Brachychiton sp. Ormeau facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Brachychiton sp. Ormeau |
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| Ormeau bottle tree, juvenile | |
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| Brachychiton sp. Ormeau |
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The Ormeau bottle tree (Brachychiton sp. Ormeau) is a very special and rare rainforest tree. It belongs to a group of trees called Brachychiton. You can only find this tree in Queensland, Australia. It is currently an endangered species, which means it is at high risk of disappearing forever.
Contents
What is the Ormeau Bottle Tree Like?
The Ormeau bottle tree is a type of Brachychiton tree. It can grow quite tall, reaching up to 25 metres (about 82 feet). That's as tall as a seven-story building!
How it Changes with Seasons
During the dry season, this tree drops its leaves. This is a special time for the tree to reproduce. After the dry season, new leaves grow back. They start as a pale or coppery colour.
Flowers and Fruits
The Ormeau bottle tree flowers in September. It produces many green to white bell-shaped flowers. These flowers appear at the ends of the branches. Each flower is about 10 millimetres wide.
The tree's fruits appear around January or February. These fruits are like pods, about 3 centimetres long. They are brown and shaped like a small boat.
Trunk and Leaves as it Grows
When the tree gets older, its trunk starts to look like a bottle. It becomes much wider at the bottom. Young trees have leaves with many deep lobes, like fingers. As the tree grows, its leaves change. They become glossy and more oval-shaped. These older leaves are usually 12 to 20 centimetres long.
Lifespan of the Tree
The Ormeau bottle tree can live for a very long time. Some trees can live for over 120 years! They become old enough to reproduce after about twenty years.
Where Do These Trees Live?
The Ormeau bottle trees live in a very small area. Their total range is only about 6.5 square kilometres. This is a tiny space, smaller than many towns. The actual area where they grow is less than one square kilometre.
How Many Are There?
There are not many of these trees left. The largest group of them has 131 plants. This group is found in a special conservation area. There are also two smaller groups with fewer than ten trees each. Other single trees are scattered around. In total, there are only about 161 Ormeau bottle trees known to exist.
Protecting the Ormeau Bottle Tree
Because there are so few Ormeau bottle trees, they need special protection.
Conservation Efforts
The biggest group of these trees lives in a place called the Wongawallan Conservation Area. This area is like a special park. It helps protect the trees from things that could harm them.
Some smaller groups of trees are outside this protected area. They are on land that might be used for quarries. Quarries are places where stone or sand is dug out of the ground.
Government Protection
The Australian government knows how important these trees are. They have named the Ormeau bottle tree as one of thirty plants that need the most help. The government wants to make sure these trees are better protected by the year 2020.
Main Dangers to the Trees
Several things threaten the Ormeau bottle tree:
- Habitat loss: Their homes are being destroyed.
- Fire: Bushfires can easily wipe out small groups of trees.
- Insects and weeds: Pests and unwanted plants can harm them.
- Low genetic diversity: Because there are so few trees, they don't have much variety in their genes. This makes them less able to fight off diseases or adapt to changes.
