Xylomelum scottianum Woody Pear at Bluewater Gorge

Author: John Elliott, Townsville Branch

Published: Journal March 2022

Image above: Xylomelum scottianum flowers

A very pleasant morning on Sunday 18 April 2021 was spent examining a small area at the base of Bluewater Gorge. Our main objective was to look at a population of Xylomelum scottianum, which generally occurs only sporadically wherever it is found.

It occurs from Townsville to the tip of Cape York in a variety of exposed sites and is often difficult to spot until one sees the needle-pointed end of the leaf, which can just be seen in the picture, below right.

Young plants are also likely to have lobed leaves with a similar needle like point to each of them. We saw plenty of flowers, which are long spikes, typical of Proteaceae, and plenty of evidence of old fruit, on this occasion.

Read more about the Woody Pear in this post.