Re: Brachychiton indoors
- Subject: Re: Brachychiton indoors
- From: D* <d*@yahoo.com>
- Date: Thu, 26 Feb 2004 11:38:54 -0800 (PST)
--- Tony Rodd <tonyrodd@isp.net.au> wrote:
> I agree with Moira Ryan about Brachychiton
> populneus, probably not a highly shade-tolerant
> species.
>
> But many other trees from Australia's subtropical
> rainforests are very shade-tolerant in their
> juvenile stages, and can make attractive indoor
> foliage plants. Three that should be internationally
> available are:
> Brachychiton acerifolius
> Cupaniopsis anacardioides
> Castanospermum australe
> The only proviso is that they should not be subject
> to minimum temperatures below about 5 deg. C, except
> briefly overnight when they might survive 1 or even
> 0.
Castanospermum australe is a gorgeous tree. Deep green
pinnate leaves, and it is evergreen. I don't think it
would flower in pots indoors, so i think you should be
safe, as the seeds are toxic unless processed (even
then, the pods are huge - around 5 inches or so, and
the seeds are golf ball sized, and easily cleaned up).
I have a couple in pots indoors and they seem to be
doing fine. They are also very cheap. My three
seedlings were only about $16.00 USD for seedlings a
two feet high.
An interesting thing about the seeds though is that
they contain an alkaloid that appears to have anti-HIV
properties, preventing HIV from infecting cells.
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