The 'extremely rare' tree Aussies should plant in their garden

Aussies are being urged to take notice of an “extremely rare” eucalyptus tree that can only be found growing in a handful of remote locations — or even better, pop one in their own garden.

With its vibrant green flowers and long, winding tentacle-like bud caps, it’s hard not be entertained by the “fascinating” eucalyptus sinuosa, making it the perfect backyard ornament, Malcolm French, who has studied the genus for over 40 years, told Yahoo News Australia on Thursday.

Also known commonly as an octopus mallee, the plant endemic to a small area on Western Australia’s southeastern coast, is a “very unusual” eucalypt, the associate researcher at the WA Herbarium, said.

“The buds are the largest in the genus of the eucalypts and the bud caps in particular are very long… It forms up to 25 buds per stalk, all the buds are in a ball if you like,” he explained.

“On the bud they’ve actually got a black bulbous tip, and there’s only two species in the genus that have that.”

About 500 are known to exist in the wild, with a large percentage of the population growing in the Fitzgerald River National Park. Mr French told Yahoo he’s not sure why there are so few, but believes the eucalyptus sinuosa should be a higher priority on the endangered species list.

“Normally eucalypts are very site specific to their soils and habitats. There may have been more growing before — some of the country where they grow has since been cleared,” he said.

Researchers stunned by 'very unusual' eucalyptus species

The eucalyptus sinuosa was only discovered about 20 years ago by Mr French and fellow eucalyptus expert Dean Nicolle, a botanist and ecologist who runs Currency Creek Arboretum in South Australia.

Although it was first found by others, they didn’t recognise the bush as being different from others in the lehmannii subspecies in which it belongs to.

“But when we went out looking for it and found it, we recognised straight away that this is a very different beast because of the buds being much longer and more of them,” Mr French, who often conducts surveys with Mr Nicolle, told Yahoo.

“The fruits are in big balls and quite spiky.” The researcher said the plant’s strange flowers and curled bud caps immediately reminded him of an octopus.

• 🕷️ Aussie puzzled by bizarre backyard find that's rarely seen

• 🌱 Calls to ban invasive plant making gardens 'ticking time bombs'

• 🪲 Council warns Aussies amid threat of 'highly invasive' pest

Rare eucalyptus tree easy to grow in small gardens

Despite their sparseness, the eucalyptus sinuosa is not a difficult plant to grow and is “just starting to be planted out in cultivation as an ornamental tree”.

“In fact, I’ve got one growing just out the front of the house,” Mr French said of the species which can reach up to 4m tall. The Kings Park and Botanic Garden in Perth is now growing the plants and will start selling them soon, he added.

“It’s a Mallee so it’s easily managed… you can lob some limbs off and it’ll re-sprout. So for people with small gardens, you can actually manage it which is really good, and enjoy the massive, massive flowers.

“Hopefully it’ll become quite more common across the southern areas of Western Australia.”