• Specie: Illawarra Flame tree (brachychiton acerifolius)
• Location: Hyde Park, Sydney, Australia

Just as I was enraptured by the purple haze of Sydney’s jacarandas, I was treated to an eyeful of red flowers on a lonely tree on a path in the city’s Hyde Park.

Hong Kong has lots of flame trees called delonix regia, but this was nothing like it. The flowers of the Illawarra Flame Tree (thanks to the Australian tree ID page from http://www.allcreativedesigns.com.au) are small and bell-shaped, unlike the delonix’s red petals. The leave of the tree were a bit of a mystery too as some there simple elongated while others were palmated with several finger-like parts.

The fruits are a bit strange too, looking. more like the pods of the cottonwood tree then actual fruits.

But it is easy to understand why it shares its namesake with the delonix. When in bloom, the flowers burst forth to cover much of the tree’s limbs, setting it ablaze in a sea of bright red flowers.

As you can probably tell from the name. The Illawarra Flame tree is native to Australia, so it is right at home. Illawarra is a region in New South Wales.

Categories:International, parks and gardens, Spring blooms, Street trees, urbantreesTags: Australia, Flame Tree, Hyde Park, Illawarra, Sydney