Trees and the city
Our vision is to make Adelaide an even more liveable city through greening the city and surrounding Park Lands.
To achieve this, we are working hard to increase the total number of trees in our city, and to keep existing trees healthy and looking great!
We have over 40,000 street and Park Land trees making up the ‘urban forest’ in the city of Adelaide.
To keep track of our progress, we have mapped most of our trees in the below interactive Urban Forest Map. Search the trees on your street, find out what's growing and even write a love letter to any tree you like!
Learn about some of our favourite trees
River Red Gum
Eucalyptus camaldulensis
Canopy shape: open
Height: 20-40 m
Spread: 10-15 m
Position: full sun
Probably the most widely cultivated Eucalypt species in the world, this local hero is at most at home along creeks and rivers but can be found throughout our squares and Park Lands. This iconic tree is used as a shade tree in open parks and waterways and is a habitat and food source for countless native animals.
SA Blue Gum
Eucalyptus leucoxylon subsp. leucoxylon
Canopy shape: open
Height: 8-30 m
Spread: 6-20 m
Position: full sun
This tree produces brilliant pink flowers that attracts nectar eating birds, bees and bats. It can remain small or grow to a tall and wide tree, depending on it’s surroundings. It is commonly used as a shade or habitat tree in our streets and Park Lands.
Sugar Gum
Eucalyptus cladocalyx
Canopy shape: open
Height: 20-25 m
Spread: 12-15 m
Position: full sun
This species is a recognised breeding habitat for the endangered Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoos. It is also planted in avenues in several of our parks. The flowers attract a variety of bats, birds and bees and retaining stands of these trees will encourage the return of this precious wildlife.
London Plane
Platanus × acerifolia
Canopy shape: spreading
Height: 20-25 m
Spread: 18-20 m
Position: full sun
This deciduous spreading tree is a favourite of ours in feature street settings and formal gardens. For example, along North Terrace’s cultural precinct and down Frome Road heading towards Adelaide Zoo and North Adelaide. It is extremely tolerant of pollution and variable air quality.
Photo by Creative Commons.
European Olive
Olea europaea
Canopy shape: oval
Height: 8-9 m
Spread: 6-7 m
Position: full sun
This tree represents some of the first colonial agriculture in Adelaide and is planted in State Heritage Listed groves in several of our parks. They are still harvested to this day! This tree can be invasive in natural settings and is best planted in controlled spaces as a production food crop or a small ornamental potted tree.
Desert Ash
Fraxinus angustifolia
Canopy shape: oval
Height: 10-15 m
Spread: 6-7 m
Position: full sun – part shade
This hardy tree is commonly planted as a street and shade tree for more open locations. It produces copious seeds and leaf litter, therefore, as with all deciduous species consideration must be given to planting in locations where litter will not reach waterways.
Photo by Creative Commons.
Common Hackberry
Celtis occidentalis
Canopy shape: domed
Height: 12-15 m
Spread: 5-8 m
Position: full sun
This hardy, spreading, shade tree a favourite choice for street settings and formal parks and squares. It looks a little like an elm but has a longer leaf and its resistant to Dutch Elm disease so maybe a good alternative. The small marble-like fruit is attractive to some birds.
Photo by Creative Commons.
River Sheoak
Casuarina cunninghamiana
Canopy shape: pyramidal
Height: 10-15 m
Spread: 6-10 m
Position: full sun
This slow growing Australian tree is from the north and northeast coast of Australia. It is an important food source for the Vulnerable (SA) yellow-tailed black cockatoo. It is also useful for soil retention and erosion control and is a good tree to plant along riverbanks or waterways.
Spotted Gum
Corymbia maculata
Canopy shape: open
Height:15-20 m
Spread: 8-10 m
Position: full sun
This tall and straight Australian tree is a gum tree that is not a Eucalyptus tree. It is commonly used in the Park Lands as a street tree or shade tree in open areas, parks and reserves. It also attracts nectar eating birds and insects.
Golden Wattle
Acacia pycnantha
Canopy shape: oval
Height: 4-6 m
Spread: 2-6 m
Position: full sun
This is Australia's national flower and an important local native species for parks. The profuse flowering attracts birds, native butterflies, and insects. An easy way to identify this tree is by the curved sickle or pickaxe (pycnantha) leaves. Even dead trees provide valuable roosts for native wildlife.
Dutch Elm
Ulmus × hollandica
Canopy shape: spreading
Height: 20-30 m
Spread:10-15 m
Position: full sun
Not only is this a popular street tree, this tree is part of Adelaide’s colonial heritage. The Elm Carriageway survives as a symbol of the first landscape plan for the Park Lands and was planted in the 1870s by William O'Brien (City Gardener 1861-1874). This feature can be found in Carriageway Park / Tuthangga (Park 17).
Chinese elm
Ulmus parvifolia
Canopy shape: oval
Height: 8-10 m
Spread: 9-11 m
Position: full sun
This hardy deciduous elm is often used as a shady street tree and we have used it along our beloved Rundle Mall. In cooler locations the leaves turn bronze-orange, yellow in autumn. Can be grown in locations such as roof gardens where constricted roots will constrain size.
Crepe Myrtle
Lagerstroemia indica (and indica x fauriei)
Canopy shape: open
Height: 5-6 m
Spread: 2-3 m
Position: full sun
You will find many of these ornamental small street trees in North Adelaide and the southern streets of the city. They have very attractive smooth bark and can produce a brilliant burst of flowers ranging from white, pink, red, mauve or purple, which attract birds, butterflies and other insects.
Canary Island Pine
Pinus canariensis
Canopy shape: oval
Height: 20-40 m
Spread: 10-12 m
Position: full sun
This handsome tall erect pine is from the Canary Islands and features in several of our formal gardens throughout the squares and Park Lands. This tree is better suited to larger parks and gardens. Has distinctive red and brown furrowed bark.
Aleppo Pine
Pinus halepenis
Canopy shape: oval
Height: 15-30 m
Spread: 10-15 m
Position: full sun
A popular choice for our beloved Grey-headed Flying-foxes camp in Botanic Park. The trunk often divides into two or more stems. Many branches develop from these trunks giving the tree a broad crown which can be a flat-topped or domed shaped.
Photo by Creative Commons.
Callery pear
Pyrus calleryana
Canopy shape: column
Height: 12-15 m
Spread: 4-6 m
Position: full sun
This very popular ornamental pear tree is a hardy adaptable tree used as a street tree, along narrow borders or around car parks and median strips, and in formal gardens and squares. They are the chosen home to a native migratory bird, the Tree Martin (Petrochelidon nigricans) and as many as 10,000 of me have been seen in the trees of Leigh Street at night. This is more than any one place anywhere in Australia. The tree has attractive red, purple, burgundy colours in autumn.
Photo by Creative Commons.