The Red-Flowering Eucalyptus of Parque Bensaúde

This is the smallest of the four protected trees in Parque Bensaúde and the only one on the list for what it does rather than what it is. At 7 metres tall and 1.45 metres round it is beaten on every measurement by its neighbours. Then high summer arrives and the whole crown goes scarlet. Corymbia ficifolia comes from a narrow strip of coast in southwest Western Australia, a natural range small enough to drive across in an afternoon, and it has been planted around the mild parts of the world for exactly this: dense clusters of red flowers held above the leaves, lasting weeks and dropping a carpet underneath. No age is recorded for it anywhere. It was classified in 2004 for its flowers and for being uncommon in the city rather than for any claim to antiquity, and nobody has dated it since. It stands about 40 metres west of the larger holm oak, close to the field maple, so the park's four classified trees make one loop of a few minutes. Parque Bensaúde was the Quinta de Santo António das Frechas before the council opened it, which is how a private planting of an Australian ornamental ended up on a public list. Somebody wanted red flowers in their own garden, and a century later the garden became everybody's.