Eucalyptus grandis flooded gum, rose gum

A tall and very upright tree that grows in pure groves in moist forests and along the sides of streams in its native haunts, rose gum has done remarkably well in California and in the unirrigated clay of the Bracewell Memorial Grove in the Arboretum. There, the pale boles of four specimens planted in 2008 rise straight up, a rough collar of bark at their base. The leaves are paler on the undersides, the juvenile ones often with wavy margins. The buds come in groups of 7–11; each group is held on a flattened ⅘ inch peduncle. Mature fruit capsules have fierce-looking protruding vales that are incurved. Rose gum (so called because of its pink heartwood) is a valued timber tree and grows in extensive plantations in South Africa and Brazil.