The Winner
John Turnbull
Eucalyptus globula
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Tasmanian blue gum (Eucalyptus globulus) was dubbed the ‘Prince of Eucalypts’ by Ferdinand von Mueller (1825-1896), Director of what are now the Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne, because he considered this magnificent Australian tree had the potential to be planted around the world for timber and other products. Time has proved von Mueller’s judgement to be correct. Its significance in
in its native Tasmania was recognised on
27 November 1962 when it was proclaimed the State’s floral emblem.
‘Tasmanian blue gum’ refers to the appearance of the bluish juvenile leaves and the locality where it occurs most commonly. It is also known as ‘southern blue gum’. The specific name ‘globulus’, from the Latin meaning ‘ball-like’ or ‘spherical’, may refer to the shape of the fruit or to the very distinct knob-like projection on the bud operculum.
A tall E. globulus is growing in Section 66 on the edge of the Rain Forest Gully adjacent to the car park. Its bark hangs down in long ribbons leaving a smooth greyish surface and its buds and fruits are solitary, unlike those of most other eucalypts which have them
in clusters.
It is rare to see this species in Canberra as frosts are generally too severe but the closely-related blue gums, E. bicostata and E. maidenii, are more frost-tolerant and planted commonly in the city.
Eucalyptus globulus was discovered in Recherche Bay, Tasmania, in 1792 by the Frenchman, Jacques-Julian Houtou de Labillardière (1755-1834). Labillardière was the naturalist on an expedition, led by Bruni d’Entrecasteaux, which explored coastal areas of southeastern Tasmania. The hundreds of plant specimens he collected in Australia were confiscated by the Dutch when the expedition reached Java and eventually were taken to England. It was only through the intervention of Sir Joseph Banks that they were returned to the collector. Eucalyptus globulus was one of the first eucalypts to be named when Labillardière described and illustrated it in 1799. After his death his plant specimens were deposited in the Botanical Museum of Florence, Italy where they still reside.
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Tasmanian blue gum is found along the east coast of Tasmania, including King and Flinders Islands in Bass Strait, and in coastal southern Victoria. It grows in tall open-forest and woodland at altitudes up to 450 m. The climate in its range is cool to mild, with wet winters, reliable summer rainfall and only light frosts.
At the time of the French explorations, the virgin forests of Tasmania were amongst the tallest in the world and included blue gums up to 100 m in height. Tall, straight-boled trees up to 80 m tall and 2 m diameter can still be found on well-watered, deep soils in sheltered areas but, occasionally, on harsh, exposed sites they may be reduced to mallee-like shrubs.
Early explorers and colonists quickly recognised that blue gum timber was durable and resistant to the destructive Teredo sea worm. It became valued for shipbuilding and marine construction and by the late 1800s the huge trees were being turned into wharf piles and shipped throughout the world. The durable timber was also in demand for railway sleepers, mining timbers and street paving blocks.
Tasmanian blue gum was the first eucalypt to be widely known outside Australia as a garden tree and for wood production. By 1810 it was already growing in the gardens of the Empress Josephine at Chateau Malmaison near Paris. By the 1860s it was being grown elsewhere in southern Europe, Africa, South America, India and the USA. Later in the 19th century it helped drain the Pontine Marshes near Rome to combat malaria and became known as the ‘fever tree’.
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Tasmanian blue gum was planted in Ethiopia for fuelwood and poles around the capital, Addis Ababa, and has enabled the city to prosper on that site to this day. In South America it succeeded in Ecuador, Chile and the high Andes in Peru. Blue gums planted by farmers on the Yunnan Plateau in southwest China for fuelwood have now become the primary source of the world supply of eucalyptus oil. In some countries the Australian origin of E. globulus was forgotten and local names, such as ‘Californian blue gum’ or ‘Canton blue gum’, were applied!
Young plantation-grown wood was prone to splitting and warping and greatly reduced interest in the wood for sawn timber but it continued to be favoured for firewood, charcoal and mine timbers. However, in the latter part of the 20th century it became the principal species planted in industrial plantations in temperate regions to provide raw material for the expanding pulp and paper industry. Extensive pulpwood plantations now exist in several countries including Spain, Portugal, Chile and southern Australia. Even the blue gum enthusiast Ferdinand von Mueller could not have imagined the global success of Eucalyptus globulus!
Photos:
Eucalyptus globulus in section 66 at the ANBG : Photo by Barbara Podger.
E.globulus at Golden Temple Kunming, China : Photo by John Turnbull.
Leaves and blossoms of E. globulus subsp globulus :Photo by R. Hotchkiss © ANBG.
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The Bernard Fennessy "What's
in a Name" Award 2010