Small Eucalypts suitable for south Western Australian gardens

The Eucalypts are almost uniquely Australian with a handful found outside of Australia and can be categorised as belonging to three closely related genera of Eucalyptus:

• Eucalyptus – about 800 species
• Corymbia – about 100 species
• Angophora – about 12 species

Eucalypts come in all shapes and sizes and their habit can be divided into three distinct groups:

• Mallee – a multi-stemmed, usually spreading plant and lignotuberous meaning that it will recover from fire by resprouting from the lignotuber at ground level.
• Mallet – usually single-trunked, usually erect tree and is killed by fire. Regenerates only from seed.
• Tree – usually single-trunked and following fire, regrowth occurs from epicormic shoots on the trunks and branches and from a usually inconspicuous lignotuber, if one is present.

Eucalypts are the most dominant tree in Australia and are found in all shapes and sizes. Unfortunately, today with our ever-decreasing garden, verge and park sizes, it is rare to find Eucalypts grown at all. Where this is most apparent is in our urban landscape where hardly any tree let alone a Eucalypt is grown mainly because of the lack of room to plant a large tree which would provide so many benefits including cooling from harsh temperatures, shade, softening of hard landscapes such as houses, buildings and streets, aesthetic beauty and let’s not forget the birds, insects and small mammals that often rely on these trees for their survival.

This e-book gives you not only a list of small Eucalypts suitable for your garden but detailed information on each of the trees.

PDF file size: 6.7 MB.

Last update 8-3-2026