Xanthostemon chrysanthus blooming beside the Great Lawn at Selby’s downtown campus (Photo by Sandra Robinson)
Written by Shawn McCourt, Ph.D. Plant Records Keeper
On the west side of the Great Lawn that stretches southwards from the historic Selby House at MSBG’s downtown campus is a beautiful, golden-flowered small tree that is often overlooked by visitors until the winter months, when it suddenly bursts into full bloom. The feathery, staminate flowers of Xanthostemon chrysanthus or Golden Penda are much loved by honeybees, which can be seen visiting the flowers, even on chilly winter mornings such as we’ve had this week. This tropical endemic of the vanishing coastal rainforests of Queensland, Australia is the best known of the approximately 45-51 species of Xanthostemon that occur anywhere from northern Australia to New Caledonia, Indonesia, Malesia and the Philippines. Nearly all species are characterized by flowers with much-reduced petals and sepals, and the densely packed, prominent stamens that are distinctive of flowers of the myrtle family, the Myrtaceae. This gives them a round, fuzzy look, and they resemble the flowers of the Australian bottlebrushes (Callistemon spp., Myrtaceae) or the unrelated Neotropical powderpuffs (Calliandra spp., Fabaceae). The genus name Xanthostemon comes from the Greek words “xanthos” or yellow, and “stemon” a thread or stamen. The species name chrysanthus comes from Greek “chrysos” meaning “gold” and “anthos” or flower. The genus was named in 1857 by German-Australian botanist Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller for the golden stamens of Xanthostemon paradoxus, which are like those of X. chrysanthus. Despite the golden names, not all Xanthostemon are gold or have golden stamens- in addition to yellow, some species may have flowers that are white, red, pink, or orange, depending on the species. The aboriginal Australians used the wood of Xanthostemon for spear points and digging sticks, and their name for it is Junjum.
Come look for our Golden Penda in spectacular bloom this week beside the Great Lawn- you can’t miss it.
Further Reading:
http://anpsa.org.au/x-chr.html
Wilson, Peter G. 1990. A review of the genus Xanthostemon (Myrtaceae) in Australia. Telopea 3(4). Accessed 19 January 2021 at: http://northqueenslandplants.com/Ozplants/Files/Xanthstemon.pdf.