Bottle tree

    (Brachychiton australis / Brachychiton rupestris )

Also known as: Broad-leaved bottle tree / Narrow-leaved bottle tree

You couldn't pass through Central Queensland without noticing the Bottle trees. They are often left standing during land clearing as a moisture source for stock during droughts but rarely last long out on their own as they make fantastic lightning conductors too. The Broad-leaved (left) and Narrow-leaved (right) varieties are both common on the Central Highlands and grow up to 20 metres tall with trunks on the Narrow-leaved variety up to 2 metres diameter. They are semi-deciduous, dropping most of their leaves just before flowering (below left - middle trunk).

Unfortunately the Bottle trees have no useable timber. The picture at left shows how much shrinkage occurs in the pulpy heart of the tree in just 7 days. On the right you can see what's left of a lightning-struck tree after a few weeks, the whole tree breaking down to a pile of pulp in just a couple of months.

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