Plant of the Week Brachychiton discolor Lacebark

In late spring and early summer, Sydney is blessed with flowering trees: mauve blue Jacarandas, scarlet Illawarra Flame Trees and golden Silky Oaks. The Lacebark (Brachychiton discolor) also flowers at this time of year but somehow we often miss the lovely dusky pink and brown flowers of this most elegant of Australian trees. The Lacebark is closely related to the Illawarra Flame (Brachychiton acerifolius), Kurrajong (B. populneus) and the Queensland Bottle Tree (B. rupestris), all of which are now included in the plant family Malvaceae although until recently, were included in the Sterculiaceae, a family of tropical and subtropical distribution.

Lacebarks can be found in rainforests along the coast and ranges of eastern Australia, from Paterson in northern NSW, to Mackay in North Queensland. There is also an isolated community on Cape York Peninsula1. They are very popular as garden plants as they don’t grow too tall, can cope with a wide range of soils and can survive hot and dry conditions. They drop their leaves just once a year prior to flowering and it is then that you notice the striking contrast between their straight round trunks and unusual branching architecture which is so very different from that of eucalypts with which we are more familiar.

1Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brachychiton_discolor Map modified from Australia’s Virtual Herbarium: http://www.chah.gov.au/avh/avhServlet

Text and photographs: Alison Downing & Kevin Downing, 19.11.2011 Downing Herbarium, Department of Biological Sciences