Brachychiton collinus

Brachychiton collinus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Rosids
Order: Malvales
Family: Malvaceae[lower-alpha 1]
Genus: Brachychiton
Species: B. collinus
Binomial name
Brachychiton collinus
G. P. Guymer

Brachychiton collinus, or outcrop kurrajong, is a small deciduous tree found growing in some of the harshest climatic conditions in Australia.[2] This small tree is commonly found between Cloncurry and Mount Isa in North-West Queensland, Australia. The North-West savannah zone of Queensland is characterised by very high summer temperatures of up to 50 degrees Celsius and an unpredictable monsoonal rainfall that may deliver the whole annual rainfall of some 50 cm overnight. This tree most often grows on rocky outcrops where little other scrub, grasses or other understory plants can survive. It is probable that this preference for bare rocky outcrops is a function of the tree's sensitivity to fire. Most brachychiton species do not survive a strong grass or brush fire.

Notes

  1. The genus Brachychiton was traditionally placed in the family Sterculiaceae, but that family, along with Bombacaceae and Tiliaceae, has been found to be polyphyletic and is now sunk into a more broadly-defined Malvaceae[1]

References

  1. Stevens, Peter F. (29 January 2015). "Angiosperm Phylogeny Website". Retrieved 6 February 2015.
  2. "Brachychiton collinus, ZipcodeZoo". Archived from the original on 2012-08-14.

See also

Brachychiton

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.