The Beauty of Bark

Gum trees have some of the most beautiful bark in nature.When eucalypts shed their bark, interesting patterns form on the trunk and the peeling bark can expose colors.

Bark types are often used in a tree's identification.

                          This eucalypt sheds its bark annually leaving a smooth surface.

The stringy bark tree has long-fibred bark which can be pulled off in strings.

In the ironbark category the dead bark is hard, thick and deeply furrowed. 

Tessellated bark ( small squares like a mosaic) is short-fibred, hard and woody.

In some species of eucalypts the trunk is disfigured by black horizontal scars caused by the burrowing of insect larvae.

Some eucalypts shed their bark in ribbons, strips or curls.

The eucalypts in the box group are short-fibred, grey,and flaky.