Hold the tinsel—the rainbow eucalyptus tree doesn"t need decorations to appear festive for the holidays. Its bark displays a palette of bright colors by design. As older layers of bark peel away in strips, new layers packed with green chlorophyll are revealed. These exposed areas eventually transition to hues of blue, purple, and orange as tannins accumulate. The continual peeling allows the tree to shed mosses, lichen, fungi, or parasites along with the bark, while also exposing the chlorophyll underneath, which boosts the tree"s ability to photosynthesize. The bark isn"t the only unusual thing about this species. While most people associate eucalyptus with koalas and Australia, the rainbow eucalyptus is native to the Philippines and Indonesia. It thrives in tropical climates like Hawaii, where our homepage trees were photographed.
Tree of many colors
Today in History
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Happy Thanksgiving
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World Sea Turtle Day
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Wychwood Forest, Oxfordshire, England
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Winter solstice
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Nha Phu Bay, Nha Trang, Vietnam
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Mardi Gras
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Cosplay strongly encouraged
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Crescent Lake near Dunhuang, China
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Bonsai Rock, Lake Tahoe, Nevada
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Brain coral
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Whales in winter
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Up in the Highlands
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Hooray, hooray, it s Unicorn Day!
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Oktoberfest
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Jackie Robinson Day
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The borrowed days are here
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Ancient groves in Australia
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Here we honor the women who ve served
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World Environment Day
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It s Mountain Day in Japan
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A notorious gunfight that was incorrectly named
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It s Asian Pacific American Heritage Month
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The most Instagrammable bird?
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National Public Lands Day
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Composite image of a lunar eclipse
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Exploring the wilder side of New York
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Happy Hobbit Day
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Back on the rise
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A special day for a special cat
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Northern coast of Colombia