Silky-oak

I am sorry that this has nothing to do with Halloween! Instead I am blipping an iconic Aussie plant. See it better in LARGE.

Grevillea robusta, commonly known as the southern silky oak or Silky-oak, or Australian Silver-oak, is the largest species in the genus Grevillea.

Although not a native of South Australia, it does very well here and around the greater Adelaide area. As beautiful as it is, it is not a tree for the typical garden because it grows far too big and the roots are extremely invasive. It's a fast growing evergreen, between 18-35 m (up to 100 feet tall) with dark green delicately dented leaves, reminiscent of a fern frond.

It is the largest plant in the Grevillea family, reaching diameters in excess of one metre. It flowers in spring, with quite long golden-orange bottlebrush-like blooms, and is much loved by the bees.

Before the advent of aluminium, the timber from this tree was widely used for external window frames as it is resistant to rotting. It was also popular for making furniture. There are severe restrictions on the harvesting of this tree now as the number of trees has been decimated. Silky Oak is a valuable timber and was one of Australia's best known cabinet timbers.

The flowers were high up off the ground, and accordingly this blip was photographed with the long zoom lens at the Belair Triangle, in a small shopping centre car park near our home.