Knowledge hub

Do you have any excellent tools, podcasts or resources that we should be including in this section? Please send us a note at: contact@eucalyptaustralia.org.au.

Eucalypt resources

Research

Great Western Woodlands (CSIRO) – This is the largest remaining tract of Mediterranean climate woodland on Earth. Research by CSIRO and partners aims to inform our understanding of how ecosystems function and how they might respond to climate change.

Eucalypt Genetics Research Group (School of Natural Sciences, University of Tasmania) – Interested in eucalypt tree breeding, evolution and speciation, restoration and conservation genetics, or genomics and trait architecture? You might like to see the latest research from this group at UTas.

Atlas of Living Australia – The Atlas of Living Australia is a national project that aggregates biodiversity data from multiple sources and makes it freely available online.

Identification & classification

Currency Creek Arboretum – A largely self-funded specialist eucalypt arboretum in South Australia with over 900 species and subspecies. If you are interested in eucalypts, it’s well worth a trip to attend one of the Arboretum’s open days.

Classification of the eucalypts (PDF) – Dean Nicolle’s Classification of the Eucalypts for you to download.

Eucalypts of Victoria and Tasmania (book) –  Currently out of print, Dean Nicolle’s book Eucalypts of Victoria and Tasmania is worth tracking down if you can. Good news is he is working on a revised edition.

EUCLID – EUCLID assists the user to identify the species and subspecies of Eucalyptus and Angophora native to southern Australia.

Eucalypts of South Australia (book) – Dean Nicolle’s book on eucalypts of South Australia is a valuable resource for anyone interested in identifying and growing South Australia’s native eucalypts.

Atlas of Leaf Venation and Oil Gland Patterns in the Eucalypts (book) – In this book, Ian Brooker and Dean Nicolle use high quality scaled leaf venation images of vouchered specimens to compare all taxonomic groups in the eucalypts.

History

Andrew Isles natural history books (publisher website) – You might find that rare book on eucalypts you have been looking for amongst Andrew Isles’ collection of new, second-hand, and antiquarian history books.

The Study of Australian Eucalypts – Including links to a number of publications, this entry in the Encyclopaedia of Australian Science provides some context for understanding the people, organisations and industries associated with eucalypts.

Sir Ferdinand Jakob Heinrich von Mueller (Australian Dictionary of Biography) – Botanist Ferdinand von Mueller was an early advocate for eucalypts, promoting them worldwide and encouraging the commercial distilling of eucalyptus oil.

Conservation of eucalypts

Protected Matters Search Tool (Australian Government Department of the Environment and Energy) – This tool was designed to assist the public in searching for matters protected under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.

Threatened ecological communities (Australian Government Department of the Environment and Energy) – This map shows the broad environmental range in which nationally listed Threatened Ecological Communities can be found. Yes, it includes eucalypts.

Podcasts

Professor Ros Gleadow discusses Plant Biology Basics on this excellent Plants Grow Here episode 38.

Professor Ros Gleadow discusses Eucalypt Chemistry on this myth busting Plants Grow Here episode 93.

ABC’s The History Listen: Maiden’s Eucalypts :  Jodi Frawley’s Fellowship podcast.

Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria video series

Eucalypt Australia supported the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria to create a series of videos on how to select, grow and maintain suitable eucalypts in the home garden. Take a look.

An introduction

Selecting your eucalypt

Habitat in your home garden

Mallees make good garden trees

Planting your eucalypt

Caring for your eucalypt

Conservation in cultivation

Gumtrees are great to grow – Eucs for your home garden

Steve Pearce 2020 Dahl Fellowship: EUC2020 Video Series

Steve’s fellowship brief was for each month of 2020, to select one Eucalypt species from around Australia and produce shareable social media content which celebrates the chosen tree.

Steve’s content is designed to appeal to a younger audience, producing fun, creative and easily understood content. Steve’s main aim was to make his content freely available to educators, environment groups and the general public. The content can be used in a variety of ways, however Steve’s main aim was to design content which is easily shareable on social media.

EUC2020 # 1 The Biggest

Find out what makes this tree the king of the eucalypts.

Eucalyptus regnans is the biggest and tallest Eucalypt, it’s also the tallest tree in the southern hemisphere. Quite a title when there are so many tall eucalypts to compete with. At 100.5 meters tall it is hard to understand the scale of these trees.

Eucalyptus regnans grows in Victoria and Tasmania’s wet cool forests, with such a luscious growing environment the amazing growing habits of this tree are worthy of a closer look. We also see how thousands of tons of atmospheric carbon are stored in each and every old growth tree making them a vital part of a carbon capture economy.

Steve thanks to Giant Tree Expeditions for assiting with the production.

EUC2020 # 2 The Sexiest

This tree inspires a journy of 1000’s of kilometres just to see it.

