| Common name | Botanical name | Landscape character precinct/s |
|---|---|---|
| Australian Tulipwood | Harpullia pendula | Coastal, riparian, undulating plains, higher land, arterial roads |
| Bennett's ash | Flindersia bennettii | Riparian, arterial roads |
| Blueberry ash | Elaeocarpus reticulatus | Riparian, undulating plains |
| Blunt-leaved tulip | Harpullia hillii | Undulating plains, arterial roads |
| Broad-leaved lilly pilly | Acmena hemilampra | Coastal, riparian, arterial roads |
| Broad-leaved paperbark | Melaleuca quinquenervia | Coastal, wetlands, riparian, undulating plains, arterial roads |
| Brown gardenia | Atractocarpus fitzalanii | Riparian |
| Brown pine | Podocarpus elatus | Coastal, riparian, undulating plains, higher land, arterial roads |
| Brush box | Lophostemon confertus | Coastal, riparian, undulating plains, higher land, arterial roads |
| Bumpy ash | Flindersia schottiana | Coastal, undulating plains, higher land, arterial roads |
| Camphorwood | Cinnamomum oliveri | Riparian, undulating plains, higher land |
| Coast banksia | Banksia integrifolia | Coastal, arterial roads |
| Crown of gold tree | Barklya syringifolia | Arterial roads |
| Crow's ash | Flindersia australis | Undulating plains, higher land, arterial roads |
| Eumundi quandong | Elaeocarpus eumundi | Riparian, arterial roads |
| Fine-leaved tuckeroo | Lepiderema pulchella | Riparian |
| Flame tree | Brachychiton acerifolius | Higher land, arterial roads |
| Fraser Island apple | Acronychia imperforata | Coastal, riparian, undulating plains |
| Golden shower | Cassia sp 'Paluma Range' | Arterial roads |
| Hairy alectryon | Alectryon connatus | Coastal |
| Hard quandong | Elaeocarpus obovatus | Coastal, wetlands, riparian |
| Hill's fig | Ficus hillii | Arterial roads |
| Hoop pine | Araucaria cunninghamii | Coastal, riparian, higher land, arterial roads |
| Ivory curl | Buckinghamia celsissima | Undulating plains, higher land |
| Jacaranda | Jacaranda mimosifolia | Coastal, undulating plains, higher land, arterial roads |
| Lacebark tree | Brachychiton discolor | Arterial roads |
| Lancewood | Dissiliaria baloghioides | Riparian, undulating plains, higher land |
| Leichhardt bean | Cassia brewsteri | Higher land |
| Lemon-scented myrtle | Backhousia citriodora | Coastal, riparian, undulating plains |
| Leopard ash | Flindersia collina | Riparian, higher land, arterial roads |
| Malletwood | Rhodamnia argentea | Riparian, higher land |
| Moreton Bay fig | Ficus macrophylla | Arterial roads |
| Native frangipani | Hymenospermum flavum | Arterial roads |
| Orange boxwood | Denhamia celastroides | Riparian, undulating plains, higher land |
| Pale pink trumpet tree | Tabebuia pallida | Undulating plains, higher land |
| Pink flowering bottlebrush | Callistemon eureka | Wetlands, riparian, undulating plains, higher land |
| Pink lace flower | Archidendron grandiflorum | Arterial roads |
| Pink trumpet tree | Handroanthus impetiginosus | Undulating plains, higher land, arterial roads |
| Poinciana | Delonix regia | Coastal, undulating plains, higher land, arterial roads |
| Port Jackson fig | Ficus rubiginosa | Arterial roads |
| Queensland kauri pine | Agathis robusta | Higher land, arterial roads |
| Queensland tree waratah | Alloxylon flammeum | Riparian, arterial roads |
| Red flowering tea tree | Melaleuca viridiflora (Red) | Coastal, wetlands, riparian, arterial roads |
| Rose satinash | Syzygium francisii | Wetlands, riparian |
| Silky oak | Grevillea robusta | Higher land, arterial roads |
| Silver trumpet tree | Tabebuia argentea | Arterial roads |
| Small-leaved fig | Ficus obliqua | Arterial roads |
| Small-leaved lilly pilly | Syzygium luehmannii | Riparian, undulating plains |
| Small leaved tuckeroo | Cupaniopsis parvifolia | Coastal, riparian, undulating plains, higher land |
| Swamp box | Lophostemon suaveolens | Coastal, wetlands, riparian |
| Tamarind tree | Tamarindus indica | Higher land, arterial roads |
| Tree wisteria | Bolusanthus speciosus | Higher land, arterial roads |
| Tuckeroo tree | Cupaniopsis anacardioides | Coastal, undulating plains, higher land, arterial roads |
| Velvet bean tree | Cassia tomentella | Higher land |
