Fagus

Deciduous beech (Nothofagus gunii), or fagus, as it is best known, is Australia's only deciduous tree. Endemic to Tasmania, it has a magnificent autumn (fall) display.

Its leaves change from rust red through to brilliant gold during late April and May. The actual time of fagus colouring varies from year to year and between locations. It is best to check with a tour operator or national park office before you visit.

Fagus is a small tree, growing to two metres (6.5 feet) or less. It grows in cool, damp places, so is often best seen in the remote highlands. Bushwalkers who have been caught up in its twisted, ground-hugging branches can testify to its other name, tanglefoot.

But you can also find some very accessible stands along the Dove Lake circuit, in Cradle Mountain - Lake St Clair National Park and around Lake Fenton or higher on Tarn Shelf in Mount Field National Park.

It was the present distribution of the plant, in South America, New Zealand, Antarctica, Tasmania and their near neighbours, that first suggested to scientists that these landmasses might once have been joined.

• Just why fagus is the only deciduous Australian tree derives from that ancestry.