Gimlet or Eucalyptus Salubris… the sexy gum??? Well, we are not qualified to designate a tree as sexy but what we can say is that this is one spectacular eucalypt. Its shimmering bronze bark is so unique that stories of it have inspired many to make a monumental journey to see it. Also, Gimlet isn’t a eucalypt all alone in the landscape, it grows in the Great Western Woodland. The Great western Woodland is an area of exceptionally high eucalypt diversity with around one third of all eucalypt species found there.

Steve thanks Gondwana Link and Ngadju Rangers for their assistance.

EUC2020 # 3 The Toughest

Living in Australia’s remotest and harshest landscapes this tree has a wide range of adaptations.

We travel west from Alice Springs past Uluru and into Western Australias Great Sandy Desert to explore this tree and its habitat. The Desert Bloodwood survives in our remotest desert landscapes and its resilience to heat, drought and fire make it perfectly suited to these inhospitable arid regions.

EUC2020 # 4 The Base

The Red Tingle holds the super heavyweight title of the eucalypts with the biggest base of all eucalypts.

This tree has a very small range and is located in the south west of Western Australia. Giant, gnarly, burnt and scared these eucalypti have plenty of character and feature the most amazing burnt bases which can be almost completely hollow.

EUC2020 # 5 The River Red

The most widely distributed of all the Eucalypts and a true Aussie icon

The River Red Gum is the most widely distributed eucalypt. As Australians, there’s no doubt that you have seen one and if you have camped near a river you would have enjoyed its shade. A true Aussie icon for the ages!

EUC2020 # 6 The Ghost

The Ghost Gum or Corymbia aparrerinja is one of Australia’s most recognisable trees.

But did you know that the term Ghost Gum isn’t referring to one tree but a group of around 24 species of tree. Follow along as we travel out to the deep gorges of Central Australia to find some of the most spectacular individuals of this species.

EUC2020 # 7 The Karri

The Karri of Western Australia grow to be more than 85m tall!

The Karri or Eucalyptus diversicolor rivals the giants of Tasmania and Victoria. They inhabit a wide range of environments from coastal sandy soils to the rich clay soils on the inland hills. Usually only a few lucky people ever get to climb into their highest branches but you… yes you can climb 3 of these trees for free!

EUC2020 # 8 The Snappy

The Snappy Gum or Eucalyptus leucophloia is a mysterious tree

that can be found in the Pilbara of Western Australia and the East of the Northern Territory into Western Queensland. Strangely, there is a very large 1000km gap in its distribution which we like to call The Snappy Void ?. While there are many unanswered mysteries what we do know is that this tree with its love of hot dry conditions is perfect for use in Restoration Ecology.

EUC2020 # 9 The Fluffiest

Eucalyptus obliqua takes out the title of the fluffiest eucalypt,

this fluffy bark enables this tree to have exceptionally high resilience to fire. It achieves greatness by being a true giant reaching more than 85m high and an astonishing 300 cubic meters in volume. Eucalyptus obliqua also represents the first eucalypt discovery by being the very first eucalypt formally described by European botanists in 1777. As well as the latest big tree discoveries of 2020 by Tasmanian big tree hunter Annie Ford. She found in early 2020 the widest Eucalyptus obliqua ever at 5.4m wide which is longer than a Toyota Hiace van!

EUC2020 # 10 The Frostiest

Eucalyptus gunnii subsp. divaricata is one of, if not the most well-adapted, Eucalypt to cold conditions.

It produces a sweet sugary sap that naturally has a much lower freezing point. Known as the Miana Cider Gum it has a traditional use by the Palawa as a sweet, possibly fermented drink with a likeness to apple cider. Being so well adapted to very cold environments it is struggling to keep up the rate of temperature changes brought on by climate change.

EUC2020 # 11 The Snowiest

Eucalyptus Pauciflora or the Snow Gum easily rivals the River Red Gum for the most iconic eucalypt.

It is well known for living in high altitude environments where it takes on a gnarly twisted form from its exposure to the harshest of elements. However, Eucalyptus pauciflora is the champion of altitudinal distribution because it can be found from sea level all the way up to our highest peaks.

EUC2020 # 12 The Strangest

In this last episode, we take a look at several of the weird and wonderful eucalypts of the Fitzgerald River national park in Western Australia.

Home to more than 1800 species of plant of which 62 are found only in the park it is a botanical treasure trove. We showcase the Wartiest, Squarest, Weepiest, Ribbiest and Horniest eucalypts in our final video fro 2020!

Underneath the Gum Trees

As part of its strategic educational vision, Eucalypt Australia funded the Among the Gum Trees unit developed by Primary Connections.  Primary Connections is an innovative program developed by the Australian Academy of Science with the objective of linking the teaching of science with the teaching of literacy in primary schools.

This video Underneath the Gum Trees supplements the Among the Gum Trees unit and addresses science understanding through the context of the interdependent relationship of eucalypt trees and animals.

More information on Among the Gum Trees and Primary Connections can be found here.