Malvaceae (Bombacaceae), Brachychiton populneus – Athens, Greece
May 21, 2012
Here are some photos of Brachychiton populneus, a tree from the Malvaceae family I’m very fond, related to Baobab, Durian, Hibiscus, and Cotton, among others. B. populneus populates the streets of Athens along with B. acerfolia. They are both very drought tolerant and resistant to pollution (I believe they’re both native to Australia.)
Here is a previous post with photos of the leaf and flower.
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Another thing about brachychitons are that some of them are very adaptable at cross pollination. Variations of crosses can be quite interesting. They are also able to be grown in some quite low temperatures. We have two trees in our Tasmanian garden. Admittedly they are not all that healthy but after 20 years of abject neglect I wouldn’t be either! We are growing lots of Populnea that we grew from seed collected in a local park. Very easy to germinate and grow on and proving to be very resilient. We have been experimenting with outdoor specimens vs glasshouse specimens and although the outside specimens are smaller, they are sturdier. Nothing seems to want to eat them and so we are thinking about using them in our edible food garden. Most Brachychitons have edible seeds.
Ah, interesting. I wasn’t aware that the seeds are edible, but not surprised that they are. They look like dried kernels of corn. I’m growing seed from the Athens street trees in california, Mexico and Vietnam now.
The Aboriginals ground them and used them in making a sort of flatbread apparently. They were very easy to grow (Brachychiton populneus) from seed collected in the park so I dare say they should grow well for you. Good luck