Polyscias murrayi - Pencil Cedar
Family: Araliaceae

This distinctive pioneer tree is commonly seen wherever disturbance has occurred.
Fruits are reliably produced every year in great quantities and are relished by birds, thus ensuring that seed is available in the ground wherever a canopy opening occurs.
Young plants up to 5-6m bear no branches.
At the top of the straight pale soft-wooded trunk is a tuft of palm-like compound leaves, each up to 1m in length with 20-50 toothed leaflets.
Older trees are more branched and may reach 20m.

Cultivation
Growth rates of up to 3m in the first year make it a good tree for rainforest establishment.
Fruit is produced only at inaccessible heights so it is easiest to collect bower bird droppings containing the tiny sickle-shaped seeds which readily germinate.

Planting
04.03.20 x5
09.03.21 x5