What Is It

What is it? 

• It is an evergreen shrub or small tree.
• Size: up to 10 m high and 6 m wide, but much smaller when grown in gardens where it reaches a height of only 2 – 5 m.
• Leaves: glossy green and made up of three leaflets which are 3 – 8 cm long and 0.5 – 3 cm wide when mature. They are thin, with serrated edges, and are a golden orange-red colour when young.
• Flowers: initially creamy white and star-shaped, forming clusters that are 10 cm long. Each flower has five petals that are about 3 mm long. After pollination the white petals fall off, leaving the outer sepals which enlarge to about 12 mm long and turn deep pink to orange-red. These “flowers” consist of five sepals and are also star-shaped. They are commonly mistaken for flowers, but the real flowers are the less noticeable white ones.
• Fruit/seed: a seed pod containing a single seed is found inside the red sepal “flower”. It falls to the ground when ripe.

What to observe?

• We expect plants to start shooting and flowering earlier in the year as a result of climate change warming the Earth. They may also start appearing in new areas, as warmer temperatures enable them to live in environments that were previously too cold for them.

Help scientists answer the question: "How are our animals, plants and ecosystems responding to climate change?" by making the following simple observations.

When

When to look

• From late spring through summer
• Flowers appear in late spring to summer
• Sepal "flowers" turn red in early–mid summer (from December)
• Seed pods (within the red sepal "flowers") appear after flowering in summer

Note: flowers and seed pods appear later in cooler regions

Observations to record

• First red sepal "flower"
• All days with sepal "flowers"
• First seed pod to fall to the ground

Please include the date of your observation, the location, and the environment you were in.

Where

Where to look

• Look in urban areas, particularly in gardens and parks.

Note: ClimateWatch is looking for any changes in the timing of these events so remember to keep a lookout from October!

Where is it found?

• In moist gullies and on slopes in open forests, in rainforests, on old sand dunes and in urban areas, particularly in gardens.
• It is naturally found on the east coast of New South Wales, from Ulladulla to Evans Head. However, it has been widely planted in south-east Queensland and coastal Victoria.

Note: ClimateWatch is looking for any changes outside of their known ranges so remember to keep a lookout beyond these regions!

Sightings

References

Want to know more?

• Australian Biological Resources Study 1982. Flora of Australia Volume 10. CSIRO Publishing / Australian Biological Resources Study.
• Fairley A and Moore P 2000. Native plants of the Sydney district: an identification guide. Kangaroo Press, Sydney.
• Robinson L 2003. Field guide to the native plants of Sydney. Kangaroo Press, Sydney.

References

• Botanic Gardens Trust, PlantNET: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Ceratopetalum~gummiferum
• Australian National Botanic Gardens: http://www.anbg.gov.au/gnp/gnp3/ceratopetalum-gummiferum.html
• Association of Societies for Growing Australian Plants: http://asgap.org.au/APOL2007/feb07-s1.html  and http://asgap.org.au/APOL20/dec00-1.html  and http://asgap.org.au/c-gumm.html
• Newcastle City Council: http://www.newcastle.nsw.gov.au/my_property/trees/what_trees_to_plant/nsw_christmas_bush
• Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation: http://www.rirdc.gov.au/pub/handbook/nswchris.pdf
• Walther G, Post E, Convey P, Menzel A, Parmesan C, Beebee TJC, Fromentin J, Hoegh-Guldberg O, and Bairlein F 2002. Ecological responses to recent climate change. Nature 416: 389–395.