An iconic tree in New Zealand gardens, beloved for its fruit. Which is a bit ironic, since it's native to the highlands of Columbia, Brazil and Uraguay, and reached New Zealand via France then California. The flowers are pretty amazing too.

Fay-ho-uh in Spanish-speaking countries of South America or fee-jo-uh in the United States and New Zealand. Originally Acca sellowiana, until it got stranded alone in it's own genus, and renamed. AKA pineapple guava, fig guava and guavasteen, although it's not a true gauva, and quirina (lusified from kanê kriyne[a] by the indigenous Kaingang of southern Brazil). The binomial honours João da Silva Feijó, a Portuguese naturalist, and Friedrich Sellow, a German who first collected specimens of Feijoa in southern Brazil.

Pollinated by bees, bumblebees, and medium-sized birds, although some cultivars are self-fertilising.

Cultivated for fruit in New Zealand, California, and Colombia, but grown over a wider area as an ornamental. The fruit is sweet and tart, and highly aromatic with a hard-to-describe flavour, but alas has a short shelf life and easily bruise, making export difficult. The petals are also edible.

Some poor unfortunate souls find the aroma of feijoa sickly, and the fruit soapy. One has to wonder what they did in a previous life to deserve that fate.

AKA kānuka, but that common name is usually applied to Kunzea ericoides. On the other hand, this species was part of the K. ericoides species complex until 2014. On the other hand, genetic differences between species in the complex are slight, and they may have to be folded back into one species again.

Until then, this particular species is most common in low-lying and coastal areas, and nearby hills, on the North and South Island.

Formerly Astartea heteranthera.

At least, I think it's this one - it didn't have a label on it.

Cyathostemon derives from the Greek kyathos (a cup) and stemon (stamen) referring to the cup-like tube formed by the stamens in this genus, and the specific refers to the variable anthers.

It's native to Western Australia, in a long band from the Geraldton Sandplains SE to the Esperance region. It grows in sandy soils over laterite or granite, reaching at best about 2m in height.

Some Astartea are so easy to grow that they are sometimes weedy, but I have no idea if that is the case for this one.

AKA gum-topped stringybark, white-top and in Victoria as woollybutt.

First formally described in 1900 by Richard Thomas Baker from a specimen collected by William Baeuerlen, (previously known as Wilhelm Bäuerlen) on Mount Delegate, a distinctive peak in the Snowy Mountains near the border of NSW and Victoria.

A large eucalypt, sometimes reaching 90m in height, growing in SE Australia usually on slopes, in grassy or wet forest, in deep fertile soil. One of the two subspecies is endemic to Tasmania.

This particular individual, the Twisted Gum, is a landmark in Christchurch, and one of the largest trees in the Botanical Gardens. It was planted a bit of 100 years ago, but was misidentified as Eucalyptus gigantea (which is now Eucalyptus globulus anyway). In 2020 they replaced the lawn around it with deep mulch, and installed a wooden platform up to the base, to reduce the ill-effects soil compaction was having on the enormous tree.

Photo from Jan 2025 by Peter Shelton.

The twisted trunk is a common growth pattern in Eucalypts growing unsurrounded by other trees, as the torsion gives them extra resilance against strong wind.

Eucalyptus torquata

Australia has hundreds of Eucalyptus species, and a large percentage of them have small white flowers that aren't very showy, so we greatly appreciate those that buck the trend and produce dazzling flowers, as seen here with E. torquata. The base of the flower is glossy scarlet, and the many pink stamens make a stunning addition. This small tree is endemic to Western Australia. Eucalyptus is part of the Myrtle Family.

Type species of the genus, although it was originally described by French botanist René Louiche Desfontaines in 1839 as Chamelaucium plumosum. In 1917, English botanist and Mayor of Oxford George Druce moved it to Verticordia. However, it's not sure who collected the type specimen, or where from.

Widespread from Dongara to Esperance, in sandy or clayey soils, gravel, and around rocky outcrops, in seasonally wet situations, and on undulating plains, hills, and road verges.

AKA pricklybark or dwutta. First formally described by Ferdinand von Mueller in 1882, and named after Emil Todt, a botanical artist who drew some of the plates for Mueller's Atlas of Eucalypts. At least 14 other eucalypts have the common name Blackbutt, usually because they've survived bushfires that scorched the lower bark.

An often sprawling, slow-growing tree or mallee that may reach 15 m in height and forms a lignotuber. Young plants and coppice regrowth have sessile leaves that are elliptical to oblong and arranged in opposite pairs. Adult leaves are arranged alternately, light green, and lance-shaped. The abundant white-cream flowers appear in summer and early autumn.

Endemic to scrub and open woodland on sandy flats and gentle slopes on the coastal plain between Perth and Dongara.