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Project Noah Nature School
Angophora floribunda (syn. A. intermedia)
Angophora floribunda, commonly known as the "rough-barked apple", is a common woodland and forest tree of the family Myrtaceae, and is native to Eastern Australia. Other common names include apple box, rusty gum, gum myrtle, and boondah. Reaching 30 m (100 ft) high, it is a large tree with fibrous bark and cream-white flowers that appear over the Austral summer..... The rough-barked apple regenerates by regrowing from epicormic buds after bushfire. Trees live for more than a hundred years. (Wikipedia). The largest tree I saw at this location (1st photo) would easily have been 30+ metres tall, and was definitely a forest veteran. This species is also an important "food" tree for many native animals. See ecology section at wiki reference. A previous spotting with interesting notes - https://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/16...
Spotted on the banks and river margins of the Severn River, Ballandean SEQ. Drought conditions persist, and since this spotting two years ago, the river level has dropped dramatically. Angophora floribunda grows on alluvial soils on floodplains and along watercourses, but sadly, much of the land it grew on has been cleared for agriculture.
I didn't post this spotting immediately because I didn't really know what species it was, but then I stumbled across this post on the "Land for Wildlife South East Queensland" Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/lfwseq/photos/a... Once I saw their spotting, I thought I knew the identity of mine, that being Eucalyptus robusta, aka "swamp mahogany". However, it wasn't to be the case because I discovered later that this is a coastal species and doesn't occur in this region. Up to this point I thought I had the correct ID. PS: Land for Wildlife is a program that encourages landholders to learn about, enjoy and protect the amazing wildlife of South East Queensland. https://www.lfwseq.org.au/
Spotted on Jul 23, 2017
Submitted on Sep 20, 2019
6 Comments
Trying to ID the trees was definitely an afterthought. I was too busy pursuing freshwater clams and water rats at the time, at the expense of getting more detailed photos of the trees.
Wrong side of the globe for me to be much help. I pulled up some links, but can't get enough detail from the pictures to help. Happy hunting :-)
Thanks, Tukup. There were several of them, and the river is only metres away - it was a lovely scene and the area cool. I'm having to rethink my ID though :-/
Beautiful series Neil, but then I am partial to swamps :-) Sounds like a really neat tree. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks, Brian. It's a lovely stand of trees, and the first time I saw them they kind of freaked me out. It was windy and raining, and it was getting dark. The gnarly canopy was in full-motion, and the wind gusts made the forest canopy howl. Then some creepy birds started squawking and I remember thinking "Oh that does it. I'm going home!" In daylight, the trees looked gorgeous and with so much character.
Awesome spotting Neil and interesting notes! Beautiful tree! The small limbs have a lot of character to them.