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. On a 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. 



