Rainbow Eucalyptus — Philippines Papua New Guinea
The rainbow eucalyptus (Eucalyptus deglupta) in its native range of Mindanao and Papua New Guinea — the only eucalyptus species native to the northern hemisphere, the bark's simultaneous shedding of different-aged layers revealing vivid green, blue, purple, orange, and maroon patches in an ever-changing colour mosaic across the trunk's full circumference, creating one of the botanical world's most visually extraordinary tree experiences. The Philippine's Mindanao province and the Bukidnon Plateau's stands of mature rainbow eucalyptus (accessible from Cagayan de Oro) produce the finest bark colour examples, the freshest-shed green brightening through blue to purple and finally brown as the bark ages, with all colours present simultaneously on each trunk. The tree's combination of its completely improbable colouration, the practical cultural context (the world's second-most-used eucalyptus for pulpwood), and the Philippine's extraordinary biodiversity create a botanical encounter of unusual visual extremity in a landscape of considerable biological richness.
About this spectacle
Standing before a mature rainbow eucalyptus on Mindanao's Bukidnon Plateau is a disorienting visual experience — the trunk reads less like bark and more like wet paint dragged across living wood. As the outermost layers peel away in long vertical strips, the freshly exposed inner bark glows an almost luminous lime-green before cycling through teal, blue-grey, violet, purple, and finally deep maroon-brown as it ages. All these stages coexist simultaneously on a single trunk, shifting in mosaic patches across its full circumference. Morning light intensifies the greens and blues most dramatically. The trees grow in genuine forest stands here, their canopies high overhead and trunks rising straight before the colour show begins at eye level. The plateau's humidity keeps the freshly shed patches vivid. No two trunks are alike, and returning to the same tree an hour later reveals the palette has already shifted. It is emphatically not a trick of the light — the colour is real, physical, and as extreme as advertised.
When to go
Year-round
Getting there
Nearest airport: CGY. Nearest city: Cagayan de Oro.
Booking options
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