China Doll - Radermachera sinica - attractive, graceful, green house plants with erect stems & branching foliage that make them look like miniature trees. Some websites claim China Dolls grow just over a metre tall. Don’t believe it! Try 10 metres+

#DowningHerbarium #PlantoftheWeek

This year's EOY greetings from #Downingherbarium features
Aussie plants with traditional English Christmas common names: Mt Blackwood Holly(near Mackay) Graptophyllum ilicifolium; Creeping Aust Ivy Leafed Violet (E. Aust) Viola hederacea; & Mistletoe, Muellerina eucalyptoides(sthn Qld to Sth Aust)🎄

#PlantoftheWeek from #Downingherbarium Sugarcane, Saccharum officinarum... Did you know C4 photosynthesis was an Australian - Brisbane discovery? We take sugar for granted. Consuming 180+ million tons - every year, largely in processed foods. However, origins of commercial sugar are quite complex.

Another from the #DowningHerbarium #PlantoftheWeek archives "Flowers for the #Christmas Festive Season" - December in Sydney is riot of colour - Jacarandas, Flame trees, Silky Oaks, Christmas Bush, Agapanthus, Cape Chestnuts... reminding us that summer has arrived. @zygodon.bsky.social @mqnatsci

Travel by train to Katoomba, or from Bundanoon to Tallong in late Oct. to Nov., & you will be greeted by meadows of golden-yellow daisies, Coreopsis lanceolata. Not native but make a spectacular show in their naturalised habitats. #PlantoftheWeek #DowningHerbarium @zygodon.bsky.social @mqnatsci

An appropriate post for December in Australia, by Alison Downing from appropriately named #DowningHerbarium - "...assumed nectar seeking birds pollinate Christmas Bells but astonished to find out they are self-pollinating & ants facilitate the movement of pollen within the flowers" #PlantoftheWeek