Striking looking Shrub.....

Could someone please help me iD this shrub?

It resembles the Yew (Taxus) family in terms of leaf shape and the fruit, which look like a brown version of the aril (pseudo fruit) seen on Yew.

This is a very striking looking shrub. I've searched for several hours trying to ID it.

 

Its a callistemon, bottle brush.

 

Agree with Pete...Callistemon sp...common name bottle brush.
Pics show the seed pods .
Flowers are are beautiful and dainty.

 

or,

 

It's the common Bottlebrush, Callistemon linearis or rigidus or subalatus depending on who labels it. Each capsule can hold at least a hundred seeds and some stay on the plant for years.
Colours vary from deep red to pink, salmon pink and pale yellow and even white.

 

Thank You all very much. I would never have got that in a million years!!! I'm really grateful for your help.

Best Regards,

Andy (aka Dogsbody)

 

Unless you put a hairdryer to the capsules, then they open and release the seeds.
Going this route, you then sow the seeds in a flooded pot.....they germinate before you can spell Methionylthreonylthreonylglutaminylarginyl... isoleucine

 

Too funny!

Seriously though, is 'the hairdryer' a bona-fide horticultural technique?

Thanks to the answers from you guys I've done a bit of research into these plants. Apparently they all originate in Australia or Tasmania and I suppose a hairdryer could replicate the heat of those regions!

Well, I now have a genus (Callistemon) though not yet a species. I believe one species (citrinus) produces a lemony scent when leaves are crushed so that will be a good test! If it's not citrinus, I suppose I'll have to wait until it flowers to get more evidence.

Any further advice welcome and once again THANK YOU ALL!

Andy (aka Dogsbody)

 

@Head Gardener's Dogsbody
Yes the hair dryer would work. They are adapted for conditions with frequent fires and the idea is that the fire burns through the area clearing the undergrowth and competition as well as the ash acting as a fertiliser. The heat from the fire stimulates the plant to release seeds.
In a similar way some seeds germinate a lot better if exposed to smoke, you can actually buy filter papers impregnated with smoke that you then put into water with the seeds.

 

I just put the seed containers in a paper envelope and put it in doors for a few days, the dry air makes them shed the seeds.

 

Life is too short to wait days!
I've noticed as I've got older, my patience has got shorter

 

As I said earlier yours @Head Gardener's Dogsbody is Callistemon linearis which will have red flowers in a few weeks time presuming it has buds.
The cultivar citrinus Splendens have much wider, longer leaves and does have a lemon scent but so do the leaves of linearis but not as strong.

 

I once took a bag of seed pods from my mum's plant back to my garden. The car was very warm. By the time I got home a few hours later, the bag had MILLIONS of seed in the bottom of it. And they germinated rather well. Very tiny, but relatively easy even for me. In fact I currently have about 20 in pots in the greenhouse - I'm wondering whether to create a callistemon grove

 

We really do have to attribute so much to a Grand Creator, Mother Nature, The Natural world. A simple act of plants reproducing themselves.

Perhaps the simplest method is by wind distribution, including the familiar 'winged' seeds of Ash and Sycamore species. Then there are those species that require the seeds to be frozen solid, compared to ones that have to be all but destroyed by fire. Not forgetting our wonder friends of the animal world, who eagily eat whatever comes on their path and their digestive systems process the seeds and even carry out the sowing.

Sometimes it may have taken us, ages as individuals to realise some of the many facets of germinating seed.

Tom, chatting with Fred. You know. I tried so many times with that seed, and zilch.
Ah! says Fred. Did you not know. You have to put the seed in the fridge for a time.

This is just a very tiny aspect of gardening.

Over many years, I have never heard anyone seriously say. Gardening is boring. However much we may know. There remains, so, so much more to learn. Enjoy your garden.