Angophora hispida (Dwarf Apple), Australia

Recorded by Kim V. Goldsmith south-west of Dubbo, New South Wales Australia in early summer on 4 December 2024. Using contact mics, omnis and a shotgun microphone, the sounds of the tree in full flower and covered in wasps, bees, beetles and flies were recorded internally and externally. This tree is not endemic to this part of New South Wales and is mostly likely a privately planted tree.

*A glorious cluster of creamy flowers on an Angophora hispida. Image: Kim V. Goldsmith*

Known as the Dwarf Apple or Scrub Apple, this mallee tree has a very limited natural distribution, endemic to the state of New South Wales, north from around Wollongong, west to Lithgow and north to around Morisset—not Dubbo. It is typically found on sandstone and sandy areas in dry sclerophyll woodland, coastal shrubland and coastal heath.

A small tree or mallee, capable of reaching 7 – 10 metres tall, it is often much smaller, forming a lignotuber. It sometimes has a wide spread for a small tree, with a twisted growth habit, gnarled branches and rough, loose fibrous grey bark.

The leaves do not have the oily smell of most eucalypts. The leaves are leathery, heart-shaped and do not have a stalk (sessile), hugging the stem. The tree has red bristly hairs that cover the branchlets, flower bases and new growth. The word hispida means bristly. Flowering can be observed in November to January and individual flowers are up to 2 to 3 cm across, bright cream to white.

The tree from a distance showing its shape and spread, a Fiddler beetle (Eupoecila australasiae) feasting on nectar, omnis attached to the flowers of the tree, and the emerging flowers covered in red bristly hairs. Images: Kim V. Goldsmith

Find more of Kim V. Goldsmith’s work online here and here