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The spectacular vivid yellow-orange colour of the flowering Nuytsia floribunda found growing in Western Australia, is a sight to behold. The intense colour of the flowers during Australia’s summer, coincides with Christmas season, hence it’s common name of Christmas Tree or the Western Australian Christmas Tree.
Other common names it was known by are West Australian Flame-tree or Fire-tree (Fire Tree), and the Mistletoe Tree. It is also known as moodjaar in Wudjari, munji, moojerool, munjah and mutyal in Noongar / Nyungar and languages.
The “fire tree” has a spiritual significance to the local Aboriginal people on the WA south coast, who say the early flowering of the tree is a warning of fire and flames and a sign of an early bushfire season.
Nuytsia floribunda is a hemiparasitic tree, whose roots are hemiparasite, which means that whilst it is photosynthetic, it obtains most of its water and mineral nutrients from its hosts (other plants). The tree is known to send out roots and rhizomes, which may sucker to form new branches and giving the appearance of a grove of trees. These roots and rhizomes can be up to 150 metres.
The Christmas tree will obtain nutrient from most neighbouring plants, grasses, sedges, crop foot, weeds, vines, shrubs and eucalypts. The process is achieved by it sending out roots, that on contact with another root, it will form a collar of tissue around it, something akin to a swollen wedding ring. This white ring is called a “haustoria”. The haustorium penetrates the tissues of a host plant and absorbs nutrients and water from the plant.
The prodigious amount of flowers attract many birds and insects, with some birds there for the insects.
The seeds produced by the tree, are wind dispersed. Whilst the seeds have wings on them, the seeds are quite large and will often land just a few metres from the parent tree. The majority of the seeds are eaten by ants and other creatures.
There is a lot of anecdotal and conflicting accounts of the edibility of the sweet sticky gum of the Nuytsia. An interesting article on this can be found on the Anthropology from the Shed website (see references in the footnotes).
- Scientific classification
- Kingdom: Plantae
- Phylum: Charophyta
- Class: Equisetopsida
- Subclass: Magnoliidae
- Superorder: Santalanae
- Order: Santalales
- Family: Loranthaceae
- Genus: Nuytsia
- Species: Nuytsia floribunda
Footnote & References
- Nuytsia floribunda (Western Australian Christmas Tree), Hopetoun WA. Photographs © Terry Dunham
- Nuytsia floribunda (Labill.) R.Br. ex G.Don, Atlas of Living Australia, https://bie.ala.org.au/species/Nuytsia floribunda
- Western Australian Christmas Tree (Nuytsia floribunda), iNaturalistAU, https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/taxa/123199-Nuytsia-floribunda
- The mysterious WA Christmas tree, 26 October 2020, by cof_comm_engagement, iNatuarlistAU, https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/posts/43282-the-mysterious-wa-christmas-tree
- Nuytsia floribunda (Labill.) G.Don, Christmas Tree, Western Australian Herbarium (1998–). Florabase—the Western Australian Flora. Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, https://florabase.dbca.wa.gov.au/browse/profile/2401
- Nuytsia, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuytsia
- Australia’s giant parasitic Christmas tree, by Tim Low, 15 May 2017, Australian Geographic, https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/wildlife/2017/05/australias-giant-parasitic-christmas-tree/
- Traditional significance of Nuytsia floribunda (“moojar” or “kaanya tree”), Anthropology from the Shed, https://www.anthropologyfromtheshed.com/traditional-significance-of-nuytsia-floribunda-moojar-or-kaanya-tree
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Flora & FaunaFauna Flora Fauna Flora Funga Glossary Funga Related Topics Scientific Classification Backyard Wildlife Floral Emblems of Australia Wildflowers