The Illyarrie or Red-capped Flowering Gum is one of the prettiest of the flowering trees and is highly worthy of a mention in this blog. This Eucalyptus erythrocorys which is a native of Western Australia is currently in flower, the bright red-capped buds and brilliant yellow blossoms are spectacular, as shown in these photos.
 |
| Illyarrie (Eucalyptus erythrocorys) |
The tree is of medium height (3 - 8 metres) with generally smooth cream bark, and grows on sandy soil with limestone ridges or outcrops. The foliage is dark green with typical eucalyptus shaped leaves.
 |
| General view of Illyarrie Tree (sorry I am unable to rotate it) |
The flowers are preceded by large squarish red-capped buds. These caps fall off as the yellow flower emerges.
(Please keep scrolling down after photos because I am unable to remove the blank spaces).
 |
| Red-capped buds of llyarrie (Eucalyptus erythrocorys) |
 |
| Red-capped buds of llyarrie (Eucalyptus erythrocorys) |
The flowers are usually in groups of three and each may be 7 cm in diameter with four tufts of golden stamens at the corners. Bees are attracted to these flowers.
 |
| Flowers and Buds of llyarrie (Eucalyptus erythrocorys) |
 |
| Bees love flowers of llyarrie (Eucalyptus erythrocorys) |
After the flowers, come the fruit -- these are very large woody seed capsules and are so heavy that the tree is often boughed down with weight and prone to breakage in windy conditions.
 |
| Large woody Fruits of llyarrie (Eucalyptus erythrocorys) |
Propagation of this stunning tree is from the seed which germinates readily.
 |
| Flowers and Buds of Illyarrie (Eucalyptus erythrocorys) |
No comments:
Post a Comment