Kurrajong trees - Brachychiton genus

This post is a response to a reader comment left by sfk.hooper who made the observation that none of my blog posts about Brachychiton trees had pictures of the whole specimens. I went back and double checked and discovered that he/she was quite right for every one except the B. acerifolius tree for which I did have a picture of the complete tree in bloom. At any rate here are some pictures of six different types of Brachychiton trees showing the whole specimen.
The first image (above) is of three Brachychiton discolor which goes by common names Lacebark tree, Bottle tree, or Bush Kurrajong (I have found that there is quite a bit of confusion on the web when it comes to the common names of trees in the Brachychiton genus.
The second image (above) is of a mature B. populneus tree that is often called the Kurrajong (in my post on this tree I called it the Lacebark Kurrajong but I stand to be corrected if this is not the proper name).
The third image (above) is of the B. discolor which goes by the names Bush Kurrajong or Scrub bottletree.
The next tree (above) is the Brachychiton discolor x acerifolius which is a hybrid that is called "Clarabelle"
The next tree (above) is a B. bidwillii that is called the Little Kurrajong.

The last tree is the B. acerifolius, also known as the "flametree". Follow the link to find out why it is called the Flametree.

Lacebark Kurrajong - Brachychiton populneus

The Lacebark Kurrajong, also called the "bottle tree" is a member of the Brachychiton genus of trees and native to Australia. It is a fast growing tree whose trunk tends to bulge a bit, although much less than some of the other "bottle trees" such as the Brachychiton rupestris. The new bark of the Lacebark Kurrajong is green in color and has photosynthesis capability. The bark turns light brown as it ages. As the trunk stretches however new bark is exposed in the stretch marks of the old which creates the "lacebark" pattern.
Like other Kurrajongs this tree species has a great deal variation in its leaf shapes. Leaf shapes vary from simple to multiple lobes. Three lobes are very common and I have seen some with five. It is also very common to see leaves that are asymmetrical with a lobe on one side missing or underdeveloped.
The seed pods grow in clusters of 4-5 pods is a sort of star pattern. Each individual pods has a sort of boat shape the eventually opens up revealing the corn kernel shaped seeds.
The seed pods also have an interesting ornamental value if you are into doing crafts.
The seeds are reputed to be edible although extracting them can be tricky. The inside of the seed pod is lined with very fine hairs that will stick in your skin if handled with bare hands.
more from this genus...
Brachychiton discolor
Brachychiton bidwillii
Brachychiton acerifolius

for an interesting tree that is similar to this tree check out the Chinese Parasol tree

Little Kurrajong - Brachychiton bidwillii

Of all of the Kurrajong trees (Brachychiton genus) that are cultivated in Spain this is the one that I have seen the least. The images in this post are from a few trees that I found at the "Molino de Inca" botanical park in Torremolinos, Spain.

The flowers of the Little Kurrajong are similar to those of the "Lacebark Kurrajong" (also called the Pink Flame Tree). This tree had no leaves on it when I took these pictures which leads me to think that they drop their leaves when in flower much like the Illawara Flame tree (B. acerifolius).

The flowers grew in tight little clusters alone the branches with the biggest clusters occuring at the ends of the branches. One little curiosity was the flowers that were growing right out of the trunk at the base of the tree (below).

All of the trees that I saw had a significant bulge at the base right close to the ground (above).

In the image below you can see the seed pod of the Little Kurrajong which is very similar to the rest of the Kurrajong species. The one in this picture has dropped all of the seeds that it contained.