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| mature specimen of Brachychiton populneus |
Seasonality: evergreen
Size: 30-45ft, spread to 30ft; rapid growth rate
Leaves: simple; often lancolate but has large variation in margin type, sometimes lobed; 2-3in long; glossy green; attractive glittery effect in wind
Flowers: small white or off-white bell shape with pinkish dots; bloom in early summer
Fruit: distinctive brown hard woody boat-shaped pod containing round seeds; fuzz on seed can be an irritant
Stems/Trunks: distinctive trunk shape, trunk tapers like bottle, buttressed wider at base, most obvious when young, losing bottle shape when older; trunk and stems green when young growing more brown with age
Range/Origin: Australia
Hardiness: high to mid teens
LANDSCAPE VALUE:
- popular for shade in parks
- upper end of size for residential use, okay in large landscapes
- privacy or windscreen
- Exposure: full to part sun
- Water: requires regular irrigation during summer; once per week or once per every 2 weeks
- Soil: even texture, does not perform well in rocky soil; good drainage
- Propagation: seed, best germination using acid scarification
- Maintenance: low; pod cleanup
