Queensland Bottle Tree

Brachychiton rupestris

“The trunk is a giant water bottle. The shape is genuinely alien.”

The bottle tree's trunk swells into a massive, rounded shape — storing hundreds of gallons of water — then tapers into normal branches above. Aboriginal Australians tapped the trunks for water in droughts. The shape is unmistakable and unlike any other tree in a North American landscape. Semi-deciduous. Drought-tolerant once established. Zone 9–11, with a presence that makes it impossible to ignore.