Hello and welcome to the 8th (lunar) month of the year on our ‘Celtic Tree Calendar’ .. which commenced yesterday (July 8th) and takes us through to August 4th .. 🙂
Back in 2011 I compiled an ‘alternative Ogham’ for the followers in Australia, this I named ‘An Antipodean Ogham’ which I intend to publish again on this new website in the very near future.
When selecting which trees to include I first searched for the Australian ‘equivalents’ and found a fair few…and though some of them are related ‘in name only’ they have obviously been named so for their close resemblance to their northern hemispherical counterparts.
For those remaining I searched for species within the same families and again found more ‘equivalents’ such as ‘Native Grape’ and ‘Gorse Bitter Pea’. For Luis (Rowan) I could only choose another member of the Rosaceae family.
Hawthorn and Hazel proved more difficult to match-make and so I did a little research on ‘Australian thorn bushes’ and ‘Australian nut trees’ – see my post for Hawthorn back in May 😉
Below is my Australian choice for this month’s tree – Holly ..
Holly-Leaved Banksia
Banksia ilicifolia – Endemic to southwest Western Australia this tree with its green prickly foliage and yellow and red tinged spiky flowers can reach 10 metres in height.
Unlike its close relatives this particular species can regenerate after bush fires by re-sprouting from epicormic buds under its bark.
The yellow flowers in particular are very attractive to several species of birds and insects including honeyeaters, wattlebirds, bees, beetles and ants – they are also a source of nectar for the honey possum.
Photo courtesy of Cas Liber
Wishing you ALL a very happy month ahead! 🙂
Divine Ogham 
