Brachychiton acerifolius (note spelling) is one of the worlds
most spectacular flowering trees. It is commonly called the
Illawarra Flame Tree.
It is briefly semi-deciduous, mostly in spring, but also anytime
from late winter into early summer. It is never deciduous from
autumn or early winter. Sometimes it looses all its leaves in
spring, before a spectacular show of red bell shaped flowers on red
stems. The same tree can be semi-deciduous in one year and
deciduous in another, without any apparent change in climatic
conditions controlling this.
Flowering is usually in late spring under warm temperate
conditions, while in subtropical conditions flowering is more
variable from mid spring to early summer; again varying from year
to year on the same tree without any apparent reason. Flowering
often occurs while the tree has lost only part of its leaves.
Natural distribution is the Illawarra Region of coastal southern
New South Wales, under a warm temperate climate. It has been widely
planted in subtropical and cool temperate coastal climates, as well
as temperate and mediterranean inland-continental areas.
