Most commonly seen as a shrub or small tree up to 10 metres high, it has
been recorded at 30 metres high if you believe anything Wikipedia tells you!
The specimen pictured left is the largest I have seen with a trunk around
300mm diameter.
Getting it's name from the colourful fruit it bears, it flowers around May
and looks like it would be more at home in an English country garden than
desert uplands. One thing I find odd about this tree is that the flowers
have 5 petals and 5 sepals but the fruit has 4 sectors - an unusual
imbalance in nature.
Lolly bush timber is fairly average all round - pale to blond colour,
moderately light weight, medium density and fairly even shrinkage while air
drying so cracking isn't a big problem.
Lolly bush has a fine medullary ray visible to the naked eye. The timber
machines very nicely, sands very well and takes a good finish if a sanding
sealer is used.
I suspect the timber might grow a bit of mould during the wet season but
time will tell on that point - just a hunch.
