Illawarra Flame Tree Nadiah Roslan

Illawarra Flame Tree

Did You Know?

  • It requires lots of water when young but can tolerate droughts once it is established
  • Indigenous Australians made twine from the bark fibre for fishing nets and lines, and roasted the seeds for eating (special care was taken when preparing the seeds because of the dangerous hairs inside the seed pod)
FactBox Image

Deciduous tree, up to 35 m high, but much smaller when grown in gardens and in cooler areas where it reaches a height of only about 10 m. It can take 5 – 8 years to flower if grown from a seed.

Leaves

Smooth, oval-shaped and can have three or five lobes (and sometimes more). Each leaf is 10 – 30 cm long. The tree loses some or all of its leaves at the end of winter, before flowering, and the leaves turn yellow just before falling.

Flowers

Bright coral-red and bell-shaped, they occur in clusters at the end of branches. They are 1 – 2 cm long and have a waxy surface. They appear after the tree has lost all or some of its leaves.

Fruits/Seeds

A dark-brown seed pod which is tough, leathery and about 10 cm long. It contains rows of corn-like seeds that are surrounded by hairs.

CAUTION: the hairs within the seed pod can irritate the skin and are easily inhaled, so it is not advisable to handle any open seed pods.

Field Guide

Improve your identification skills. Download your Illawarra Flame Tree Field Guide here!

Species: WhatToObserve Image

What to Observe

  • First fully open single flower

  • Full flowering (record all days)

  • End of flowering (when 95% of the flowers have faded)

  • Open seed pods  (record all days)

  • First fully open leaf

  • Leaves open (record all days)

  • First leaf to change colour

  • Leaves changing colour (record all days)

  • First leaf to drop this year

  • 50% or more of leaves dropped (record all days)

  • No leaves (record all days)

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When and Where

When To Look

  • Most of the year
  • Leaves appear in summer through autumn
  • Leaves fall at the end of winter through spring
  • Flowers appear in spring and summer
  • Seed pods appear after flowering

Where To Look

  • East coast from far north Queensland to the south coast of NSW
  • In subtropical rainforest along the coast to the inland mountain ranges, including urban areas
  • Look in parks, gardens and along streets
Species: WhatElse Image

What Else?

Similar Species

Poinciana (Delonix regia) has feathery and fern-like leaves, doesn’t have the bell-shaped flowers, and has larger seed pods (20 – 70 cm long).