Eucalyptus pulverulenta
silver-leaved mountain gum
At a distance, E. pulverulenta, the powdery one, can be mistaken for E. cinerea, the ashen one, because of the similarity in general coloration. The bark, stripping off in ribbons, is quite different. This plant clearly has little interest in becoming an upright tree, and is happy to send its branches down as well as up. To be polite you could say it is a designer tree. It is covered with small, round, light-blue juvenile leaves. The buds and fruit are in threes and not so very different in shape from those of E. cinerea.
Two specimens are among several E. cinerea in the grove at the northeast corner of Stanford Avenue and Peter Coutts Road. A really wild, tall specimen planted by professor William Bark in 1960 was at the corner of Alvarado Row and Pine Hill Road. Sprawling versions on Campus Drive East between Escondido Road and Jane Stanford Way have been removed; one was remarkable in having a large proportion of adult form leaves. Trees trained in standard upright form can be obtained from nurseries.
Related material: Eucalyptus checklist.
About this Entry: The main text of this entry is from the book Trees of Stanford and Environs, by Ronald Bracewell, published 2005. Locations made up to date; edits (Nov 2023, SP).
