Eucalyptus goniocalyx long-leaved box

The most striking feature of this rough-barked eucalypt is the longitudinal angles, sometimes approaching clear ridges, on the elongated cups of its flower buds. This attribute is noted in its species name: gonia is Greek for angle, and also gives us “trigonometry” and “pentagon.” Its ancestor has the additional meaning of knee, understandably, and bestows us “genuflect” via the Latin genu, and even the word knee itself (its ‘k’ was voiced in Old and Middle English, as it is in German to this day).

The buds are about ⅗ inches long, without stalks, and grouped in 7s on a flattened peduncle; they develop into cup-shaped capsules. The cups may exhibit the slightly angled edges of the buds, but none have been seen in ours.

Two saplings were planted in the Bracewell Memorial Grove south of the vernal pool in 2008.

In 2024, a bushtit’s nest was discovered on one of them – a tightly woven, peanut shell–shaped structure, hanging among the pendulous branches, well hidden from predators.

Related material: Eucalyptus checklist.