<i> Eucalyptus sideroxylon</i>

Red ironbark eucalyptus, pink ironbark eucalyptus

Evergreen tree with gray-green leaves and pink flowers

Although the leaves are distinctively eucalyptic in color, shape and character, sideroxylon’s bark looks more like an elm, dark and deeply fissured, a perfect foil for its beautiful leaves and flowers.

Unlike the common blue gums and lemon-scented gums, sideroxylon’s trunk has no peeling or mottling, no pale smoothness, no messy shredding. (In Australia, ironbark is the name given to any eucalyptus with a tough and rough bark, while gum denotes the smooth or peeling bark.)

There are about 150 kinds of eucalyptuses growing in Southern California; some of the most popular varieties are those, like sideroxylon, that have a graceful, weeping growth habit. Eucalyptus caesia, camaldulensis (red gum), melliodora, nicholii (Nichol’s willow-leafed peppermint), pulchella (white peppermint) and rudis (desert or swamp gum) all share the same droopy-leaf look.

Some of those, as is obvious from their common names, have scented leaves and a few have pretty flowers. But none can claim the double beauty of sideroxylon’s pink-edged, scimitar-shaped leaves and its fluffy pink flowers that bloom almost all winter.

Sideroxylon is handsome enough to stand on its own, but a solitary sentinel can’t achieve the impact of a row or grove. Sideroxylons grow fast to 20 feet or even 80 feet and are long-lived. They make fine street trees, the roots only moderately belligerent. Those beautiful leaves can make a small mess on city streets, but in a garden they will provide a light, attractive mulch.

There is some variation within the sideroxylon species; some trees are more like shrubs, some have a wide-open branching habit and some poor specimens don’t even have the weeping form.

If a nursery salesperson isn’t sure what a particular tree will be, ask if you may order one to your specifications. Better yet, grow your own from seed: Gather the seedpods from a tree that looks good to you, crack them open, shake out the seeds onto a sterile growing medium (such as vermiculite) and keep shaded and lightly watered until they sprout.

There are no guarantees, of course; you may end up with a dud anyway. But it will be a free dud.