|
 The NSW
Christmas Bush, Ceratopetalum gummiferum has a distinctive folklore among
New South Welshmen. All states have their own Christmas Bushes, Victoria
has Prostanthera lasianthos and Western Australia has Nuytsia floribunda.
These plants are certainly not a challenge for NSW, the premier state. The
NSW Christmas Bush occurs in forests and gullies of eastern NSW including
the Blue Mountains, certainly not in great numbers but wide spread.
Contrary to popular belief, it is easily
grown and tends to respond to more exotic treatment rather than emulating
its native habitat. It is not the white flowers, which are rather
insignificant, but the colourful red calyces, which enlarge and stay with
the plant long after the flowers have gone and its long life as a cut
flower that have made it such a popular choice for floral displays. The
brilliant splashes of red against green foliage in the weeks leading up to
and following Christmas, have made it the natural choice as our Christmas
Bush.
In the last decade, several cultivars have
been selected for their excellent colour eg. ‘Alberys Red’ and ‘Florists
Choice’. There is even a white form, ‘White Christmas’.
Ceratopetalum is a genus of five species,
one of which is coachwood (C. apetalum), a much prized tree and common
around creek beds in the lower mountains. It also has the distinctive red
flowers. The Christmas Bush flowers were widely picked from the wild in
early days but now most come from commercially grown crops. |
