AusBonsai

Fresh-water paperbark. This West Australian native tree was dug out of a swamp in 1995 and
trained as a bonsai from 1995 onwards. Some carving was necessary to prevent dead wood from
decaying. The thickness of the trunk, which creates an illusion of great age, is complemented by tiers
of branching according to classic bonsai standards. To balance this, note the pleasing movement of this
trunk and the various shades of colour in the peeling bark.
The tree exemplifies native Australian bonsai art at its best. Leigh Taafe
NBPCA

Hi Lee, can I just confirm with you if this is Melaleuca strobophylla?

John

Geez we have some fine trees in Australia. This Melaleuca is a sensational example

Hi Lester,

This one is Mel. rhaphiophylla

Cheers,
LEIGH

Hi Leigh, at the risk of sounding anal, I'm fairly certain the correct common name for Melaleuca Rhaphiophylla is "Swamp Paperbark". I don't know of that many references for Melaleucas but I referenced Wikipedia as well as FloraBase which falls under the West Australian Dept of Environment and Conservation which confirm this.

Thanks Jester - I will have to do some research into this. I did not write the catalogue from which I took the information for this tree. Let me get back to you.

Leigh, the tree is known as the fresh water paper bark, the swamp paper bark and, the Needle- leaved - honey Myrtle.

It grows in fresh and saline swamps and water courses. It is widely distributed in WA from, Kalbarri in the north to Ravensthorpe in the south it is a tree and or shrub

As a tree it grows to 10 metres tall it has exfoliating papery bark the needle like foliage are alternate,and are 10-40 mm long.
Juvenile foliage is oblong sometimes oblanceolate leaf. Which is light green in colour on a pinkish twig. The flowers are pale yellow flowers are arranged in, short flowers spikes,borne in spring and early summer.

I hope this helps this discussion. Common name's are never official.
Cheers Pup

Thanks Pup - I will also be researching where all of our native species in the collection are common to. Some of our native species are native to certain areas of Australia. Would you say this tree is native of a specific region of W.A.?

It's understandably confusing when a genus has so many common names.

Leigh Taafe wrote:Thanks Pup - I will also be researching where all of our native species in the collection are common to. Some of our native species are native to certain areas of Australia. Would you say this tree is native of a specific region of W.A.?

G,day Leigh I have just remembered that I did not answer this question. As it being native of a specific region of WA. It is known to grow in the north to Kalbarri to the south to Ravensthorp along the coastal fringes and the swamps and rivers.

It is also found in SA just near the gulf. Although it is considered native to WA because it has a larger area and is more prevalent in WA.

Cheers Pup

I can only agree that this is a spectacular tree

Bump for a fine tree

Hi all,

I have had a brief email conversation with Pup this morning about hard pruning a Melaleuca rhaphiophylla as a bonsai back past the existing growth.

I told him we had just hard pruned his Mel and here are the photos. Pruned to where existing growth still exists.Its still cool here day and night but should warm up soon. The trees are all healthy and we are fertilising more heavilly this year as well so it will bounce back very quickly.


Has anyone out there pruned these trees back in to lod wood all over the tree as a bonsai. Not talking about collecting from the ground as we know that works. Anyone with any experience?


Grant

Hi Grant, i haven't the experience that Pup and yourself have with Rhaphiophylla however i feel iv'e learnt some of these trees growing habits. I for one would be fairly cautious of going beyond the last set of leaves, Younger branches will most likely back bud to a good degree, older wood can have issues putting out new shoots. As i have found out rhaphiophylla and backbudding don't necessarily go together, sometimes yes ,sometimes no, some rhaphs backbud profusly and some won't even try. Thickness of bark, hardness of older wood, vigour of the tree or branches in question and location of growing position can all play a factor going either way. It's my opinion that the foliage needs to be "chased back" over a period of time, instead of cutting and hoping/praying..

Craig wrote:Hi Grant, i haven't the experience that Pup and yourself have with Rhaphiophylla however i feel iv'e learnt some of these trees growing habits. I for one would be fairly cautious of going beyond the last set of leaves, Younger branches will most likely back bud to a good degree, older wood can have issues putting out new shoots. As i have found out rhaphiophylla and backbudding don't necessarily go together, sometimes yes ,sometimes no, some rhaphs backbud profusly and some won't even try. Thickness of bark, hardness of older wood, vigour of the tree or branches in question and location of growing position can all play a factor going either way. It's my opinion that the foliage needs to be "chased back" over a period of time, instead of cutting and hoping/praying..

Hi Craig,

That sort of was the conclusion we came to; treat it like a Juniper and chase it back. However we didn't get a lot of back budding last year despite a similar hard prune on the Mel single of Pups. Thats also why we are trying the higher fert rates here in our cooler (most of the time than Perth)climate.

However I am still interested to hear if anyone has done it.

Cheers,

Grant