| Water gum | Tristaniopsis 'Luscious' | Riparian |
| Weeping fig | Ficus benjamina | Arterial roads |
| Weeping satinash | Waterhousea floribunda | Riparian |
| White tamarind | Elattostachys xylocarpa | Coastal, riparian, undulating plains, higher land |
| White bauhinia | Lysiphyllum hookeri | Coastal, undulating plains |
| Willow bottlebrush | Melaleuca salicina | Coastal, wetlands, riparian |
| Yellow boxwood | Planchonella pohlmaniana | Higher land |
| Yellow poinciana | Delonix regia var Flavida | Coastal, undulating plains, higher land, arterial roads |
| Yellow tulipwood | Drypetes deplanchei | Riparian, undulating plains, higher land |
Brisbane trees
Learn how we protect and maintain our trees. Request a tree maintenance inspection.
About Brisbane trees
We protect, plant and maintain your local street and park trees in Brisbane.
Urban trees provide important benefits to our city’s liveability, identity and prosperity.
Street and park trees help to:
- reduce stormwater runoff, manage erosion and improve water quality
- improve our health and wellbeing by providing greener pathways to walk, cycle and encourage healthy outdoor lifestyles
- increase property values and improve economic vitality of business centres
- give shelter, habitat and food for wildlife
- provide beauty, soften our urban environment and form the natural structure of Brisbane’s subtropical landscape character
- improve air quality and help reduce greenhouse gases.
Types of street trees
Brisbane's diverse landscape has a rich variety of trees, ranging from eucalypts to jacarandas.
In Brisbane, we plant tree species that are:
- good performers in the street environment
- low maintenance
- climate resilient.
Council carefully selects species and planting locations to ensure the right tree is planted in the right place. We select tree species based on their suitability to Brisbane's 6 unique landscapes:
- coastal: by the Moreton Bay coast
- wetlands: flooded lands like Boondall Wetlands
- riparian: creek side areas along citywide waterways
- undulating plains: suburban plains and rolling hills
- higher land: elevated prominent hills
- arterial roads: high-traffic major roads.
Protecting street and park trees
Street and park trees are protected under the Natural Assets Local Law 2003 (NALL).
You need permission to trim, remove or interfere with Council trees above and below the ground.
Property owners need a permit to undertake minor pruning on any street tree directly outside their property.
Minor street tree pruning includes removing small branches overhanging the front fence, driveway or footpath.
You need Council approval for work on private property that affects street or park trees.
- New power connection: You need a permit to carry out work on protected vegetation if gaining access to a property to connect power for a new house interferes with a Council tree or its root system.
- Excavation works within a tree's critical root zone: Any excavation works within a Council tree's critical root zone requires a permit to carry out work on protected vegetation. See our Brisbane Standard Drawings, specifically BSD-9081.
- Driveway crossover: Where there is an existing street tree, you must provide a minimum 2-metre clearance to your new driveway, or more where the tree has buttresses. See our driveway technical standards, specifically BSD-2022.
Maintaining street and park trees
Council delivers street and parks trees maintenance programs in Brisbane suburbs throughout the year.
All pruning works are in accordance with best arboricultural practice and Australian Standards.
Our program also manages tree health against fungal diseases and parasites and clears up damage from severe weather events.
Maintenance inspection requests
If you have concerns about a Council tree, you can request a tree maintenance inspection.
Requests can be submitted for concerns about:
- accidental damage (e.g. by a passing vehicle, rubbish collection truck)
- a tree posing an imminent risk to public or property
- blocking a footpath, road, sight lines to traffic signals or signs
- diseased, dead or unhealthy trees
- allergies associated with a tree.
