Tree of the month: Breynia oblongifolia

Breynia oblongifolia is sometimes known as Coffee Bush and can grow up to three metres high. Its leaves are ovate and alternate, as distinct from the invasive Senna (Cassia) whose leaves are opposite and which produces conspicuous yellow flowers in the late summer. Breynia has small green flowers and orange and pink berries. While Breynia does grow in the rainforests, it also tolerates a wide variety of environments. There are many examples in the Stanwell Avenue Reserve, with many new ones springing up after the recent rains.

Banksia Bushcare News: Native bees

Banksia Bushcare has recently erected two native bee hotels in the Reserve. Native bees are an important part of our biodiversity because many plants depend on them for pollination because of the structure of their flowers.

European honeybees, like all colonists, often just plunder the nectar, like the Spanish did with the Inca gold in Peru, without doing the flower a favour by spreading the pollen.

There are about 1800 different species in Australia and 200 locally. Most of them are solitary and do not sting. While some live like monks in monasteries, like honeybees most of them have their own apartments where they give birth to their young, and then send them off when old enough. We now have two hotels along the Stanwell Avenue to Kiosk track, one with 24 apartments in a Banksia log in the Brutalist architectural style of the High Court of Australia in Canberra, and 28 apartments in the light and breezy style of Glenn Murcutt made from Lantana sticks.

An examination of our nests reveals that native bees have been making their homes in the lantana sticks. Lantana sticks are perfect for native bee hotels because they dig out the soft marrow of the sticks. Bamboo also works well.

Bee hotels in the Brutalist style can also be made out of any kind of timber by drilling holes of about 100 mm, and holes of different diameters of 5mm, 7mm and 9mm.