Watergum, Kanooka
This is a new plant introduction for Burncoose which, initially, is showing promise in the garden here despite being a tree species native to the eastern coastline of Australia where it grows in the wild along the banks of streams and rivers.
It grows slowly into a small, attractive, evergreen tree of 15-30ft in height and is used as a street tree in Sydney where it is pruned to keep it in a compact shape. This is a tree which grows best in shade where the soil is and remains damp.
Clearly it requires a very sheltered spot in the garden in dappled shade and that is exactly what we have given it here. It is doubtful if it would survive outside except in the milder locations of the UK. Otherwise, it is a graceful foliage plant for a larger greenhouse.
T. laurina has long pointed glossy dark green leaves which have lighter undersides. They appear alternately along the branches. The flowers appear in midsummer in short terminal clusters of creamy or orange-yellow flowers. The ensuing seed capsules are rounded and woolly.
It is too early to say if this plant will catch the imagination in some UK gardens as so many hardier Australian natives have but there seems, at present, a reasonable prospect that it will.
