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What is this strange and interesting tree?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/23042737@N07/sets/721...
I've been trying to figure it out for years. I must not be asking the right people. I even snapped off a branch and used an online leaf identifier. None of the trees listed matched it! Crummy program. Anyway, they are all over Orange County in Southern California, lining streets, filling parks and campuses, tall, sometimes bare and white, sometimes tan and peeling, sometimes convoluted from numerous trimmings to keep them polite and respectable city trees. Their tops as the pictures show appear tufted from below, like something drawn by Dr. Seuss. The leaves are narrow, light to medium green, slightly curvy, pointed, and grow in masses along the branch. I don't know about nuts or fruits from them.
I had thought before it could not be a eucalyptus because of the leaves I usually see in association with the name, the little round ones along a stalk. But on looking it up, you were right, a couple of you... if they aren't eucalyptus, then I dunno what they are. Of course, I didn't know what they were anyway, but never mind that. The leaves do indeed look just like these I found in a search:
http://www.gardeninginarizona.com/Plants/Myrtaceae...
Thanks for responding. Now I know the name of what has become one of my favorite trees since I moved here from Louisiana.
Heh, I guess you would think of it as a "basic" red gum eucalyptus if you grew up here, the way I knew about the "basic" cypress tree that grew in the swamps where I grew up. That's what I was looking for, a native. ;) Thanks for all the info!
Last detail I will add... it's a eucalyptus. The thing is somewhere around 40 feet tall, at least those in the pictures are. I know I didn't photograph the bottom of the tree, but surely it still doesn't look little, like the desert willow... even the goofy answerer said it looked tall. Thanks again for chiming in, everybody.
9 Answers
- 1 decade agoFavorite Answer
It's just your basic red gum eucalyptus. They are semi-evergreen, meaning that they do not normally shed leaves in winter, but will if it gets cold enough (which it doesn't in Orange County - I grew up on the LA/Orange County line). They put out flowers in spring and grow these little acorn-looking pods that drop around fall.
The eucalyptus trees originally came to California from Australia back in the mid 1800s. Railroad companies liked the very hard eucalyptus wood and they planned to grow them for the railroad ties for the trans-continental railroad. But, eucalyptus grows in a twisting pattern, making the wood useless for railroad ties. Eucalyptus is now mostly used for fire wood (it burns extremely hot for a long time). And, the essential oils from the leaves are used in various home remedies (like soothing balms and such).
The eucalyptus trees in Australia actually serve as a source of sugar for Aboriginal tribes. The leaves are susceptible to infestation by an insect called a lerp psyllid (pronounced sill`-id). This bug sucks out the sap from the leaves and secretes a hard cocoon that is mostly made of sugar. A tiny wasp native to Australia penetrates this cocoon and kills the lerp psyllid, leaving the cocoon mostly intact. The Aboriginals would then boil the leaves to melt the sugar and extract it from the solution.
Source(s): Yes, I have way too much trivial knowledge about eucalyptus trees. - Anonymous1 decade ago
Looks like a eucalyptus to me and I'm in Australia. There are hundreds of varieties and they don't all have the typical long leaf. The bark is renewed by peeling off annually. Definitely not a birch.
- 1 decade ago
Do you have any close-ups of the leaves and how the leaves are arranged on the branch? Do they shed their leaves? It looks like a Eucalyptus to me but cannot be sure without seeing the leaves.
- waxLv 45 years ago
properly, I even have some... 9 generations in the past a member of my relatives (Mercy Lewis) accused some human beings of being witches.. Ever pay attention of the Salem Witch Trials? simply by fact of my relative and a few different young women, 23 harmless human beings have been positioned to their deaths. additionally, on the different part of the relatives i'm with reference to the guy who invented the 1st horselss carriage. Ransom Eli Olds. Ever pay attention of Oldsmobiles? Yep... the 1st one replace into his. I could say, i may well be humbled to fulfill anybody of my ancestors from centuries in the past. Wow, are you able to think of spending a night with them only speaking approximately something... What an honor which would be.
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- 1 decade ago
This tree is known as a Desert Willow. (Chilopsis Linearis)
Source(s): I'm a Mid-Western Arborist - 1 decade ago
Its a Birchtree. not a eeucalyptus. we have a few around our house .those are cool trees but they are a bit of a mess
Source(s): BSA handbook - weatherLv 61 decade ago
here are a few trees it might be
desert rose
eleaocarpus dentatus
best guess is a floss silk tree.
good luck
