Xanthostemon chrysanthus, Golden Pemba Tree

[Eric in Orlando]

Our Xanthostemon chrysanthus, Golden Pempa Tree is flowering. It is native to Queensland, Australia and is a member of the Myrtaceae Family. These trees usually grow to about 20ft in cultivation. They show promise as an excellent ornamental in south FL and the warmer parts of central FL.

[fastfeat]

I snapped a couple of pics at Jesse Durko's as the sun was going down last weekend, so quality ain't great, but his tree was quite showy.

[Eric in Orlando]

Nice !!!

Is Jesse (or anyone else) growing other Xanthostemon species in SoFL ??

[fastfeat]

Nice !!!

Is Jesse (or anyone else) growing other Xanthostemon species in SoFL ??

AFAIK, this is the only one commonly (sort of) in SoFla cultivation. Usually a few people sell it at TFTS sales at Fairchild, but many people have been frustrated trying to grow it on limestone. (Jesse is lucky-- he's got neutral sawgrass muck-based soil.) Not the most intolerant of plants, but seems to be pretty comparable to Stenocarpus sinuatus.

[Tropicgardener]

Very commonly grown in coastal Queensland and popular as a street tree with many councils, will tolerate dry conditions once established and gets covered with noisy flocks of lorikeets when in flower. BTW the common name is Golden Penda.

[Eric in Orlando]

Thanks for the heads up ! I have it spelled 2 different ways, both errors. I have it as Penda but spelled it Pempa and Pemba !!!

[ariscott]

I have a variegated one of this.... Although I like the leaves when it is not flowering, but the 'normal' one provide more contrast when it is flowering, I think.

Regards, Ari

[Tropicgardener]

I have a variegated one of this.... Although I like the leaves when it is not flowering, but the 'normal' one provide more contrast when it is flowering, I think.

Regards, Ari

Ari, I am not sure about in the NT but in Queensland at one stage the variegated form of this was very common in nurseries, probably more common than the non-variegated form......it is indeed very nice for its foliage although I think when in flower the normal form looks more striking due to the contrast between leaf and flower.

[Jeff Searle]

I had one in the yard a few years back and never did seem to be happy or grew that well. It did flower once if I recall. And mine was planted in a dark, rich soil, mid to lower pH. It finally died.

[Jerry@TreeZoo]

There are two growing well at the Deerfield Beach Arboretum, one of which is flowering profusely right now. I also have one in my yard a few miles west of there that is in shade half the year and is doing very poorly. I don't know if it is the shade or the soil that makes the difference but if they are happy they look magnificent. If not, they look dreadful with a few chlorotic leaves that never seem to perk up.

[tropicbreeze]

Our local native Xanthostemon paradoxus is flowering away madly now. It's great driving around out bush and seeing large trees just a mass of blooms. They look quite impressive. They'll keep flowering to the end of the wet season.