Council does not undertake works for the following concerns.
- Leaf, fruit, seed or flower drop: This is a natural process of the tree. Certain species of tree will shed all their leaves at the same time and others will shed their leaves throughout the year. This includes leopard trees.
- Shading of private swimming pools or solar panels: Where trees were planted before pool or solar panel installation.
- Improvement of views from private property
Request a tree maintenance inspection
Use our online form to request a maintenance inspection on a tree.
What you need
Record information
To complete a request, you need to provide:
- location details for the tree including suburb and postcode
- a reason for the maintenance or removal
- your contact details.
Submit a request
You can submit your request:
- online
- by calling Council on 07 3403 8888.
After you submit your request
A qualified arborist will assess the tree and determine the best course of action (if any), based on Council’s guidelines.
A tree inspection will be completed within 30 days. Where the works are urgent, Council will attend within 5 hours.
Assessment outcomes
The arborist will decide the outcome following the inspection resulting in:
- no action
- pruning works
- health management (tree rehabilitation)
- replacement.
Replacement is the last resort and only if the other options have been exhausted. The tree will be removed, the stump ground and the hole filled with soil to prepare the area for the new tree to be planted.
If the location is suitable, a new suitable tree (not always the same species) will be planted in its place. If the original location is not suitable, a tree will be planted within the local area. Council does not turf areas following a tree replacement.
Under Council guidelines, low-hanging branches may be pruned to achieve:
- 2.4 metre clearance for pedestrian access on verges and footpaths
- 4.5 metre clearance on residential and industrial roads, and bikeways
- 5 metre clearance on arterial roads.
Works timeframes
If works are required, they are prioritised by associated risk.
- Low-risk works: Council will deliver these works within 90 days from the date of your request.
- High-risk works: Council will prioritise these works to be delivered within an appropriate timeframe, including undertaking works within 24-hours for urgent work.
Tree planting
We enrich Brisbane's urban landscape by planting a vibrant array of street and park trees throughout the city.
We carefully select tree species and planting locations to ensure each tree is planted in the right place.
Council chooses trees to:
- provide shade, amenity, beauty and colour
- suit site conditions
- not interfere with underground or overhead services such as powerlines
- not obstruct visibility for road users and pedestrians
- complement the character of an area
- provide habitat for local wildlife.
We also ensure new trees don’t impact existing infrastructure such as:
- electricity
- water supply
- fire suppression
- traffic signals
- footpaths
- pedestrian crossings.
Our proactive approach towards tree planting targets suburbs that need shade trees to provide shade to our streets and parks, as well as supporting the reduction of heat where needed in hotter areas of the city.
Council’s proactive approach towards tree planting is currently focused on:
- shade trees at bus stops
- community tree planting events in 2025 at Aspley, Coorparoo, Keperra, Mt Gravatt East and Norman Park
- various locations under the Sun-safe suburban playgrounds program to complement the installation of shade sails.
Council's community street tree planting program invites the community to plant street and park trees at fun and informative local events. These plantings target sunny and open footpaths to increase shade in local neighbourhoods.
In 2024-25, community tree planting events being held from 9am to 12 noon at:
- Aspley: Saturday 5 April 2025, at Marchant Park
- Coorparoo: Saturday 17 May 2025, at Coorparoo Creek Reserve
- Keperra : Saturday 31 May 2025, at Silvertop Street Park
- Mt Gravatt East: Saturday 14 June 2025, at Kentish Street Park.
For event details, visit What's on in Brisbane.
Council does not permit residents to plant trees on Council land.
Any planting of this kind will be considered unlawful street tree plantings and trees will be removed.
If you would like a tree planted on the Council verge outside of your house, phone Council on 07 3403 8888.
Frequently asked questions
You will need to determine if your tree is protected vegetation under Council’s Natural Assets Local Law. If the tree is protected, you may need a permit before you attempt prune it yourself.
To undertake minor pruning of any street tree outside your property, you need to apply for a permit.
If works beyond what is permitted through the permit are required to a street tree, you will need to request a maintenance inspection.