Acacia xanthophloea

This elegant, pastel-hued member of the Acacia family gets its common name from a long-ago misunderstanding. Early European pioneers found themselves contracting terrible fevers when journeying through or living in areas where these green-yellow barked thorn trees grew. They figured it must be the trees making them sick, but of course it was because the trees liked to grow in the swampy spots where malaria-carrying mosquitoes thrived.

The acacia xanthophloea is quite unique, as photo-synthesis takes place in the bark because its leaves are so small.