New South Wales Christmas bush facts for kids
Quick facts for kids New South Wales Christmas bush |
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| Painting of Christmas bush by Edward Minchen | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Ceratopetalum
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| Species: |
gummiferum
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The New South Wales Christmas bush (scientific name: Ceratopetalum gummiferum) is a beautiful plant. It can be a tall bush or a small tree. People love to grow it, especially because of its bright red-pink parts. These parts are not the petals, but the sepals. They turn a lovely color around Christmas time in Australia. The actual petals are small and white. The name gummiferum means "gum-bearing." This is because the plant releases a lot of gum if its bark is cut.
What Does It Look Like?
When they are young, Christmas bush plants look like round bushes. As they grow older, they become more like pyramid-shaped trees. Their leaves are made up of three smaller leaf parts, called leaflets. Each leaflet can be up to 8 cm long. The stalks that hold the leaves, called petioles, have grooves on top. These stalks are usually between 10 and 20 mm long.
Small, white flowers with five petals grow in clusters. These flowers usually appear in October in the areas where the plant naturally lives. After the flowers fade, the sepals start to grow bigger. They also change color, turning from pink to bright red. This colorful display is at its best around Christmas time in Australia.
Plant Family and Name
The New South Wales Christmas bush is one of nine different types of plants in the Ceratopetalum group. These plants are found in Australia and Papua New Guinea. The first time this plant was officially described was in 1793. An English botanist named James Edward Smith wrote about it. He included it in his book called A Specimen of the Botany of New Holland.
Where Does It Grow?
This plant is endemic to New South Wales in Australia. This means it only grows naturally in this area. You can find it to the east of the Great Dividing Range. Its natural home stretches from Ulladulla in the south to Evans Head in the north.
How to Grow It
When people grow Christmas bush, it usually doesn't get taller than 6 meters. You can start new plants in two ways. You can use seeds, or you can use cuttings from an existing plant. Using cuttings is often better. This helps make sure the new plant will have the same beautiful red color as the parent plant.
The Christmas bush needs soil that drains water well. This is very important. If the soil stays too wet, the plant can get a disease called root-rot fungus. This fungus can cause parts of the plant to die.
