Mountain Orange Gum

Description:

You'd be hard-pressed to find a tougher (individual) tree on the planet, or one with more character! This is a Mountain Orange Gum, and it's an Australian native. The species range is from the Northern Tablelands of NSW to the Granite Belt of southwest Queensland. This tree lives in harsh conditions, and it looks like it was growing on top of a boulder, hence the bulbous trunk base. It has also been burnt by bushfires to the point where most of the trunk has been hollowed out, and most of the tree looks dead, although its leaves are healthy, and its canopy lush. Droughts, snow, floods, etc. - this tree has seen it all. A second specimen nearby also caught my eye (photos 5&6), and it also appears to be growing out of the rock itself. Note the hollows left behind from fallen limbs. This type of hollow is usually inhabited by various bird and possum species, hence is vital to the bushland animal community.

Habitat:

Spotted growing on granite boulders on the Junction Track, which runs along Bald Rock Creek in Girraween National Park. Thin sandy granite soils, and accumulated leaf litter. Area mostly dry sclerophyll woodland, and extreme variations in temperature - freezing cold (sometimes snow) in winter, and intense heat in summer. Entire area subjected to recent bushfires.

Notes:

This link was a goldmine for me. There are 25 species of eucalypt in Girraween, but it shows the soils that the trees usually grown in. Eucalyptus prava grows on thin granite soils, and with my spotting, both trees appeared to be growing on solid rock. The soil doesn't get any thinner than that! http://www.graniteborderslandcare.com.au... The primary reference link also give a detailed description of the species.