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Brachychiton populneus

Common name:	Kurrajong	Family:	Sterculiaceae
Author:	(Schott.&Endl.)R.Br.	Botanical references:	154, 200
Synonyms:	Brachychiton diversifolium
Known Hazards:	None known
Range:	Australia - New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, Victoria
Habitat:	Coastal and sub-coastal areas on a variety of soils but favouring limestone[144, 167].
Edibility Rating (1-5):	2	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	0

Other Possible Synonyms:	From various places across the web, may not be correct. See below.
	B. diversifolius[G] B. populneum[B,P] Poecilodermis populnea[G] Sterculia diversifolia[G]
Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	Brachychiton [P], White-flower Kurrajong [B],
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Malvales. Cacao family

Physical Characteristics

An evergreen tree growing to 18m by 18m . It is hardy to zone 10. It is in leaf all year, in flower from May to July. The flowers are monoecious (individual flowers are either male or female, but both sexes can be found on the same plant). We rate it 2/5 for edibility and 0/5 for medicinal use.

The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils and requires well-drained soil. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It cannot grow in the shade. It requires dry or moist soil.

Habitats and Possible Locations

Woodland, Secondary, Sunny Edge, Dappled Shade.

Edible Uses

Coffee; Root; Seed.

Seed - raw or roasted[144, 154, 183]. A popular Aboriginal food, they are also acceptable to western palates, especially when roasted[193]. Very nutritious, containing about 18% protein, 25% fat plus high levels of zinc and magnesium[193].
The roasted seed is used as a coffee substitute[144, 183].
Root - yam-like[144, 154]. A popular food item with the Australian Aborigines[183]. The root of very young trees is used[193].

Composition

Seed (Fresh weight): In grammes per 100g weight of food:
Protein: 18 Fat: 25

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

None known

Other Uses

Fibre.

A fibre is obtained from the inner bark - it is used for making cordage, nets and dilly bags[156, 167, 193].

Cultivation details

Prefers a well-drained moderately fertile soil in a sunny position[200]. Succeeds in most soils, tolerating dry soils in Australian gardens[157, 167]. Plants dislike wet soils, especially in the winter[K].
Requires a minimum temperature of 7 - 10°c[188, 200]. Plants are hardy to at least -7°c in Australian gardens[157], though this cannot be translated directly to British gardens due to our cooler summers and longer, colder and wetter winters. This plant is very doubtfully hardy outdoors in Britain, though plants in an unheated greenhouse survived a prolonged cold period in 1996 - 97 when temperatures sometimes went down to -8°c[K].

Propagation

Seed - we have no details for this species but suggest sowing the seed in spring in a greenhouse. When they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and grow them on in the greenhouse for at least their first winter. Plant them out into their permanent positions in late spring or early summer, after the last expected frosts.
Cuttings of mature wood of the current season's growth.

Suppliers

For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.

Web References

[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database

References for Brachychiton diversifolius (a possible synonym).

[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.

References for Brachychiton populneum (a possible synonym).

[B] Data (Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.

References for the family Sterculiaceae.

[CHINA] Draft Data Very detailed botanical/identification info. from the Flora of China.

See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.

Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.

References

[K] Ken Fern
Notes from observations, tasting etc at Plants For A Future and on field trips.

[144] Cribb. A. B. and J. W. Wild Food in Australia. Fontana 1976 ISBN 0-00-634436-4
A very good pocket guide.

[154] Ewart. A. J. Flora of Victoria.
A flora of eastern Australia, it is rather short on information that is useful to the plant project.

[156] Cribb. A. B. and J. W. Useful Wild Plants in Australia. William Collins Pty Ltd. Sidney 1981 ISBN 0-00-216441-8
A very readable book.

[157] Wrigley. J. W. and Fagg. M. Australian Native Plants. Collins. (Australia) 1988 ISBN 0-7322-0021-0
A lovely book, written in order to encourage Australian gardeners to grow their native plants. A little bit of information for the plant project.

[167] Holliday. I. and Hill. R. A Field Guide to Australian Trees. Frederick Muller Ltd. 1974 ISBN 0-85179-627-3
A well illustrated and very readable book, but it does not contain much information for the plant project.

[183] Facciola. S. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications 1990 ISBN 0-9628087-0-9
Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.

[188] Brickell. C. The RHS Gardener's Encyclopedia of Plants and Flowers Dorling Kindersley Publishers Ltd. 1990 ISBN 0-86318-386-7
Excellent range of photographs, some cultivation details but very little information on plant uses.

[193] Low. T. Wild Food Plants of Australia. Angus and Robertson. 1989 ISBN 0-207-14383-8
Well presented, clear information and good photographs. An interesting read for the casual reader as well as the enthusiast

[200] Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. MacMillan Press 1992 ISBN 0-333-47494-5
Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.

Readers Comments

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Plant information taken from the Plants For A Future - Species Database. Copyright (c) 1997-2003.
WEB search engine by Rich Morris - Home Page- Contact Info
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We make no claims of magical effects or supernatural powers for any item in this catalog. In spite of legendary attributes or occult and craft tradition, such items are offered as curios only and beliefs concerning their magical effectiveness are related only for historical interest.