Eucalyptus calycogona (Square-fruited Mallee)

Eucalyptus calycogona (Square- fruited Mallee)

This lovely flowering Eucalypt is Eucalyptus calycogona. This particular plant with the deep pink flowers is the one that was being given away as a memento of the Jubilee 150 celebrations in South Australia in 1986. It appears that this is subspecies calycogona as the white to pale pink form is called subspecies ‘Eastern’. I photographed this in a small planting up the road from here.

A friend living near the Victorian border brought me a bunch of the flowers from trees growing on their fence line each winter. In spite of thinking me wierd she persisted for many years with this offering until they retired into town. It grows well on the limestone here despite the fact that the books say ‘prefers heavy loams’.