Eucalyptus punctata gray gum

A medium to tall tree not commonly cultivated, gray gum has smooth peeling bark and fruits in groups of 7 on peduncles that are somewhat flattened or angular. The leaves are paler on the undersides. Four planted in 2008 are on Lasuen Street near the vernal pool in the Arboretum, at the west end of the Bracewell Memorial Grove. They were grown from seed collected in the Vasona Lake Eucalypt Grove in Los Gatos that eucalypt enthusiast Max Watson planted in the 1960s. Ours have lush, spreading crowns and trunks with finely textured orangish gray bark. Another planted in 1970 at Heliopolis, Professor Ron Bracewell’s experimental planting site, was last verified in 2006.

Illustrations: Eucalypt voucher gallery.

Related material: Eucalyptus checklist.