Fagus watch 2011 [Multiple photos]

[Son of a Beach]

I was told years ago, by a botanist, that the Gunnii is Australia's only endemic deciduous plant (which is not quite the same as native), but that's not true either. Perhaps he meant Tasmania's only endemic deciduous plant... perhaps he even said that, and I heard/remembered it wrong.

[ILUVSWTAS]

Thanks Nik, I was sure i'd heard something similar myself!!

[Son of a Beach]

deja vu...

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=2037&p=p17932#p17932
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=2037&p=18728#p18728

...or a glitch in the matrix.

Maybe we are destined to have this discusion in a Fagus photos topic every year. Perhaps next year, we should include a summary of all this information in the the first post of the topic.

[Vern]

Just finished a trip to Lake Oenone and the Fagus is literally hanging on by a thread! Any hint of wind and it was gone. There was still some colour around though and it looked nice in the foreground of Mt Olympus.

Hanging on by a thread

A few other photo's from the trip are here on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/taspicsvns/sets/72157626681137090/with/5703253110/

[north-north-west]

It's the only winter deciduous tree, I think. Others drop leaves for different reasons - usually to cope with extended dry periods.

[walkinTas]

We've been here before - Fagus 2009

Some definitions that might help:

Deciduous: Latin verb decido, "fall off". Botany: deciduous - not persistent; falling off, as in leaves, bracts or scales, not necessarily associated with autumn. Science Dictionary.com: (Botany) referring to trees that shed all their leaves in one season.

facultatively deciduous: describes evergreen species that shed leaves only under extreme conditions. This term can be applied to a number of Australian rainforest species, particularly in tropical, monsoonal forest.

monsoonal deciduous: generally refers to plants that lose their leaves during the dry season. At the end of the dry season these plants may flower and even fruit before they come into leaf. "In many inland and coastal vine forests of the Northern Territory up to 90% of species may be seasonally deciduous. (AUSTRALIAN VEGETATION J.W. Turnbull, Chapter 2)"

"Tropical deciduous trees: evolved according to the seasonal wet-to-dry-to-wet cycles, and conserved energy and moisture by dropping leaves when soil dried out. The trees rest dormant and are triggered by the return of rains to produce new leaves. Some trees time their flowering based on the annual cycles between wet and dry." Read more: Tropical Deciduous Trees | eHow.com Examples include Brachychiton acerifolius (Illawarra Flame Tree), Calodendrum capense (Cape Chestnut), Grevillea robusta (Silky Oak), Melia azedarach (Persian Lilac or White Cedar), Toona ciliata (Red Cedar).

Temperate deciduous forests: are forests in cool, rainy areas; they have trees that lose their leaves in autumn and regrow them in Spring. Temperate deciduous forests are found in the middle latitudes around the globe and have four distinct seasons: Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter. (Temperate deciduous plants are probably what most people mean when they say "Winter" deciduous - "winter" (four seasons) as opposed to "dry season" (two seasons) even if "winter" and "dry season" are the same months).

Semi-deciduous (partially deciduous): plants that shed some, but not all of their foliage in one season. Examples: Nothofagus mooreii, which drops approximately half its leaves in autumn. Grevillea robusta can be fully deciduous or semi-deciduous depending of where you live

Native flora: originating or occurring naturally in an area; indigenous - as opposed to introduced by horticultural or agricultural practices.

Endemic flora: flora peculiar to a particular locality. i.e. native to no other locality.

Tree or shrub: - is N.gunnii a shrub or small tree. The problem here is the lack of clear definitions.

From what I can make of all that and claims made about Nothofagus gunnii

• "Australia's only deciduous tree" - definitely not true.
• it's Australias only NATIVE deciduous tree - false.
• is Australia's only endemic deciduous plant - not strictly accurate if we take the broader meaning of deciduous, some monsoonal deciduous Eucalypts are endemic, G. robusta is endemic.
• is Australia's only endemic 'temperate' deciduous tree - true.
• is Tasmania’s one and only deciduous native tree - true.
• is the only native winter deciduous tree in Australia - if by "winter" you mean "temperate" - true.

"So whats all the fuss about this tree then huh?? (ILUVSWTAS)" - N. gunnii is very special: It is a unique Tasmanian icon; a relic for an ancient past; a survivor from Gondwana; part of the living proof of the super continent; and the only endemic temperate deciduous tree in Australia. I guess that's worth making a bit of a fuss about.

[Chrisbulldog]

Which other native plant changes leaf colour before they all drop off , in same fashion as poplars , willows , maples , oaks etc. as a response
to the oncoming winter ?? None . So on that score it is Australia's only true deciduous tree. My dictionary definition of deciduous is " not permanent;
having leaves that fall in autumn" .
In fact , is it the only myrtle type plant that does that in the world? Thinks it might be. There are a few Chilian nothofagus plants at the
arboretum near Devonport . None of them lose all their leaves in autumn.
Interesting debate though.

[frenchy_84]

In fact , is it the only myrtle type plant that does that in the world? Thinks it might be. There are a few Chilian nothofagus plants at the arboretum near Devonport . None of them lose all their leaves in autumn.
Interesting debate though.

There are other deciduous nothofagus species

[walkinTas]

No Chris, it is not the only deciduous Nothofagus. There are heaps of them.

An interesting fact: the deciduous Nothofagus are considered to be evolutionarily older. Evergreen characteristic are believed to have evolved at more than one time in history.

[DaveNoble]

It is also interesting that none of the NZ Northofagus are deciduous - while quite a few of the Patagonian ones are (and those one change to red leaves before falling off)

Dave

[walkinTas]

Yes, but fossil records for the Late Miocene indicate that there were once deciduous Nothofagus in New Zealand.

[Chrisbulldog]

So it seems that our fagus is the only true Australian deciduous plant then . Do we agree on that ?

[creeping_moses]

The Fagus is quite acceptable around Lake Skinner on the Snowy Range. Small pockets can also be seen Looking into the Weld Valley from the southern side of the summit of Snowy South towards Mt. Weld.
Nothing like Mt. Field but still a nice outlook.