The toxins are thought to be produced by the trees as a protection against leaf-eating animals like insects.Įucalyptus flowers produce a great abundance of nectar, providing food for many pollinators including insects, birds, bats and possums. Eucalyptus leaves are very fibrous and low in nutrition, and to most animals are extremely poisonous. Koalas, Greater Gliders and Ringtail Possums, are only mammals which can survive on a diet of eucalyptus leaves. Whilst in a wide range of climates mild frost is experienced by eucalypts, they in general only tolerate light frosts down to −5 ☌ (23 ☏). Most eucalypts are not tolerant of severe cold.
![rainbow eucalyptus rainbow eucalyptus](http://www.addtobucketlist.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Rainbow-Eucalyptus-in-Kauai-Hawaii.jpg)
On warm days, eucalyptus forests are sometimes shrouded in a smog-like mist of vaporised volatile organic compounds the Australian Blue Mountains take their name from the haze. This then darkens and matures to give blue, purple, orange and then maroon tones.Įucalypts have been planted in some places around the world to dry up swamps, which happens because of their great consumption of water. Patches of outer bark are shed annually at different times, showing a bright green inner bark. The unique multi-hued bark is the most distinctive feature of the tree. Many species, though by no means all, are known as gum trees because they exude copious kino from any break in the bark.Įucalyptus deglupta, commonly known as the rainbow eucalyptus is a tall and most beautiful tree. The woody fruits or capsules are roughly cone-shaped and have valves at the end which open to release the seeds, which are waxy, rod-shaped, about 1 mm in length, and yellow-brown in color.Īustralia is covered by 92,000,000 hectares (227,336,951 acres) of eucalypt forest, comprising three quarters of the area covered by native forest. The name Eucalyptus, from the Greek words eu-, well, and kaluptos, cover, meaning “well-covered”, describes the operculum. As the stamens expand, the operculum is forced off, splitting away from the cup-like base of the flower this is one of the features that unites the genus. Thus, flowers have no petals, but instead decorate themselves with the many showy stamens. The most readily recognisable characteristics of eucalyptus species are the distinctive flowers and fruit.įlowers have numerous fluffy stamens which may be white, cream, yellow, pink, or red in bud, the stamens are enclosed in a cap known as an operculum which is composed of the fused sepals or petals, or both. In all except a few species, the leaves form in pairs on opposite sides of a square stem, consecutive pairs being at right angles to each other. The leaves on a mature eucalyptus plant are commonly lanceolate, petiolate, apparently alternate and waxy or glossy green. Mature eucalypts put on an annual layer of bark, which contributes to the increasing diameter of the stems. The appearance of eucalyptus bark varies with the age of the plant, the manner of bark shed, the length of the bark fibres, the degree of furrowing, the thickness, the hardness, and the colour. Six other eucalypt species exceed 80 meters in height.
![rainbow eucalyptus rainbow eucalyptus](http://www.exoticatropicals.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/81dFkQDQnvL._SL1333_.jpg)
Nearly all eucalyptus are evergreen, but some tropical species lose their leaves at the end of the dry season.Ī mature eucalyptus range form of a low shrub to a very large tree. Most species are native to Australia, with a very small number of native species found in parts of adjacent New Guinea and Indonesia and one as far away as the Philippines. There are more than 700 species of eucalyptus. Eucalyptus is a diverse genus of flowering trees and shrubs.