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Malvaceae
Queensland Bottle Tree Flower
Brachychiton rupestris
Endurance through drought and hidden reserves.
- Family
- Malvaceae
- Genus
- Brachychiton
- Native to
- Queensland, Australia
- Bloom season
- Spring, Early Summer
- Type
- deciduous tree
- Height
- 10–20 m
- Sunlight
- full sun
- Soil
- well-drained, sandy to loamy
- Water
- low; highly drought-tolerant
- Hardiness
- 9–12
- Lifespan
- 150+ years
Did you know
- The swollen trunk stores water, allowing the tree to survive severe Australian droughts for years.
- A mature bottle tree trunk can hold hundreds of liters of water, which settlers once tapped in emergencies.
- The bell-shaped flowers are hidden among foliage and often go unnoticed despite their delicate beauty.
- Aboriginal Australians ate the seeds, root, and inner bark, and tapped the trunk for emergency water.
- Bottle trees can live over 150 years and are increasingly popular as sculptural street trees worldwide.
Color meanings
Cream
stored wisdom and resilience