flora and fauna?

[bobbystreet57]

hi everybody, i know this is definately not an aviation subject but i am trying to identify a tree (or three) that took up residence in our garden about five years ago , and has suddenly started sprouting flowers. i would be grateful for any feedback as a few people have asked what it is and i can,t for the life of me remember anything about it apart from it is endemic to australia.

[Biggles]

My wife who lived in Australia for several years and also has green fingers thinks it aint Yucca cos she had them in her garden, but there are several species.

Try this link to search.

travel.webshots.com/album/554566365WXYlLP

[khardwk]

What a pleasure to be able to introduce some real (Plant) science to the NWAN Forum

I must say bobbystreet57 your pictures are very nice, though I am a little doubtful that the subject arrived in your garden only 'about five years ago'. Those plants do not usually grow quite so fast.

I'm sure your garden is "suffering" from a dose of Cordyline australis, and not Yucca, as a previous correspondent also suggested, though it is fairly closely, taxonomically, related to Yucca. Yucca flowers are quite different, as the pictures in the references will show.

As you will also see in the references - your plant is frequently called Cornwall or Torbay Palm and even Manx Palm, though it is certainly not a true (Botancally speaking) palm.

Wikipedia is not my favourite plant science text, but it is quite good on plants and easy to read.

See: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cordyline_australis

Also some nice pictures in thse 2 sites:

www.growsonyou.com/plant/slideshow/Cordyline_australis/78695 photos 1 & 2 (Flower)

www.easytropicals.com/pcp/Phormium_and_Cordyline.html


Cordyline is a genus of about 15 species of woody monocotyledonous flowering plants classified in Asparagaceae or alternatively the segregate family Laxmanniaceae, in the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group system, but placed by other authors in Agavaceae or Lomandraceae. The genus is native to the western Pacific Ocean region, from New Zealand, eastern Australia, southeastern Asia, Polynesia and Hawaii.

The name Cordyline comes from the Greek word for a club (kordyle), referring to enlarged rhizomes[1].

Selected species
Cordyline australis (Cabbage Tree)
Cordyline banksii
Cordyline fruticosa
Cordyline terminalis ( Ti shrub, Syn. with C. fruticosa.) In Polynesia, used for wrapping food, and has been used for clothing, house thatching, and its sugary roots as an emergency food supply.

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Yucca

See: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yucca

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the genus comprising species of perennials, shrubs, and trees. For other uses, see Yucca (disambiguation).
Yucca

The yuccas comprise the genus Yucca of 40-50 species of perennials, shrubs, and trees in the agave family Agavaceae, notable for their rosettes of evergreen, tough, sword-shaped leaves and large terminal clusters of white or whitish flowers. They are native to the hot and dry (arid) parts of North America, Central America, South America, and the West Indies.

Yuccas have a very specialized pollination system, being pollinated by the yucca moth; the insect purposefully transfers the pollen from the stamens of one plant to the stigma of another, and at the same time lays an egg in the flower; the moth larva then feeds on some of the developing seeds, but far from all.

Yuccas are widely grown as ornamental plants in gardens. Many yuccas also bear edible parts, including fruits, seeds, flowers, flowering stems, and more rarely roots, but use of these is sufficiently limited that references to yucca as food more often than not stem from confusion with the similarly spelled but botanically unrelated yuca.

Dried yucca has the lowest ignition temperature of any wood, making it desirable for fire-starting.[citation needed]

The "yucca flower" is the state flower of New Mexico. No species name is given in the citation.

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AND that really is all

Nice to flip back to my former world i/c Plant Science at The Univ of Liverpool.

Dave - I did mention Manx!!!

[viscount]

The plant you illustrate is quite common in south Liverpool gardens. There are two next door as I type this, and another 5 or 6 in the near locality. If memory serves me correct they were a cheap major promotion/special offer by B&Q around 8-12 years ago. Again if memory serves me correctly they were sold as reaching a maximium of 5ft. One of those next door is now around 18ft. While frost damaged one of the plants when young, after a year dormant it put leaves back on and grew again!

[Beemer]

My neighbour has exactly the same plant, which he also does not know the name of, but he has had it for about seven or more years (a gift of the lady next door) and all of a sudden it is flowering this year for the first time just like bobbystreets'.Beemer.

[Beemer]

....where as I am more likely to get bloody coconuts growing on mine.

[bobbystreet57]

thanks very much everybody for your prompt replies, i thought they may not grow any bigger till i saw beemers pics.they have only had the flowering heads on them this year, i was wondering if this may well be an annual occurance now or a one off. they are also turning into berries now was wondering if these heads needed cutting off or just leave well alone for the birds to get a treat.
regards bob

[viscount]

The plants I observe did not flower for 5-6 years, since then have flowered annually. Each year they put another flower cluster - with about 6 each this year. The green berries/seeds turn a dull mix of green/pale red. About 18 months or so after flowering the flower stem falls off (although it seems to make no difference if removed in late summer, but the plant looks alot neater during the winter though).

Also the top of the tree has divided into short branches, each with its own dense leaf cluster. The plants I can see are taller, thicker and with a much denser leaf cluster than Beemer's - but they are planted directly into the ground without the restriction of a pot. They started of the size of the little one behind Beemer's big one (can I say that on this forum?).

[Deleted]

;D Nice one Beemer. Not too keen on those coconut thingy's but boobystreet57's cabbage looks nice. Don't think the neighbors would be too pleased when its fully grown though 45 - 50 feet ;D

[bobbystreet57]

thanks again for all the info, most informative once more . btw ste i am lucky and don,t have neighbours too close on that side ,but there again i didn,t expect them to grow this tall. i did have a red variety but i don,t think it relished our cold winters.
regards bob