Guided Tours Behind the Scenes Sensory Tour Suspended Aboriginal Heritage Tour Suspended Free guided walks Suspended Visitor Centre closed until further notice More information: rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au Must see Elaeocarpus bancroftii Johnstone River Almond May

Scan the QR code below or go to https://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/ plants/garden-explorer to find more images and information on the plants featured this month.

#RBGSydney #MustSeeRBG 2. Cycas thouarsii 5. Idiospermum australiense 7. Themeda triandra (Kangaroo Grass) (Madagascar Cycad) (Ribbonwood or Idiot Fruit) Seed heads 1.5 m above the tussock forming leaves of Kangaroo Growing to 10 metres tall and This rainforest tree endemic to the Grass catch the breeze in our newly resembling a palm, this plant is a Daintree area in Queensland is a renovated grass plots in the Palace member of a more ancient plant representative of an ancient flowering Garden. One of the most widely lineage that predates flowering plant lineage and was discovered in distributed grasses in Australia, the plants by at least 100 million years. 1902. By the 1970s it was thought species also occurs in New Guinea and It doesn’t have flowers but has large extinct, until the mysterious death of Africa. Fertile seed has a large black male and female cones on separate a farmer’s cows led to its rediscovery. appendage, called an awn that helps plants. Both can be seen in our An autopsy confirmed the cows were screw the seed into the topsoil and Southern Africa garden. You will also poisoned and the fruit extracted from enable germination. Archaeological see other Cycads in this garden, that their gut was that of the Ribbonwood evidence and the journals of early unlike the Madagascar Cycad, have tree. The culprit tree was removed European explorers provide evidence stiff, blue green and often spiny leaves, so watch out. but more trees discovered. The waxy flowers have a cinnamon-citrus that Aboriginal cultural groups scent and change from white to burgundy as they age. have been harvesting and grinding 3. Protea cynaroides 'Little Prince' Kangaroo Grass to make bread for more than 30 000 years. This is a low growing, compact 6. Liquidamber styraciflua 8. Megaskepasma erythrochlamys form of the King Protea, Protea (American Sweetgum) cynaroides, the national flower (Brazilian Red Cloak) Coastal Sydney is not famous for of South Africa. The large flowers The long botanical name of this autumn colour but the American are surrounded by red bracts and species refers to the prominent red- Sweetgum is one species that attract both birds and bees in search pink, bracts that surround the small regularly reminds us that winter is on of nectar. It belongs to the large white flowers and give this plant its its way. Its five-pointed star-shaped and very diverse, Gondwanan plant ornamental appeal. Hardy in frost leaves turn a mixture of yellows, family, Proteaceae. A family named free areas, it grows well in semi- oranges and reds before falling during for the Greek god, Proteus, who was shaded parts of the garden even winter. Flowers appear in late summer able to change his shape. A fitting with heavy root competition. It is a and are followed by a spiky, spherical name for such a diverse family, that multi-branched shrub that grows to and hard fruit. A popular ornamental includes the Banksia, Macadamia and Grevillea in Australia. 3 metres but benefits from pruning tree, often seen as a street tree, it is after flowering. Its large mid-green also widely cultivated in the USA for leaves and striking terminal bracts 4. Ficus macrophylla f. macrophylla its timber, used for plywood. Moreton Bay Fig and flowers create a tropical look to the garden. The Children’s Fig planted in the 1850s, is the oldest of the more than 100 Moreton Bay Figs in our Garden. 1. PLANT OF THE MONTH They are one of our most iconic trees, but have you ever seen them Elaeocarpus bancroftii flower ? They are flowering now, inside a structure called a synconia, (Johnstone River Almond) that looks like a small, green fruit. A rainforest tree from far north Queensland with white Male and female floral parts are bell-shaped flowers and fringed petals that hang in clusters. inside and require a single species In Autumn, both the flowers and the round blue-green fruit of female wasp seeking somewhere from last year’s flowering can be seen. The fruit contains to lay her eggs and covered in pollen to enter for pollination to take an edible seed inside a hard, outer layer. This seed is eaten place. This a fantastic example of a mutually beneficial relationship by Aboriginal people and the fruit eaten by Southern between these enormous rainforest trees and a tiny insect. Cassowaries, who distribute the seeds. The Giant White-tailed Rat, weighing up to 1kg also eats the seeds.