Thread: Tree ID

Slow down Rob, you're getting too far ahead of me..

The word "heath" has several meanings and is used differently by lay folks & botanists. Essentially, a "heath" is a type of plant community which usually contains many species in several different families:
Heaths are essentially treeless plant communities dominated by low shrubs and various other ground flora. Australian heaths are invariably associated with oligotrophic (low nutrient) soils deficient in phosphorus and nitrogen. (Qld Dept of Environment).

Using "Tree broom heath" as the common name is a contradiction, since heaths are supposed to be treeless, and genuine broom is in a completely different family (legumes), but as I said, lay folks don't feel obliged to follow the rules.

Anyway, from your pics, especially the nicely-presented scaled pics, I reckon "Tree broom-heath" is the best fit. I'd be 90% confident that's your plant, but I'll get a more competent opinion as soon as I can.

Identifying all the plants on your property is fun, but can also be frustrating - you need a reasonable amount of knowledge to use the various keys or you end up with some weird thing that only grows halfway up Mt. Everest, or something equally ridiculous. I have always had an interest in the trees & shrubs around me, and I had to do first year botany as part of the vet course (but that was 55 years ago & much of it has faded into the mists!), & so I have tried (sporadically) to id all the plants on our 1 hectare plot to sort the weeds from the "keeps". But it's a slow process!

Cheers,
Ian