Smooth-barked apple
Angophora costata
A fast-growing native that looks more sculpture than street tree. Its salmon-pink bark and twisted form make it a favourite park and avenue planting well south of its natural range.
Where it grows
Smooth-barked apple is native to the sandstone country of coastal New South Wales and southern Queensland. It's been planted well beyond that range as an ornamental for decades, and Kingston and neighbouring bayside councils use it as an avenue and park tree for its shade canopy and tolerance of poor, sandy soils.
Wildlife it supports
Heavy spring and summer flowering makes it a magnet for nectar feeders, and mature trees form hollows faster than most other eucalypt relatives - useful habitat even in a mown park setting.
The timber
A brittle, interlocked-grain hardwood with light reddish-brown heartwood and pale sapwood. It's hard to work and doesn't hold up well outdoors, which is why you rarely see it in construction. What it does have is character - it turns up in turned pieces, chopping blocks and furniture where the density and grain can do the talking.
- kg/m³ air-dry density
- ~990
Figures are indicative reference values for the species, not measurements of any one tree.