The Plant List


bottle treeBrachychiton populneus

Common: Bottle tree, Kurrojong tree
Family: Starculiaseae
Origin: Native to Australia
Sunset Zone: 12-24
Light: Full to reflected sun
Soil:: Tolerant, but needs good drainage
Water: Loves the heat. Needs occasional deep watering

Good screening quality. Roadside tree or wind break. Does well where space is not limited. Used as shade tree in low and intermediate deserts. Good specimen plant as well as in groupings. Vertical form with pyramidal crown. Very heavy trunk, broad at base, narrowing quickly. Slow to moderate grower to 30-50 ft., 30 ft. spread.

Shiny and lobed dense evergreen foliage, rustles like poplar in wind. Greenish patterned bark. Small bell-shaped clusters of flowers appear in clusters in May or June followed by 2-3 inch dark brown to black woody seed pods noticeable only in litter they produce. Fuzz inside seed pods is prickly and can be irritating to the skin.

Susceptible to Texas root rot. Woody fruits delight flower arrangers but are merely litter to most gardeners

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