Poison peach facts for kids
Trema tomentosum var. viride is a type of forest plant. People often call it the poison peach, native peach, or peach-leaved poison bush. Even though it has "poison" in its name, it's actually very helpful for the environment!
This plant grows in many places. You can find it in Australia, from Twofold Bay in New South Wales all the way up to northern Queensland. It also grows in New Guinea and Western New Guinea. Sadly, it used to grow near Mallacoota in Victoria, but now it's thought to be completely gone from that state.
Many people who work to restore rainforests really like the poison peach. It grows quickly, provides shade and shelter, and acts as a "nursery" plant for other young plants. Birds also love its fruit, which makes it a great plant for attracting wildlife. You often see it growing in rainforest areas that have been disturbed, like along forest roads or in open forest areas.
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What Does the Poison Peach Look Like?
The poison peach can be a shrub or a small tree. It can grow up to 8 meters (about 26 feet) tall. Its main stem can be as wide as 15 centimeters (about 6 inches).
The bark of the tree is smooth and grey. It has small dots called lenticels, which are like tiny pores that help the plant breathe. These dots are arranged in patterns, both up and down and side to side. The smaller branches are also grey or light brown and have these same lenticels.
Leaves of the Plant
The leaves grow one after another along the stem. They have finely toothed edges, like a tiny saw. Each leaf is usually 4 to 9 centimeters (about 1.5 to 3.5 inches) long. They are shaped like an oval with a long, pointed tip.
The stalk that holds the leaf is 6 to 12 millimeters (about 0.2 to 0.5 inches) long. The veins on the leaves are easy to see on both sides, especially on the underside. The side veins often appear in groups of three. The leaves can look a bit like the leaves of the Lantana camara plant, which is a common weed.
Flowers and Fruit
The poison peach has small, greenish flowers. They grow in short clusters called cymes. You can see these flowers all year round, but they are most common between December and March.
The fruit is a tiny, black, round fruit called a drupe. It's only 2 to 6 millimeters (less than a quarter of an inch) wide. Each fruit contains a single black seed. The fruit ripens between February and August. Many different birds enjoy eating these fruits. Some of these birds include the brown cuckoo-dove, Australasian figbird, Lewin's honeyeater, and olive-backed oriole.
How It Reproduces
It's not hard to grow new poison peach plants. You can grow them from fresh seeds or by taking cuttings from an existing plant.
See also
In Spanish: Trema tomentosa var. viridis para niños
