Forman's Mallee is a small Western Australian eucalypt that grows as a multi-stemmed mallee or small tree up to about 10 m, with fine, crowded leaves. It is a hardy, drought-tolerant native best suited to dry, sandy, open sites.
Family
Myrtaceae (Myrtle family)
Grows as
Tree
Light
Full sun
Water
Water deeply but infrequently, letting the soil dry out between waterings; established plants need little extra water.
Soil
Well-drained sandy or sandy loam soil; tolerates poor, infertile ground.
Temperature
Tolerates hot, dry summers and mild frosts; protect young plants from hard frost.
How easy
Moderate
Native range
SC. Western Australia
Climate
desert or dry shrubland
About
Eucalyptus formanii, commonly known as Die Hardy mallee, Forman's mallee or feather gum, is a species of tree or mallee that is endemic to Western Australia. It has rough bark over most, or all of its trunk, smooth bark above, linear adult leaves, flower buds in groups of seven or nine, creamy white flowers and cup-shaped to hemispherical fruit.
How to grow it
The fine, crowded leaves and coppicing features of this eucalypt may have ornamental value.
Where it grows
Die Hardy mallee is found on ironstone slopes north of Bullfinch in the Coolgardie, Murchison and Yalgoo biogeographic regions of Western Australia, where it grows in sandy soils. It forms part of low woodland communities that cover a substantial part of the base of the Mount Manning Nature Reserve, occurring on flat sandy plains in broad valleys with sandy loam soil types. The low woodlands on plains are made up of 10 m (33 ft) high trees over an understorey of Triodia rigidissima. The composition of the flora is complex with several intermediate strata of tall and low shrubs consisting of Grevillea acuaria, Bossiaea walkeri and various species of Eremophila.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Eucalyptus formanii by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.