Tree of the Week: Flame Tree -- Brachychiton acerifolius

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The Flame Tree is spectacular in its midsummer bloom when a cloud of bright red flowers hangs over the leafless branches.

That is, in the years that everything goes right, when all branches bloom at the same time and have also lost their leaves.

Of the Kurrajongs, Australia’s term for its Brachychiton trees, the deciduous ones are sometimes a little undecided as to when to go leafless and how much to bloom. The (Illawara) Flame Tree, a member of the Sterculia family that is also known as Sterculia acerifolia, is native to escarpments of the Australian East Coast rain forest. In the Southland, it manages to get by with little to moderate water. The tree has a rather relaxed attitude about the shape of its leaves, which may resemble maple leaves (acerifolius), and have multiple lobes, or no lobes at all. All Kurrajongs display equal ease about hybridizing with each other. The tree may take seven to 10 years to bloom, though grafted varieties bloom a lot quicker. It is medium frost tender (CA zones 15-24).

Brachychitons tend to form strong central leaders, but occasionally a competing second trunk appears that should be pruned. The Flame Tree is briefly deciduous in summer and grows at a moderate rate to a pyramidal 60 feet tall by 30 feet wide. Green to gray smooth bark clothes the sturdy trunk. Bright shiny green leaves, up to 12’ long and 10’ wide, densely cover the tree, and the bloom is best after a dry winter. Clusters of small ¾-inch tubular red or orange flowers appear in late spring or summer, when the tree is usually leafless. After flowering, dry, woody, 4’-long brown or black canoe shape fruits develop that contain seeds and are covered with small bristles (brachy-chiton means short tunic). The tree loves full sun, will take a variety of soils, lawn watering and dry sites and is bothered by few pests or diseases.

The following holds true for all trees: a strong central leader may become a liability when the tree is planted close to power lines (as in the photograph above) and the power company wants to maintain separation. In that case, the branches on the side of and close to the power lines may be removed, or, if the trunk is directly underneath the lines, the main stem can be cut at a lateral, so that side branches will grow and form a tunnel around the lines. A tunneled tree may look better than an unbalanced one-sided one.

--Pieter Severynen

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