Banksia seminuda - River Banksia

The River Banksia is one of the largest growing banksias, reaching 50-60 feet tall with a straight trunk. This one has been limbed up, my hunch is to keep people from sleeping under. 

One of many beautiful specimens at UCSC arboretum.

Leaves are evergreen, alternate, simple, 3-5" long, narrow, leathery, dark green upper and white lower surfaces, margins light serrated.

Looks good from underneath.

Flowers in the fall, red/orange flowers in 8" long by 3" wide inflorescences with hundreds of individual flowers in pairs. Flowers can also be yellow, UCSC arboretum was selling some last year.

Fruits are aggregated into woody clusters looking like a cone. Few flowers actually produce fruit. Those that do are larger and when they open remind one of clams. Love the coloration of the "cone".

Remnants of the flowers with no fruit maturing.

Bark is interesting, fissured, orangish and gray.

Misidentification:
Other Banksias I guess. I have seen B. integrifolia around quite a bit, but they have smaller clusters of flowers, and not orange.

Location
Santa Cruz
1111A River Street (Highway 9)

Callistemon viminalis - Weeping Bottlebrush

This species was one of the first trees I learned in class. I was blown away by the flowers, like nothing I had ever seen, wow, so long ago. The weeping bottlebrush is a smallish evergreen tree with a dense weeping habit (usually but look at the one at the Mission). The tree tends to be multi-stemmed and branches low resulting in some training required if you want to walk under. This one is located at UCSC arboretum and has been pruned to be able to walk under the branches. Generally needs some irrigation to grow well. Native to Australia. (The other common bottlebrush C. citrinus is a shrub or small tree.)

The medium dark green evergreen leaves are narrowly lanceolate to linear, 3-4" long and pretty stout. Tend to be restricted to the ends of the branches. New foliage is a pink color like many trees in the genus melaleuca for which is was once included.

Stems are thin, light brown and have hairs. Notice the red base of the petiole. Lateral buds are tiny.

Its all about the flowers. Blooming heavily in the spring and lightly throughout the rest of the year. When these trees are in bloom they are magnificent. Individual flowers are small and all stamens, but they occur in a long pendulous spike about 5" long. The common name comes from the inflorescence looking like a bottlebrush (Did I really have to say that?)

The small capsules follow the flowers. They are about a 1/4" and in large clusters. Persistent on the stems for years.

Every time I go to the UCSC arboretum I seek out this tree. There is a path under the branches.

Misidentification: If you are looking at a piece of stem without flowers you might be hard pressed to identify it as the leaves look like so many others, like C. citrinus or even a Melaleuca. Can't say this works all the time but I look at the base of the petiole for the red color. Wikipedia lists this as a member of the Melaleuca genus.

Location:

Santa Cruz

312 Poplar Ave. is huge, very beautiful, one of the best I have seen, share a yard with a huge Pecan.

UCSC arboretum has several great specimens. 

Araucaria bidwillii - Bunya Bunya

The Bunya-Bunya tree is truly one of my favorites and one of the more exotic confers planted in our area. Native to limited areas of Queensland along the coast in Australia. They are now planted in most Mediterranean climates. There are several around town worth seeing. They have an exotic look to them. Somewhat prehistoric maybe. One of the prize trees in England during the Victorian era.

This is the one on Chestnut that is listed as a heritage tree. 

Here is the one at the Mission.

This is one from SLO but you can see the typical spreading of the branches and the foliage on the tips of the branches.

Leaves are very sharp, stiff, 1-2" long, arranged in a whorled fashion but spreading and twisting at the base to appear two-ranked, dark green upper surface, lighter green on the lower. Did I say sharp? Ouch. You may encounter some leaves that are more awl-shaped but they will only be right below the maturing cones.

The trunks are mostly bare with age and are very attractive. Not sure how to describe them, they are gray to brown with small bumps.

Female cones are huge (10" x 8") and very heavy, 10-15 pounds. The seeds are edible. You are not likely to find a cone on the ground as they, like true firs and true cedars, fall apart in the tree. You will find large scales which are 2-3" across. I have one from the trees in Scotts Valley by the Pasatiempo Country Club that blew down during a large storm. One of my students brought it to me. I forgot to wire it up in hopes of keeping it from falling apart but here it is.

Male cones are smaller, cylindrical and fall once the pollen is released. Looks like the foliage of another Araucaria, A. heterophylla.

Misidentification? A. auracana, the Monkey Puzzle Tree. Similar, but the leaves are all scale like, maybe 3/4" to 1" long, never long like Bunya-Bunya. Not as common in Santa Cruz (one on 3rd in SC).

Locations: 

Aptos: Cabrillo College at the Sesnon house.

SC: 

At the Mission over looking downtown (School St?)

301 Walnut Ave. On the Chestnut side of the house.

Scotts Valley: Pasatiempo exit