The silver-leafed mountain gum, or Eucalyptus pulverulent, is a small tree that can grow to 25 metres tall. It can also grow into a mallee, which is a multi-stemmed habit that many Eucalyptus trees have in the southern states of Australia. The ‘Baby Blue’ is a dwarf form of the species, so is smaller with many branches-its blue-green foliage is often used in floristry displays. The meaning of the binomial name, Eucalyptus pulverulent, has the following meanings:

• Eucalyptus-comes from two Greek words, ‘eu’, meaning well or true and ‘kalyptus’ which means hidden or covered, which refers to the opercula or calyptera which is cap that covers the developing flowers in the flower buds
• Pulverulenta-is a Latin word meaning powdered or dusty. This comes from the fact that there is often a waxy bloom that covers the leaves, flower buds and fruits of this particular species.

In the wild, the silver-leafed mountain gum is a rare species. It only occurs in a few locations in New South Wales, around Bathurst and Lithgow in the Blue Mountains and Tallong and Moss Vale in the Southern Highlands. The habitat in which the species is found includes grassy woodland on relatively infertile rock and/or sandy soils.

As with other eucalypts, the silver-leafed mountain gum does have both juvenile and adult foliage. The juvenile foliage is found in an opposite arrangement along the stems, being silver-grey in colour. They are round in shape and reach up to five centimetres across. The adult leaves are arranged alternately along the stem. In shape, they are lanceolate to elliptic, up to ten centimetres long by two centimetres wide. Interestingly, the adult leaves of this species are rarely produced.

The flowers are cream in colour and appear in umbels of three flowers. They are typical of all Myrtaceae family flowers-all showy stamens. the flowers appear in winter. The fruit, which is a woody capsule, follows the flowers, being cup-shaped to one centimetre long and wide.

When growing, it does prefer full sun. The silver-leafed mountain gum enjoys a a hard prune, growing well after such a treatment. The straight species can be grown from seed, while ‘Baby Blue’ needs to be propagated from cuttings.