Most New Zealand Christmas trees have red flowers—hence their name, as they appear to bear festive winter-time ornaments when in bloom. But this tree on Stanyan Street is highly unusual mutant specimen that blooms yellow. It grew from a cutting of an anomalous yellow blooming phenomena on a tiny New Zealand island in 1940.

Looks aren’t everything. This blue elderberry in Bernal Heights may not be the most photogenic tree on the list, but the city believes that it’s “a naturally occurring remnant of the original San Francisco forest,” an immediate descendant of a tree that lived and died before European settlers came to San Francisco. Its seed likely lodged in a convenient place for ages until roadwork dislodged it into more fertile soil, where it then did what comes naturally.

This fig tree planed in 1905 marks the original location of the Bancroft Library, which now resides in Berkeley. Presumably, it’s among the city’s most well-read foliage.

There are palms all over Dolores Street, but only two of them are of the phoenix sylvestris variety, which snuck in line with the larger and more common (in SF, at least) phoenix canariensis, landmarks in and of themselves. The city became particularly fond of palms after the 1989 earthquake; palms in San Francisco have always rubbed locals the wrong way (Herb Caen complained about them in his very first column), but City Hall deems them practical and attractive.

These shorter, bushier Dolores Street median palm trees get along well in the city because their original home, Guadalupe Island, tends toward fog, and because they’re naturally drought-resistant, which has been a particularly lucky break in recent years. The city notes that they are “small but quite old”—which almost sounds like fighting words, but in a tree context is complimentary.

Speaking of phoenix canariensis (known as the Canary Island Date Palm), they may be relatively common in the city these days, but these 13 at the end of Quesada are apparently particularly stately and “well established.” The city decided that they add so much flair to this one block that it merited special recognition.

To be honest, this pair of flowering ash trees at the Bernal Heights Library mostly seems to get credit for how well they compliment the building. Although both the city and Michael Sullivan, author of The Trees of San Francisco, note that flowering ash trees are “exceedingly rare” in the city, so they’re not slouches themselves.

There are several sweet bay trees promenading in front of the circa 1911 Customs Building, but this one happens to be the tallest in the city and the council was impressed that it was also “very well pruned,” so it gets the nod. As the name implies, it’s good for cooking; but of course, this one is a Very Important Tree, so hands off.

This one might be called a diamond in the rough—or a somewhat rare and beautiful tree in the midst of a street median in the Bayview, which is precisely what it is. Known as Florida Holly, note that the berries and sap of this South American tree species are poisonous.