Antipodean Christmas Colour.

 This is a lovely Brachychiton tree in the Royal Botanic gardens in Melbourne, its red flowers blooming in time for Christmas.

 These trees are often used as street trees, but are often torn apart by the Rainbow Lorrikeets, a particularly beautiful small parrot. The ground under the tree is then a carpet of red.

The trees then go on to develop these large seed pods, or at least the flowers that the Lorrikeets don't pull off do. Then the footpaths under the trees are covered with the seeds and pods for months, as they are very big and robust. Well worth the nuisance though, as the flowers are so spectacular at this time of the year.