Pronounciation: Ewe-ka-LIP-tus sa-LU-bris

Hardiness zones:
Sunset 8-24
USDA 9-11

Landscape Use: Small, open-canopied tree, light shade, great for residential or other small urban landscape spaces, excellent patio tree, best if used in groupings of multiple trees because of relatively sparsely dense canopy.

Form & Character: Sleek (smooth bronzy to copper brown trunk) and refined evergreen small tree, classy.

Growth Habit: Evergreen, woody, 'broadleaf' (actually quite narrow) perennial tree, moderate and variable growth rate to 15- to 50-feet tall (usually around 25 feet) with somewhat lesser spread, open canopy, usually multi-trunk.

Foliage/texture: Small, lanceolate to linear leaves to 3-inches long, gray green sometimes tinged with red when young, trunk shedding to become smooth, bronze copper metallic in color; medium fine texture.

Flowers & fruits: Flowers small, white; fruits a small, pedicellate, obconical to hemispherical cap, insignificant.

Seasonal color: None

Temperature: Heat tolerant, cold hardy to 15^o to 20^oF.

Light: Full sun

Soil: Tolerant

Watering: Moderately drought tolerant, some summer supplemental water is desirable.

Pruning: Train this tree extensively when it is small and young by crown raising so as to expose its wonderfully smooth and colorful trunk character. For mature trees, avoid making large pruning cuts and wounds that can take years to seal over.

Propagation: Seed

Disease and pests: None

Additional comments: Once established, the gimlet tree is potentially one of the nicest small eucalypts for cluster plantings in Phoenix residential landscapes. It does though need expert training when young to develop that wonderful trunk effect. However, in my opinion Eucalyptus spathulata makes a nicer small specimen tree because of its denser canopy when a small specimen tree is desired for that right place in a xeric landscape design motif.

Random tidbits: The gimlets are a group of Australian eucaluypts that have slender, fluted, twisted, shiny colorful trunks, irregular oil glands on their leaves, and irregularly and deeply pitted seed-coats. The species name salubris is latin for healthful, wholesome, and beneficial.