I drove by this spectacular tree recently, and decided that I needed to elevate it to one of San Francisco’s best! So on another part of this site, I’m decree-ing this to be one of San Francisco’s top 10 best trees. (Oh, except that that list is now up to 13 - so it’s #13…)

The tree is a spotted gum (Corymbia maculata) from Eastern Australia, and I first encountered it on our Inner Mission tree tour in May 2020. I used to think of this tree as better suited to southern California, but I’m seeing more and more successful examples around San Francisco. This one just couldn’t be better - tall, with perfect form, beautiful mottled barK characteristic of the species, and nicely situated adjacent to Mission Community Pool on 19th Street between Guerrero and Valencia Streets.

Spotted gums were also planted the entire length of Van Ness Avenue, in the center median as part of the bus rapid transit project that (finally!) launched earlier in 2022. And there are some beautiful examples of the tree surrounding the Transamerica pyramid, interspersed among red flower gums (another Corymbia - Corymbia ficifolia).