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Brachychiton

From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Brachychiton
branch with flower and fruits
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Malvales
Family: Malvaceae
Subfamily: Sterculioideae
Genus: Brachychiton
Schott & Endl.

Brachychiton (also known as the bottletree or kurrajong) is a genus of 31 species of trees and large shrubs. They grow naturally in Australia and New Guinea. Fossils from New South Wales and New Zealand are believed to be 50 million years old. The name Brachychiton is comes from the Greek brachys, meaning "short", and chiton, meaning "tunic". This refers to its loose seed coverings.

They grow to 4–30m tall. All species have separate male and female flowers on the same plant. The female flowers have five separate carpels that can each form a woody fruit that has several seeds.