They are from the poplar (Liriodendron) - no way could the Leptospermum, which is at best only a large shrub, generate large enough surface roots to create ankle-twisting hazards :-)

Wow - this thread has really taken off, hasnt it ? Thanks again to everyone for their suggestions. I am reasonably au fait with most of the suggestions for the feature tree, with the exception of the bottle tree, but plants such as Native Gardenia are something of an unknown. I am also very wary of the impact of the Rocky sun on many rainforest species, even those marked 'full sun' : establishing the microclimate which allows these plants to take full sun is probably better left to species such as acacia and melaleuca. Experience has taught me that there are exceptions, and the Penda in my last garden has gone from strength to strength in the furnace that is our afternoon sun - its currently alive with yellow flowers and is bushy right to its bootstraps. I have recommended the various E. Ficifolia / E. Ptychocarpa hybrids (now Corymbias, I believe) to my friend, but the grafted rootstock seems to constrain them to no more than 5-6 metres, and I believe that I need something more in the 12m plus range to shield the front of the house from the blistering afternoon sun. It also needs to be sufficiently dense at the top to make 'worthwhile' shade, without being a menace to people standing beneath it. Ultimately, it will come down to the stock that Fitzroy Nurseries have in May - most of the other nurseries just dont persist with anything larger than 14" pots. I'll let you know how I get on. Cheers, Artie

Went out to the nursery yesterday and had a word with one of the guys there. Not the one I spoke to previously. He again showed me the one they had but with the additional information that they had only just emerged from the tunnels after a regime of regular water and osmacote. He then took me out the back to see one they had planted out about 5 yrs ago, when they first appeared on the market. A dead ringer for what I have and it had only had a couple of flowers last year, for the first time. Here is a pic showing the difference in the foliage. The latest is on the left and my original on the right. At a guess, looking at your pic, funnelweb, I would say your is the large leaf one which appears to be closer to L. morrisonii than mine. Going from PlantNET, L.m foliage is 15-35 mm long, 2-8 mm wide. I wonder what I have?

Hi shaxhome Thanks for the suggestion. I've been doing a lot of research on this plant recently. According to PlantNET, L.myrsinoides is not recorded north of Wollongong. The best I have been able to come up with is L. trinervium, based on flower images, plant size, and blooming time (Oct). I did discover, after I posted, that there is a Friends of Lane Cove NP website which lists 2 sp., L. trinervium and L. squarrosum, the latter flowering March to May. They also state that L. trinervium is one of the commonist sp found in the Sydney area. When these pics were taken (Oct 2014) I had no idea that I would be returning to the UK within the year. So, as there is little or no chance of me popping down to double check, I will have to settle for L. trinervium (probably).