Dean Nicolle struggles to name his favourite species of eucalyptus.
"If I had to put a name down, my favourite species would change every day," he says.
"It depends upon whether I am in the field, or if I'm out in the wild, or what's in flower or the colours of the bark at the time."
But there is one species, he admits, that has a particular place in his heart at any time of the year because it is so rare.
The Seppelt Range gum (Eucalyptus ceracea) is only found in a couple of patches in the remote Kimberley region of Western Australia.
The small, scrubby tree has big balls of orange flowers set against greyish-coloured leaves and orange fibrous bark.
"I've only seen it in the field once," Dr Nicolle says.
And it is one of just a handful of species he doesn't have growing on his arboretum in South Australia.
https://amp-abc-net-au.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/amp.abc.net.au/article/101229092
"If I had to put a name down, my favourite species would change every day," he says.
"It depends upon whether I am in the field, or if I'm out in the wild, or what's in flower or the colours of the bark at the time."
But there is one species, he admits, that has a particular place in his heart at any time of the year because it is so rare.
The Seppelt Range gum (Eucalyptus ceracea) is only found in a couple of patches in the remote Kimberley region of Western Australia.
The small, scrubby tree has big balls of orange flowers set against greyish-coloured leaves and orange fibrous bark.
"I've only seen it in the field once," Dr Nicolle says.
And it is one of just a handful of species he doesn't have growing on his arboretum in South Australia.
https://amp-abc-net-au.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/amp.abc.net.au/article/101229092