An evergreen, varying from a shrub of low, spreading habit to a small tree up to 25 ft high; young shoots stout, round, covered with brownish down. Leaves alternate, of stiff leathery texture, usually closely set on the branchlets where some persist for two years. They are of oblanceolate shape, tapered gradually to the base, more abruptly to the apex which may be rounded or pointed, sometimes having two or three large teeth, or sometimes (especially on young cultivated plants) being deeply bilobed, 2 to 5 in. long, 1⁄2 to 13⁄4 in. wide, dullish green above, rather glaucous beneath. Flowers rich crimson, crowded in a terminal head 2 to 3 in. wide, each blossom of much the same shape as those of Embothrium coccineum; the slender curved perianth is about 1 in. long, splitting and showing the conspicuously exposed, curving style 1 to 11⁄4 in. long, with the large knob-like stigma at the end. The flowers are filled with honey and open in June. Seed-pod woody, cylindrical, curved, 2 to 3 in. long, terminated by a ‘tail’ 1⁄2 to 3⁄4 in. long. Bot. Mag., t. 9660.
Native of Tasmania at 2,000 to 4,000 ft, occasionally descending to lower altitudes in the rainiest parts of the country. One writer remarks: ‘the vivid scarlet colouring of the flowers shining out amongst the sombre blue-greens of the gum forests is certainly one of the most beautiful sights the Tasmanian bush affords.’ R. C. Gunn wrote to Kew from Tasmania in 1844: ‘I really think this plant will do well in the open air in Britain; it is only found in the cool mountainous parts of the island and I have tried in vain to coax it to grow in my garden, but the summer heats have always destroyed it.’ This forecast has proved correct, for the Tasmanian waratah does indeed thrive in the British Isles in localities where the rainfall is above average and the soil acid. At Wakehurst Place in Sussex a plant now 18 ft high has lived in a sheltered position for over half a century and flowers and fruits regularly. Somewhat taller examples grow in Ireland. T. truncata is nearly hardy and should survive severe winters in a protected position. It is not shade-loving, and is best placed where its roots are shaded and its head in the sun. It is propagated by seeds or cuttings. For further details see the interesting note by the late Lord Talbot de Malahide in Curtis, Endemic Flora of Tasmania, Part IV (1973), pp. 296-7. According to him, plants with yellow and with creamy yellow flowers have been brought into cultivation in Tasmania.
Seeds of T. truncata were collected by Harold Comber during his expedition to Tasmania in 1929-30, and his interesting account of this species will be found in Gard. Chron., Vol. 93 (1933), p. 27. Contrary to what has been stated, he did not introduce it, nor did he claim to have done so. It received an Award of Merit when exhibited by Mrs Sebag-Montefiore from her garden near Plymouth on May 29, 1934, and a First Class Certificate in 1938, when shown by Lionel de Rothschild of Exbury.