Pronounciation: Gee-JER-a par-vi-FLOOR-a

Hardiness zones:
Sunset 8-9, 12-24
USDA 9-11

Landscape Use: Specimen tree, patio tree, background screen for oasis and mesic landscape design themes.

Form & Character: Upright, oblong rounded form, foliage pendulous (weeping), clean.

Growth Habit: Evergreen, woody, broadleaf (with narrow leaves) perenial tree, slow growth rate when young to faster with age ultimately reaching 30-feet tall with 20- to 25-feet spread.

Foliage/Texture: Leaves glabrous, shiny and thickened, linear to lanceolate, prominent midvein, falcate to about 6-inches long; medium fine texture.

Flowers & Fruits: Small, creamy yellow flowers in terminal branched clusters in spring (occasionally fall) followed by small fruit which dehisces into separate, obtuse sections, inconspicuous.

Seasonal Color: Shows a very subtle flower color in spring.

Temperature: Tolerant of lower Sonoran Desert temperature extremes.

Light: Full sun is best with one important caveat.....DO NOT allow direct exposure of the trunk to western summer sun. In Phoenix, direct summer sunlight on Australian willow trunks = sunscald injury every time.

Soil: Well drained

Watering: In Phoenix, Australian willow needs regular supplemental water, relatively drought intolerant.

Pruning: Raise the canopy base only minimally as necessary to avoid trunk sunscald injury.

Propagation: Difficult to propagate by either seed or cutting.

Disease and Pests: Quite prone to Phytophthora root rot.

Additional comments: Australian willow has a willow-like grace mixed with eucalyptus toughness, except for its high potential for sunscald injury on thin barked trunk caused by direct exposure to Phoenix sun. Overall, Australian willow is a clean tree with little to no litter problem that is seldomly seen in Phoenix. It generally performs better in coastal California than in California or Arizona low deserts. Australian willow is a close relative to Citrus.

Ethnobotanical note: Native Australian Aboriginal peoples used crushed leaves of Australian willow for internal and external pain relief.