Family: FABACEAE
It takes a few years to see a reward, when we plant rainforest trees, but black beans are among the ones which put on a good show while still quite young. This lovely specimen in Highfields has been flowering for several years now. I don’t know it’s age, but it’s probably about 10 years old. The species is great value for a larger garden. It will grow quite fast to make a medium to large tree - about the size of the familiar camphor laurels, which are used as street trees in Toowoomba. It's dense, dark green canopy makes it a very good shade tree.
The flowers appear on old wood, inside the canopy.
Flowers at all stages of development are on the tree at the same time, and make a perfect illustration, if you happen to be wanting to teach children how flowers “turn into” seeds.
These little green pods will develop into large brown seedpods, whose huge seeds will germinate if left sitting on damp soil in a pot - another interesting thing for children to see. They can use the pods as boats, once the seeds have been taken out. The circular depressions left by the seeds make good “seats” for tiny toys.
The special shape of the flowers shows us that the plant wants to attract nectar-eating birds as pollinators. The jacaranda in the background (an introduced tree, native to Amazon rainforests) has very little appeal to wildlife. The black bean, however, is pulling its weight as an active contributor to a healthy suburban environment.
It is drought hardy in the Toowoomba area, and tolerates light frosts.
For more on this plant, see Nov 2009 (or use the “search” box, at top left).
I planted 10 of these as part of my dry rainforest garden on our property on the Toowoomba range. 7 died. 2 are hanging on, and one of them is absolutely thriving. It has actually grown over a metre since August.
ReplyDeleteHi Damien.
ReplyDeleteNice to hear from you. What a pity your trees died. It was the drought, I suppose?
Never mind, they are easy to replace, if you know somewhere to find seed. Water crystals might be a help, if you are doing it again. They do help keep roots damp while little trees grow past that vulnerable stage.
I suppose you have noticed the black bean trees in Ravensbourne National Park? There is a story that it was logged with bulldozers in the 1930s, and the large number of black bean trees in the rainforest section shows how this pioneer species can fill in an area of damaged forest relatively quickly,and help it recover.
Trish