Tree of Merit: Ivory Curl (Buckinghamia celsissima)
One of Brisbane, Australia's top-f ive most commonly
planted street trees, ivor y curl (Buckinghamia cel-
sissima), is a small- to medium-sized tree per fect for
planting under power lines or in conf ined growing
spaces. It has a densely rounded crown with ver y small
wooden capsules as seed pods. In its native environ-
ment (the rainforests of nor thern Queensland), the
tree can grow up to 25m (82 feet) but within urban
areas it is not known to grow over 8m (26 feet).
Ivor y curl is related to the Queensland nut (Macadamia
integrifolia), detectable in the similarit y of the f lowers.
The extremely show y creamy white tubular f lowers in ter-
minal racemes are a prized feature of ivor y curl, as they
densely cover the crown in summer for a minimum of four
weeks and are 10 -20 cm (4-8 inches) in leng th. They are
at tractive to bees and but ter f lies. If planted in an ave-
nue, the trees give a stunning ef fect when in f lower.
Ivor y curl is initially a slow grower but makes up for
it beginning 5-7 years af ter planting. The tree is low
maintenance and rarely requires pruning except of
minor deadwood for public safet y. It can withstand
compacted and low-nutrient soils; however, in the long
term this will reduce the size that the tree will grow,
resulting in a smaller tree which does however work
well for high-densit y urban areas under power lines.
All of these at tributes make this tree an all-
around winner for cities in tropical and sub-
tropical climates around the world.
by Sitara Gare, Arboriculture Coordinator,
Brisbane City Council, Australia
Sitara Gare is an
Arboriculture Coordinator
for Brisbane City Council,
Australia's largest munici-
pal council. Her arboricul-
ture passions lie in educat-
ing the public about all the
benefits of trees.
www.urban-forestry.com 39
Older specimen in a residential yard. Photos on this
page by Simon Schubert of mywalkaboutplants.com.
Foliage closeup.
Foliage and flowers.
