Melaleuca quinquenervia broad-leaved paperbark

Melaleuca quinquenervia at Cardenal. Sairus Patel, 20 Mar 2020

Thick, spongy sheets of pale bark peel off the trunk, making this one of the most tactile trees at Stanford. I have tacked a large, ragged sheet of bark from an enormous, shedding M. quinquenervia in Southern California to the wall of my den, where it looks like the skinned hide of a trophy animal.

The elongated leaves are larger and broader than those of most other melaleucas, usually with five prominent veins running their length, hence quinque-nervia. Creamy bottlebrush flowers complete the picture. In Florida, however, the species has spread aggressively through the Everglades, displacing native vegetation.

A single, slender specimen is in the courtyard between Cardenal and Alondra. More than a dozen large trees line the southwest side of the Stock Farm Garage. More recently, several have been planted on Campus Drive East near Manzanita Field and Quillen Highrise, the creamy trunks providing a handsome contrast against the hedges of dark-leaved tea tree near the field.