GlenysWestern Australian Christmas Tree
December 16th 2010 03:16
Last week we were travelling along Pearson Street, Perth, WA, when I spotted the unmistakable blossom of a Western Australian Christmas Tree. I had to take a photo.
I grew up on a wheatbelt farm in Western Australia and every year, around Christmas time, we would admire the Christmas Trees as the brilliant colour of their blossom brightened up the countryside. It didn't matter that a lot of the trees were scraggy and not a perfect shape - it added to their charm.
The flowers of the WA Christmas Tree are vivid yellow-orange and appear between October and January.
The Western Australian Christmas Tree (Nuytsia floribunda) is a member of the mistletoe family. It grows only in South West Australia, its distribution spreading east to the Esperance Plain and north to the Geraldton Sandplain.
This area of Australia has dry summers with most rain in winter.
The Western Australian Christmas Tree is a hemi-parasite, obtaining some of its nutrients from a host.The haustoria arising from its roots attach themselves to the roots of many nearby plants and draw water and minerals from them. It obtains food and sugar, however, through the photosynthetic process in its leaves.
The habit of this species is a tree up to 10m high, or as a shrub.
Western Australian Christmas trees are not easy to propagate so I wonder if this tree, growing by a busy road in the city, was planted by humans or nature.
Reference: Wikipedia
Photographs taken by Glenys Deutscher.
Western Australian Christmas Tree
I grew up on a wheatbelt farm in Western Australia and every year, around Christmas time, we would admire the Christmas Trees as the brilliant colour of their blossom brightened up the countryside. It didn't matter that a lot of the trees were scraggy and not a perfect shape - it added to their charm.
Western Australian Christmas Tree
The flowers of the WA Christmas Tree are vivid yellow-orange and appear between October and January.
Western Australian Christmas Tree
The Western Australian Christmas Tree (Nuytsia floribunda) is a member of the mistletoe family. It grows only in South West Australia, its distribution spreading east to the Esperance Plain and north to the Geraldton Sandplain.
This area of Australia has dry summers with most rain in winter.
The Western Australian Christmas Tree is a hemi-parasite, obtaining some of its nutrients from a host.The haustoria arising from its roots attach themselves to the roots of many nearby plants and draw water and minerals from them. It obtains food and sugar, however, through the photosynthetic process in its leaves.
Western Australian Christmas Tree
The habit of this species is a tree up to 10m high, or as a shrub.
Western Australian Christmas trees are not easy to propagate so I wonder if this tree, growing by a busy road in the city, was planted by humans or nature.
Reference: Wikipedia
Photographs taken by Glenys Deutscher.
*** You don't have to be perfect to be impressive ***
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