Only 15 species of Eucalyptus trees occur naturally outside of Australia and of these 15 only Eucalyptus deglupta made it to the northern hemisphere without human help. Eucalyptus deglupta is native to the lowland rainforests of Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, and the Philippines. The tree grows rapidly to 75 meters in height (about 250 feet) which makes it one of the world’s giants. Sometimes it becomes so large that it grows 3-4 meter tall buttresses to help it support itself. Because of its rapid growth, large size, and medium-strength, slightly lustrous wood, these eucalyptus trees are grown commercially in huge monoculture plantations for pulping into paper.
The most remarkable aspect of this huge useful tree is its remarkable bark color. The tree sheds long strips of bark throughout the year which exposes greenish yellow inner bark. The exposed stripes of green then change color to orange, purple, red, maroon, and dark green. Since the tree is constantly shedding narrow strips of bark its trunk becomes dazzling vertically striped rainbow of lovely colors. In wet tropical gardens around the world the Eucalyptus deglupta is grown as an ornamental highlight both because of its beautiful color and impressive size.
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October 2, 2012 at 10:29 AM
SpidrGoddess
Wow! Nature never ceases to amaze me. I would like to have one of these planted in my yard!!
October 4, 2012 at 9:39 AM
Wayne
I wouldn’t mind having one either, but I don’t think they would like Brooklyn (unless global climate change transforms the borough into a tropical rainforest).
July 13, 2013 at 8:30 AM
Steve McL
only for really big backyards
August 14, 2013 at 4:21 AM
Benny
only for really big tropical backyards 😉
November 13, 2013 at 10:06 PM
Bret Fisher
They grow well here in San Diego, reaching about fifty feet, I would guess. The bark is not quite as colorful as these photos, but it’s still astonishing!