Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Castanospermum australe
Common name
Black bean, Moreton Bay chestnut
Family
Fabaceae
Where found
Planted in parks and as street trees in and around Sydney. Naturally occurs north from west of Coffs Harbour, where it occurs in rainforest, especially along rivers.
Notes
Introduced tree to 35 m high. Bark dark brown, smooth or wrinkled, with lighter transverse brown lines and longitudinal lines of grey blisters. Stems mostly hairless. Leaves alternating up the stems, 25–60 cm long; compound, with 9–19 leaflets, each 7–20 cm long, 12–50 mm wide, hairless, upper surface glossy, lower surface paler and dull, margins entire, tips pointed. Flowers yellow, orange, or red, 30–40 mm long, pea shaped, with 5 petals, 2 joined together to form the keel, in clusters 5-15 cm long. Flowers spring.
Native to northen NSW.
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Castanospermum~australe
(accessed 7 January, 2021)
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