Agonis flexuosa willow myrtle, peppermint

Agonis flexuosa flowering, Stanford Avenue greenbelt. Sairus Patel, 10 Jun 2023

Twisted trunk, branches, and leaves of Agonis flexuosa, Stanford Avenue greenbelt. Sairus Patel, 13 Oct 2019

Narrow, drooping leaves along relaxed, zigzagging branchlets give this small tree a willow-like aspect. Crush the leaves for the refreshing peppermint-myrtle fragrance promised by its common names. Pretty white flowers appear in clusters, and the woody capsules that follow are tightly packed into almost perfectly spherical heads – hence Agonis, from Greek agon, “gathering” (later also “contest,” whence protagonist, and “struggle,” whence agony). The finely furrowed bark forms a delicate net-like pattern when young, which becomes dramatically enlarged and rough on stout trunks, though local trees are all rather slight.

Willow myrtles planted in 2023 line the Campus Drive sidewalk at Castaño, the first to be welcomed onto campus in many decades. A much-reduced tree dating from 1972 is tucked away in the Stanford Avenue greenbelt behind 836 Santa Fe Avenue (map pin). A wispy, burgundy-leaved selection, ‘Jervis Bay Afterdark’ or similar, can be seen at Haus Mitteleuropa (620 Mayfield Avenue) on the right; another is at 771 Center Drive, on the right, in Palo Alto.