Brachychiton acerifolius Macarthur & C.Moore

Illawarra Flame Tree

Evergreen tree to 12-15 m tall in cultivation (to 45 m tall in the wild). Bark grey, finely fissured and tesselated on mature trees. Leaves ovate, leathery, shiny above, entire or with 3-5(-7) lobes with blades to about 10-25 cm long, shed from the flowering branches; venation pinnate or palmate. Leaf stalk 5-20 cm long, 2-4 mm wide, hairless. Flowers in many-flowered clusters, bright scarlet, each 1-2 cm long, 1.5 cm wide on scarlet stalks; Nov.-Dec. Stamens cream. Carpels hairless. Fruit 7-12 cm long, hairless, on stalks 6-8 cm long.

Coastal E Australia (especially Illawarra Range)

Grows naturally in a disjunct distribution from the Shoalhaven River in S NSW to the Claudie River on the Cape York Peninsula, mostly in sub­tropical vine forest.

VIC: Burnley (University of Melbourne Burnley Campus 20 m tall planted c. 1928); Caulfield Park (many); Coburg (De Chene Reserve); Moonee Ponds (Queens Park, several); Hawthorn (Central Gardens); Kew (Victoria Park); Maryborough (Princess Park, 16 m tall in 1984); Melbourne (Treasury Gardens); Wangaratta (Anglican Cathedral).

Source: Spencer, R. (1997). Sterculiaceae. In: Spencer, R.. Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 2. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 1. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.

Distribution map
kingdom Plantae
phylum   Tracheophyta
class    Magnoliopsida
superorder     Rosanae
order      Malvales
family       Malvaceae
genus        Brachychiton Schott & Endl.