Also called Yellow Gum, Blue Gum, Desert Blue Gum, Large Fruited South Australian Blue Gum, Scribbly Blue Gum, South Australia Blue Gum, South Australian Blue Gum
Eucalyptus leucoxylon is a small to medium eucalypt native to south-eastern Australia, widely grown in gardens and streetscapes. It is drought-tolerant once established and does best in full sun with good drainage.
Family
Myrtaceae (Myrtle family)
Grows as
Tree
Light
Full sun
Water
Water deeply but infrequently once established; young plants need regular watering through their first summers.
Soil
Well-drained soil, tolerates clay, loam and poor or skeletal soils.
Temperature
Tolerates a wide range; frost-hardy to about -8 °C in mature plants, protect young plants from hard frost.
How easy
Easy
Native range
SE. Australia
Climate
subtropical
About
Eucalyptus leucoxylon, commonly known as yellow gum, blue gum or white ironbark, is a species of small to medium-sized tree that is endemic to south-eastern continental Australia. It has smooth yellowish bark with some rough bark near the base, lance-shaped or curved adult leaves, flower buds in groups of three and cylindrical, barrel-shaped or shortened spherical fruit. A widely cultivated species, it has white, red or pink flowers.
Where it grows
This eucalypt species is found in Victoria, south-eastern South Australia and far south-western New South Wales. All six subspecies occur in Victoria. Subspecies bellarinensis is only known from the Bellarine Peninsula near Ocean Grove and Torquay. Subspecies connata grows on skeletal soils, mostly in the Brisbane Ranges. Subspecies leucoxylon is the most widespread species and occurs in scattered populations across Victoria and in south-eastern South Australia, including on Kangaroo Island where the tallest specimens are found. Subspecies megalocarpa is a stunted tree or mallee only found in coastal areas from the far south-east of South Australia to far western Victoria. Subspecies pruinosa occurs in drier areas of South Australia, the Wimmera and Goldfields of Victoria and on the Murray River floodplain near Barham in New South Wales.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Eucalyptus leucoxylon 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.