Hugh Bollinger / Thursday, June 9, 2011

More on the eucalyptus trees

Reilly, You say that plants can tell a story, they all do but most people can’t read the book---they’re just “plants." One story of the Eucalyptus trees is that they do battle with all other plants. I’m a real fan of eucalyptus trees in their proper place. They’re amazing trees! Australia has 800+ species and counting the last time I checked. The genus is solely found in OZ with the exception of a couple of species on Papua New Guinea, since the two islands were attached during the Pleistocene. Here’s a colorful species from Western Australia, a real center of Eucalyptus diversity and endemism in Australia. [caption id="attachment_4624" align="aligncenter" width="1024" caption="Western Australia endemic Eucalyptus photo credit: SWP Media.com"]

[/caption] Eucs are weeds but not particularly invasive like tamarix or cheatgrass but that’s less of an issue in comparison to their ability to suck H2O and leach chemicals from their leaves. Have you ever noticed that nothing grows under a grove of Eucalyptus? They are allelopathic, one of the fundamental processes of ecology. Think of it like chemical warfare but played over eons of evolution. The eucs won! The folks who move the trees over to CA for railroad ties and windbreaks and all around the developing world knew nothing of this stuff and mostly still don’t. The ripples of consequences continue. Thanks for the fine piece, - Hugh Bollinger

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