Found growing on all of the sandstone escarpments on the Central Highlands,
Weeping Tea-tree
reaches to about 8 metres high with trunks to about 200mm diameter, although
there's not a lot of solid timber underneath all that paper-like bark!
The tree apparently flowers through Spring and Summer but I haven't
caught it on film yet (or pixels to be more precise!)
The fluting in the trunks of these trees is quite extraordinary. The
layers of papery bark are compacted into the flutes so tightly that it can
only be removed by separating the flutes completely. The timber is close
grained and of medium weight.
Recovering anything meaningful from the tree is difficult, a lot of
pen-blanks maybe, but the timber machines and sands nicely. It soaks up an
oil finish readily but eventually builds to a nice surface. The lip of this
piece is from Gidgee and had to be added before the flutes separated
completely during the turning process.
