Western Myall, acacia papyrocarpa

[Paul B]

Has anyone had any experiences with Western Myall as a bonsai subject?
I have a buddy that will soon be removing a few trees on his property and it would be a shame to see them set alight.
My only experiences with this particular speceis is with wood turning, and from memory it was a very hard timber lol.
Cheers

[Greth]

Love this tree, studied it as part of Rangeland Ecology.
Most of the decent size ones are hundreds of years old. They are grazed by rabbits, up north there are hardly any new after rabbit invasion 100 years ago. The branches arch out, touch ground, then arch up again, each arch reckoned to be 100 years growth, and there are trees with 5 or more arches. Absolutely beautiful silvery foliage. I want one, and 500 years to grow it.
Could be good bonsai candidates, the leaves are biggish, but may reduce. Not too bad if they didnt.
It would be incredibly hard tinder, it will be very slow growth. Prob grow much faster with good nursery conditions tho. Dont let him burn it, offer it to nearest woodturners if you cant think of anything else. Its rare and special wood.
Tell your mate they are going to die out if rabbits and sheep arent stopped. If he can see his way to keeping them it would be good, and if they have seed send me some.

[Paul B]

Cheers Greth,
I will see what i can do and keep you posted

[Greth]

I believe there is a flush of new trees after the accidental release of calicivirus. They are such beautiful trees and so old and full of wisdom, we are fools if we let them die.

[GavinG]

Photos if you can? Us city-folks don't get to see the arid-zone trees as they grow...

Many thanks,

Gavin

[Greth]

these grow way out in the half-desert parts of SA. They arent tall, rarely more than 3 metres, Young trees just look bushy, then they grow in a mallee style, spread out and the branches arch again and again. The silvery leaves make them look so beautiful. Can't send a pic I already tried to find them and found nothing much on Google.The earlier name was Acacia sowdenii,

[Paul B]

I hope to be up there in a couple of weeks, I will take some pics and post them
Cheers

[GavinG]

Looking forward to seeing them.

Gavin

[Roger]

Hi 'b'man
A couple of members of the Australian Plants as Bonsai Study Group have reported using western myal as bonsai. The pot culture side seems to go fairly well. Major pruning and repotting has been reported in summer and early autumn with good results.

[Paul B]

Cheers Roger,
tis a shame he is wanting to build a dam, would rather try and save some than see them set alight.

[Paul B]

Well, I did get to my mates place and he has decided to keep the Western Myall trees and build his dam elsewhere.
As promised, I have taken some pics and they are as follows-

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I was able to collect plenty of seed and even managed to dig half a dozen 6" seedlings

[GavinG]

Thanks for posting. They aren't Nice Pretty Wattle Trees that's for sure, and the red dust says it all. Tough trees, just surviving. Good luck if you take them on - I've started a couple of mulgas (A. aneura) that look like they'll take a century to become interesting. Slow, tough and gnarly.

Gavin

[Greth]

The seeds of Western Myall are very popular with ants, who take them underground. Most of the new seedlings come from seed inside the ant nests after a (rare) soaking of rain.
But bunnies love acacia seedlings, so there were few new trees until the accidental release of calicivirus nearby. Most of the existing trees predated 1900. The beauties start out as these lovely silvery shrubs, they grow outward, touch the ground then start up again. Each arch takes about 100 years to grow, and I have seen trees with 7-8 arches. When the wind blows in their leaves, the silver shimmer is absolutely magical, against the red sand. A true representation of an ancient Western myall would look a bit like a splayed octopus, lol. Think they can grow fairly fast with water, obviously in this environment that is their limiting factor.

[Hornet]

Gorgeous, i'd be keen on a few seeds if possible