Mountain Ash

About

The tallest of all flowering plants on Earth, mature trees reach 70-114m in the cool, high-rainfall mountain forests of Victoria and Tasmania. In Victoria it grows in the Otway, Dandenong, Yarra and Strzelecki ranges, with Great Otway National Park holding wet forest stands in pure stands or mixed with other eucalypts.

How to spot it

A straight-trunked giant with smooth grey bark and rough brown stringy bark persisting at the base. Glossy green, lance-shaped to curved adult leaves and white flowers in groups of nine to fifteen. Needs deep loam soils and over 1,000mm of annual rainfall — look for towering wet-forest stands rather than drier ridgelines.

Found in

• Great Otway National Park