Eucalyptus deglupta rainbow gum

Rainbow gum, center, in the Inner Quad (since removed). Sairus Patel, 12 Jun 2021

Eucalyptus deglupta fruit capsules, Inner Quad. Sairus Patel, 9 Apr 2022

Fabled for its coat of many colors, the rainbow gum is further distinguished as one of a handful of eucalypts not native to Australia.

One appeared in each of the two islands in front of Memorial Church in 2016. From spindly 2-foot sticks, they rapidly put on height and girth, the one in the inner northwest island setting fruit in 2019. The smooth, peeling bark exposes inner bark of sage green, changing to copper, vermilion, and tan – nothing like the undoubtedly touched-up technicolor trunks of seed catalogs and travel advertisements, but very handsome nonetheless. Both trees were felled in 2023. Yet later that year six new specimens, each about 8 feet tall and most already budding, were planted in the Arboretum a hundred feet northwest of the griffins.

Eucalyptus deglupta buds against the fallen strips of bark, Inner Quad. Sairus Patel, 4 Dec 2022