Mountain Orange Gum

Description:

One of my favourite eucalypt species, the Mountain Orange Gum is an Australian native tree and belongs to the family Myrtaceae. It ranges from the Northern Tablelands of NSW to the Granite Belt of southwest Queensland. Height can reach 15 metres, and it always has the most unusual trunk shapes and grows in what seems to be the most inhospitable of locations. However, it's the bark of this species that attracts me the most, with all its textures and beautiful colours. Hues of cream, silver-grey and grey-brown, salmon and orange, and red-brown, all change with the varying light of day. The link gives a good description of the species.

Habitat:

Found mostly in dry sclerophyll woodlands on poor skeletal soils on acid granite or sandstone - in this case, granite, plus accumulated leaf litter. Spotting located in the Torrington State Conservation Area, on the Northern Tablelands of NSW. Extreme variations in temperature, ranging from freezing cold (sometimes snow) in winter, and intense heat in summer, plus the occurence of droughts and bushfires. This spotting was at a very exposed location on a granite ridge, and almost seemed to be growing out of the rock. That seems to be a common feature of the species.