PlantFiles: Bottle Tree, Bottletree, Black Kurrajong, Kurrajong, Northern Kurrajong, White-flower Kurrajong
Brachychiton populneus

I love trees of almost all kinds! I've been introduced to this particular tree when I was living in Arizona. They sure are a mess during summer, because they renew their leaves and they are hard to take out from the rocks (most of the gardens in Arizona use rocks instead of grass).
Anyway! I've always wondered if we had this tree in Argentina. When I came back I've noticed somebody brought it to my country long time ago and it grows particularly in parks. We have old and huge specimen.
I've grown quite a few already and used them for urban landscaping! Since I don't have a big house (i.e. no big garden neither) I plant my trees on the streets.
Well, my experience it's very positive since it gets very well adapted and also it is a fast growing tree.
Now I'm exercising with B. acerifolius and B. discholor!

I think Fullerton CA is right about overwatering killing off the trees. I plant them quite often here in Morocco, and find that there are often one or two that don't do well - for no apparent reason until you open the planting hole and discover that there is clay at the bottom which is retaining water.
Otherwise, it is a great tree for street planting, and larger gardens. It tends to be pyramidal and compact when young giving an effect very quickly in a new garden.

This tree grows extremely well in the Canary Islands. It may not be popular (yet) but I was pleasantly surprised to see them growing and flowering in the City of Puerto del Rosario on the island of Fuerteventura. They also grow the "acerifolius" species in the same road.

I have, in fact, started to grow my own trees from seeds I collected when I was last in Puerto del Rosario. So, in five to ten years, watch this space!

Bottle trees were newly planted along my street, when I lived in Placentia, CA in 1996. Some of the brachychitons grew into attractive trees within four years. But, several always struggled... some even died. I suspect that the trees with lawn around them probably received too much water. From what I understand, this tree is actually a succulent and can rot if overwatered.

The trees that did thrive always looked nice. Just a slight breeze made the leaves rustle and flitter, like a quaking aspen. Heat didn't seem to bother these trees -- even our hot Santa Ana winds. My landscaper told me bottle trees are especially popular in new developments because they rapidly attain as established appearance, without overly agressive root systems.

This is probably the most commonly grown Brachychiton in Southern California and is frequently used as a landscaping tree for city plantings, along with other common trees such as liquid ambar, sycamore and pines. It develops a bit of a 'bottle-like' trunk- very stout and tapering quickly towards the stop. Like all the Brachychitons, the hairs in the seed pods are sharp and act like miniature cactus spines- use gloves if digging them out to sew, or you'll be sorry.

This tree is found in dry forests in South-Eastern Australia. It is a lovely fresh green at all times, which is quite a contrast with most Australian trees and shrubs. Its leaves are used as fodder in times of drought. It was an important tree to the local Ganai people in this area. The large fruit capsules turn black and become hard and leathery. They split along one side to reveal numerous seeds (encased in dense prickly fibres). The clean seeds were eaten raw or roasted. Young plants have yam-like tuberous roots, which were also eaten. Kurrajong were known as good water trees that can have large quantities of water trapped in their roots. The bark fibres were used for making nets, ropes and headbands.