Eucalyptus kruseana bookleaf mallee

Our sole Eucalyptus kruseana, on Campus Drive at Bonair Siding. A national champion, it is well protected during construction. Sairus Patel, 7 May 2018

Yellow flowers, opposite leaves, and fruit capsules of Eucalyptus kruseana. Sairus Patel, 7 May 2018

Bookleaf mallee, also known as Kruse’s mallee, is a suitable eucalypt for a small garden. It grows to a height of about 8 feet and bears small, light blue-green, rounded leaves that clasp the stem in pairs. It is one of only a handful of species of eucalypt that retains its juvenile foliage indefinitely.

It is frost resistant, survives with only 8 inches of rain, and is not particular about soil – or adjacent curbs, hydrants, or blacktop, as evidenced by the location of our only specimen, on Campus Drive at Bonair Siding, a national champion big tree at 16 feet high, a trunk circumference of 6 inches, and a crown spread of 23 feet (as of 2013).

E. kruseana has been used elsewhere as a small street tree and can even, with patience, be trained along a trellis.

Eucalyptus kruseana voucher. Courtesy of Prof. Matt Ritter and Robert F. Hoover Herbarium, Cal Poly State University

Related material: Eucalyptus checklist.