The Spotted Gum of the Botanical Gardens

Every other tree on this page came from somewhere else. A Douglas fir out of Oregon, a kauri from the Queensland rainforest, two sequoias from California, a Himalayan cypress, a Norfolk Island pine, three dawn redwoods descended from one Chinese valley. This one is Australian, which on a list of Hobart's remarkable trees turns out to be the exception rather than the rule. Be precise about it, though. Corymbia maculata grows wild along the coast of New South Wales and into southern Queensland and does not occur naturally in Tasmania, so it is native to the country and not to the island, and it was planted here for the same reason as all the rest: a nineteenth century botanical garden collecting specimens from everywhere it could reach. The bark is why to walk over. Spotted gums shed theirs in irregular patches through the warmer months, leaving a smooth trunk mottled in grey, cream, olive and pink that shifts as the year goes on, and no two trees carry the same pattern. The City of Hobart lists it for its appearance, its dimensions and its place in a historic garden, and as with every Gardens entry on that register it records no measurements and no planting date, so its age is unknown. Free to enter, gates open from 8am daily.