Dead or dormant?

[Raniformis]

Is my yamadori to be dead or suffering a period of dormancy? It looks dead to me but it doesn't make sense that an established tree would just up and die. There's quite a few of these in various states of shutdown, some big, some small (the tree pictured is an awesome size, under 3ft with a full trunk). I think they're melaluka armillaris, not sure but very common where I live.

20240518_123859.jpg

[Trimmy]

Looks dead. The bark is falling off the trunk. At least it decided to die before you put effort into it.

[Rory]

Need a lot more information.
Has this been in ground a long time?
Did you dig it from the wild and plant in the ground here?
How long since losing green leaves?
Was it allowed to dry out?
Did the leaves fall quickly and went crunchy?
Etc etc

No-one’s going to give you a good answer unless you elaborate a lot more.

[shibui]

Assuming these are natural growing trees and have not been moved. Melaleuca do not usually lose leaves or go dormant. Occasionally, under real stress they may temporarily defoliate but should soon sprout new leaves.
You could check life signs by cutting a few of the smaller branches. Dead branches snap easily and are dry inside. Keep cutting further back to see how far the dead extends. Live wood is a good sign but not always indicates the tree can recover. Sometimes just showing how far the dry has progressed.
There are many reasons for native trees to die:
Salinity
Herbicide
Disease
Changed soil conditions
Changed rainfall or soil water.
and probably many more.

You have not given any indication of where this is happening. A location may prompt someone who has seen or heard of similar. Without more info we can only make guesses.

[Raniformis]

They're wild trees, that's why I'm surprised they'd get to this size and die. Melbs has been pretty dry this year, no rain worth mentioning but I'm thinking they're toast, never seen the neighbourhood trees looking like this. Unfortunate, it's the first one I've come across worth collecting.

I'll keep an eye on it and get back if the miraculous occurs.

[Raniformis]

Even the bigger trees are kicking it, this trunk is a good 14" across.

20240518_124043.jpg

[TimIAm]

* edit. Just ignore. I missed the part about they haven't been moved yet.

[thoglette]

? It looks dead to me but it doesn't make sense that an established tree would just up and die.

Happening a lot this side of the rabbit proof fence: just hasn’t been any rain.

It’s not good

Fears of another 'forest collapse' event in Western Australia after record dry spell

[Raniformis]

Thanks for the link, that's an interesting bit of information I wasn't aware of.