if New South Wales. the combined impact of feral, native and stock animal grazing is controlled and provided any significant regeneration is protected. Invariably this is likely to be by suckering from exposed or damaged roots. Regeneration from seed is also occasionally observed.
Fruits with large bright red seed stalk Flower B. Lay A. Robinson
Grazed mature plants showing high mortality B. Lay
South Australian Arid Lands Natural Resources Management Board