wrote:
On Sun, 18 Nov 2007 18:50:07 +0900, Mike B someone@noplace wrote:

Can anyone identify this tree.
http://members.iinet.net.au/~mbuckler/plant/tree1.jpg
http://members.iinet.net.au/~mbuckler/plant/tree2.jpg

In the first picture you can just about see the flowers at the top.
It's very slow growing and is in the half-shade of trees either side.
The previous owner of the house had chopped one of the three trunks.
I was wondering if moving it to a sunnier location would be better.

Mike


That looks to me like a mature Cordyline Australis


Oh good! I thought so too!

We had one here when we moved in, but it was chocka with ants, who
seemed to like to have the odd day-trip into the house. It took a lot of
effort to get rid of, since cutting it enraged the ants, who kept
swarming up my husband's pants and making him stop to do a funny little
hornpipe-thingy at regular intervals.

Or maybe it was just a sort of antipodean Morris Dance...?

Anyway, the grey fronds are quite tough and leathery and easy to cut
yourself on. Also, they harbour spiders. If you have a pre-pubescent
girl in your family, you may want to consider the answer to the
following equation:

[G + (S x c x h) - E) x H] + F = ?

Whe
G is the age of the girl in years
S is the number of spiders
c is the spider-colour
h is the spider-hairiness-index

And:
E is the possibility of escape in metres per second
H is the hormonal status of the girl measured in tantrums per minute
F is the presence of a cool friend, multiplied by a correction factor of
100 if he happens to be male

Sorry if you think this post is silly. Any of you who actually own such
a pre-pubescent girl will know exactly what I'm alluding to. (And all
your Cordylines will be long gone, owing to the solution to my equation
and your utter loathing of hornpipes/morris dancing).

I think they work best in pots, meself (the Cordylines, not the girls or
the morris dancers). It limits their height and the fronds don't seem to
die off as much, so the foliage retains its interesting colour and
remains more or less at eye level.

--
Trish {|:-} Newcastle, NSW, Australia