AusBonsai

Yesterday I was in st david st fitzroy and saw some trident street trees with very flaked bark more what you would expect from a melaleuca . The trees looked to be maybe 8-10 yrs old about 2.5-3m high. They are covered in seed and I collected some but its not quite ripe yet. If any melbournians are in the area they could be worth propagating from.
Craig

Hi Craig
Just walked home fro the shops and saw 2 in someones from yard
the bark all flaking off like a euc but definitely a trident. The weirdest looking thing too
I noticed thousands of seeds starting to ripen

Ken

They have corky bark tridents in Japan! How cool would it be to get one of them here?

Joel

I have occasionally seen these too. The best one was in Don DeLuca's front yard.
Hope they will come true from seed, if not some cuttings would be the next step. It would be good to have some more different varieties to choose from.

Has anyone else noticed other trident variations in Aus?
Occasionally I get a few seedlings that show strong vertical growth - very difficult to get them to branch so most are culled as no good for bonsai.
Some years ago I grew some that produced really flared buttresses naturally but they have very poor ramification so they produce great trunks but poor branch structure. These do not have the red leaves on new growth that the standard tridents have, new shoots are totally green.

I suspect a large percentage of them will cone true from seed. I am not in the city too often so may miss out.
Shibul.
I think I have one of the ones that flares at the base the leaf is larger and a true green with out that red tinge to it. This form is sometimes seen amongst the very old tridents in Japan.
Craig

Might go fora wander tomorrowo and grab some seeds and photos of the bark if I can

Ken

Hi Craig, I think I know the street trees you are describing. Do they have dark green glossy leaves on long thin petioles, the three lobes are pointed at the apex, leaves are shorter and wider than we commonly see on tridents with the middle lobe less prominent in length? If so, I remeber that one of my old my old horticulture lecturers who lived in Rae St Nth Fitzroy, he grew quite a few of these from cuttings, their autumn colour was chrome orange to scarlet, occasionally deeper and from memory they back budded furiously on old wood. Sounds nice.

Cheers
Mojo Moyogi

Hi Mojo,
To tell the truth I didn't pay much attention to the foliage except to establish that they were tridents.
Craig

I went for a walk today and got some photos of the one down the road from home this arvo

I took some Seeds and a cutting or 2 of it to see if it will strike. A bit late but who knows.
I collected heaps of seeds so will stratify them in fridge later in the winter and plant them in late winter / spring

Ken

I agree Ken, the 'butterflies' are definitely more rounded than any trident that I have grown from seed!

Interesting...

Hi Ken,
These trees have the exact same bark as the ones I saw and judging by the trunk thickness seem to be the same age. I wonder were they came from ?
Craig

craigw60 wrote:Hi Ken,
These trees have the exact same bark as the ones I saw and judging by the trunk thickness seem to be the same age. I wonder were they came from ?
Craig

I have never seen them either before, but hope to have some next summer to grow an dplay with

Anyone know more about them?
Ken

hi Ken, My guess would be that a major nursery like flemmings for example got hodl of a batch of seed raised them and then shipped them to councils all over the country. The seed on the ones you found looks ripe the ones I found the seed was still green. Hope you have some success raising them.
Craig

I asked Ray and Clinton last nigh about them
And Ray reckons that it is quite normal for all older tridents to do this with the flaking Bark.
To be honest I have never seen it before but really have never noticed any mature trident around home either

Anyone else seen any mature tridents and know?
Although I do think the seeds are slightly different shape than the "normal" trees

Ken