There is one flowering tree that you are guaranteed to see if you visit the southwest of Australia in December: the Nuytsia floribunda, also called WA Christmas tree, also called Kaanya or Mooja.

You can’t miss the spectacular flowering event of the Nuytsia floribunda. With their profusion of yellow-golden blossoms, they stand like radiant beacons, luminous against the drying bush. Its common name, WA Christmas tree is apt, many trees are still flowering profusely during Christmas celebrations (it starts flowering in October), but also because, curiously, it belongs to the Loranthaceae family, the same as the mistletoe, another Christmas favourite.

Like the mistletoe, the Mooja, one of the Noongar names given to this native Australian plant, is a parasite. However, instead of feeding off the branches of plants it sends its long roots far underground (sometimes over 100 metres) searching for other roots that it can tap into and feed from.

Another name that has been given to the Nuytsia floribunda is Kaanya tree or the tree of recently departed souls. Many traditional Noongar people from the southwest will not sit under a Nuytsia tree; or make use of any of its wood or flowers, as this tree is believed to be where souls stop on the way to the Kurannup, or the land of the ancestors that have passed away.

Whatever you choose to call it, there is no denying that its iridescent blooms light up the WA landscape and signal the start of summer.