Identifying juvenile trees
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This website was written by Brian Patterson and Ayla Austin
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Regeneration is better managed if you can recognise wildlings at an early stage. Seedlings often spring up along roads and tracks and, in damp weather, freshly germinated ones can be transplanted to an area lacking regeneration. Or they can be potted up to await the next rain. In an "on" year for that species, hundreds of melicope seedlings may appear under mature trees. In other years, the same may be true for sassafras or red cedar.
Moving bigger trees that come up in awkward places can often be successful if a substantial root ball is excavated with them. Cabbage tree palms (but not bangalow!) can be moved like this. For some trees that store food reserves in their roots (red cedar, melicope etc), quite large specimens can be transplanted. In that case, it's advisable to cut the transplant to near ground level, leaving no foliage. This may sound drastic but, divested of its leaves, the transplant loses little water. The food reserves in the roots have the capacity to encourage vigorous regrowth, especially if the move is done as spring starts. It's astonishing to see how quickly such cut down stumps form new trees.
Opposite are three seedlings:
At top left is kangaroo apple (Solanum aviculare), a really useful pioneer that attracts seed-dispersing birds, though short-lived.
At 3 o' clock, tree tobacco (Solanum mauritianum) is a bad weed that needs to be removed, not least because it shades out kangaroo apple.
At bottom right, red ash (Alphitonia excelsa) is a valuable pioneer tree that wallabies love to browse. It's the only local food plant of the caterpillar of the green-banded blue butterfly Psychonotis caelius.
Read more about Ourimbah Creek
Landcare volunteers caring for the floodplain of Ourimbah Creek
Rainforest and wetland species preventing nutrient pollution downstream
A floodplain that is a home for Australian biodiversity - birds, reptiles, mammals, frogs, flowering plants, fungi and ferns
Identification of seedlings of rainforest trees and vines can be tricky. The juvenile leaves of seedlings often look different to their adult forms. Botanical keys typically concentrate on the mature plant, with less attention to what the juveniles look like. For workers regenerating a rainforest, tiny seedlings are all important however. Once recognised, they can get the care and attention to enable them to outgrow weeds competing with them for light, water and nutrients. And browsing wallabies need to be kept off with plant guards or dense piles of sticks.
Transplanting seedlings that come up in roads and gutters saves them from destruction. It is best done as early in their development as possible and before they send down long roots. Older seedlings of red ash, guioa or bangalow palm rarely recover from the shock of transplanting.
