An Ancestral Secret 
When the rapid growing eucalyptus tree pushes out its 
leaves it discloses one of the secrets of its ancestry. Some of 
the leaves, like those at the top of the branch pictured above, are 
narrow and long. Others, lower down, are much broader. Ona single 
tree it is common to find five or six different kinds of leaves seeming, 
when laid side by side, as though they must have come from separate 
plants. The history of the eucalyptus, as disclosed by its leaves, its 
quick growth, and other characteristics, is that one time it was an herb 
—perhaps an annual. To fit themselves to some new environment, its 
ancestors succeeded in establishing themselves as perennials. But this 
change was so recent that the evidences of the transition are still 
to be found in the leaves of all young eucalyptus trees today. 
