Near the house, a previous owner has planted a row of native trees that are not necessarily native to our area, but which are both beautiful and bird attracting.  Today I am going to write about the second smallest of these trees, which I am pretty sure is a Paperbark, but I can’t identify exactly which species it is.

In Spring the flower buds give the tree a red tinge before the white flowers emerge in Summer.  The open flowers attract both honeyeaters for the nectar and insectivorous birds for the insects which feed on the nectar.  Now that it is Autumn, the Cockatoos and Corellas are eating the fruit – which look very hard and nutty.

I’ve put together a photo gallery to show some of these stages. The photographs were taken over the last five or six months, with the most recent ones being taken this morning.  To see the photos full size, click on the first photograph and scroll through them in the photograph viewer.

This row of natives has been planted by a previous owner.

I’m pretty sure this tree is a Paperbark.

The bark on the lower trunk of the tree is loose and peeling.

The leaves are ovate and quite thick and leathery.

Some of the branches droop toward the ground.

Buds and emerging flowers.

The red hairs on the buds give the tree a fuzzy red appearance in Spring.

Open flowers.

The flowers are clustered together on the ends of the branches

In Autumn, when flowering has long ago finished, the Cockatoos and Corellas like to eat the fruit.

A flower when it has just finished flowering.

Dead flower heads.

The fruit is inside the hard nut-like casing.

It is easy to see which ones the Cockatoos were eating, as the fruit has been removed..