Today Australia Post releases five commemorative stamps of Native Trees. The release date coincides with the 22nd World Congress of the International Union of Forest Research Organizations, which is being held in Brisbane this week. Included in the release will also be first day covers (both gummed and sel-adhesive) a stamp pack, set of four maximum cards and a roll of 100 .50-cent stamps.
Featured are the Snow Gum (Eucalyptus pauciflora) which grows in the highest and coldest parts of southern Australia, in the Snowy Mountains, along the tablelands in southern NSW, and through Victoria to Tasmania.
One of the world’s oldest and rarest tree species, the Wollemi Pine (Wollemia nobilis) was presumed extinct until discovered near Sydney in 1994. At that time it was dubbed “the botanical find of the century”. Research is now underway to conserve this ancient species.
Boab (Adansonia gregorii) is indigenous to the Kimberley region of northern Western Australia, where its distinctive shape has become symbolic of the region. This tree is related to the Baobab tree of Africa, it is a large, spreading tree up to 15 metres high, with branches that radiate from the top of the trunk.
In the south-west of Western Australia, fine forests of towering gum trees, known by their Aboriginal name Karri trees (Eucalyptus diversicolor), once dominated the area. Most of the Karri forests were cleared for farms and the great trees became the building materials for cities.
The Moreton Bay Fig (Ficus macrophylla) is best known as a massive tree native to the rainforests of coastal NSW and up to northern Queensland.
