From: rim@csadfa.cs.adfa.oz.au (Bob McKay)
Subject: Re: More Eucalyptus questions
Organization: Australian Defence Force Academy, Canberra, Australia
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1992 01:18:55 GMT

After all the discussions on cold climate Eucalyptus, I finally got around to
searching through ancient back copies of the newsletter of the Society for
Growing Australian Plants, Canberra Region, from 1979/80 for some articles
I vaguely recalled. Typos can be blamed on two generations of transcription
plus a scanner. Hope they're of interest....


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EUCALYPTUS SPECIES IN COUNTY DUBLIN, IRELAND

Between 1969 and 1976, 90 Eucalyptus species were planted in a coastal garden 
at Baily, Dublin (53.4oN lat.) to test their hardiness and suitability as 
decorative trees. For soil and climate see Proc. XIX International Hort. 
Congr., 1(b), 824, 1974. Between January 1971 and January 1978 minimum air 
temperatures seldom fell below -2oC, exceptions being -3.6oC (January 1972) 
and -6oC (January 1977). In addition to the species listed by Dr D. Martin 
(J. Royal Hort. Soc. LXXV, 186) as standing temperatures above -7 to 9oC, the 
following survived the cold 1977 winter:

E. acaciiformis, andreana, baxteri, blakelyi, blaxlandii, camphora, 
camaldulensis, cordieri, cornuta, deanei, elaeophora, fastigata, glaucescens, 
goniocalyx, huberiana, kitsoniana, kruseana, lansdowneana, maideni, mckieana, 
mitchelliana, neglecta, nicholii, nitens, notabilis, nova-anglica, oblonga, 
obtusiflora var. dendromorpha, piperita, polyanthemos, saligna, stellulata and 
stuartiana. 

The following failed to survive: E. astringens, calophylla, campaspe, carnei, 
cladocalyx, eremophila, erythronema, doratoxylon, falcata, forrestiana, 
gomphocephala, grossa, jacksonii, lehmannii, leucoxylon, longifolia, maculata, 
nutans, occidentalis, preissiana, punctata, steedmanii, stricklandii, 
tetraptera, woodwardi and wandoo. 

E. ficifolia was killed back but resprouted strongly. 

In addition to the widely planted E. gunnii, the results suggest that a range 
of attractive species could be planted in mild areas. Among those suitable for 
garden decoration which have survived -6oC are: E. acaciiformis (small green 
sessile juvenile foliage), E. cinerea (blue-green ovate sessile foliage), E. 
cordata (white bark, glaucous sessile leaves), E. Iinearis (graceful habit, 
linear green leaves), E. nicholii (weeping habit, narrow leaves), E. nova 
anglica (glaucous juvenile foliage), E. polyanthemos (glacous round leaves) 
and E. pulverulenta (glaucous cordate sessile leaves).

Reproduced from: Abstracts - XXth International Horticultural Congress, 
Sydney, 15-23 August 1978 Abstract 1865.


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EUCALYPTS IN FRANCE

Recently there has been renewed interest in the possibility of growing 
Eucalypts in France as a possible source of industrial wood to complement the 
production from conifers and to take advantage of the good volume increments 
which are characteristic of eucalypts wherever they are grown successfully. 
While there is a recent development in France, eucalypts have been known and 
planted there for more than a century. One of the earliest and best known 
collections is at Villa Thuret a good deal of which still survives including 
a few of the original plants. The garden is now part of Centre Regional of 
'lnstitut National de la Recherche Agronomique. Villa Thuret is on the small 
peninsula of Cap d'Antibes which juts out into the Mediterranean a little to 
the east of Cannes. The garden bears the name of its creator Gustave Thuret 
(1817-1875) who established the collection in the grand style of the 19th 
century. The botanist Ch. Naudin, whose name is well known to eucalyptologists 
in Australia, published records of the performance of eucalypts there in 
his "Memoire sur les Eucalyptus'' published in Paris in 1883 and 1891 and it 
is clear that by 1877 a good many were already well established.

Amongst the relatively frost sensitive species seen as old trees are 
E. diversicolor, E. globulus, E. punctata, E. saligna, E. maculata and 
E. tereticornis as well as Angophora costata.

The original tree of E. antipolitensis which is evidently a hybrid of 
E. globulus x E. viminalis is still to be seen in the garden and may have 
had its origin there or have come in a seed from Tasmania where E. unialata 
of the same parentages occurs commonly enough around Hobart.

There are some fine specimens too of more frost hardy species especially 
E. benthamii v. dorrigoensis and E. viminalis. The good survival and growth of 
these relatively frost tender species is a reflection of the very mild 
climate of Antibes which is a consequence of its precise location. Similar 
conditions are to be found along the Riviera from Nice to Menton and extending 
into Italy at least as far as San Remo. Along a very narrow strip o this coast 
eucalypts - principally globulus, camaldulensis, sideroxylon and viminalis - 
at least 60 years old are commonly seen and to emphasise the mildness of the 
local conditions also Brachychiton populnea.

While the microclimatic conditions of this region have long been appreciated 
the position was re-assessed by M. Andre Metro in the early 1950s based on long
experience in Morocco and foliowing an extended visit to Australia in 1948. 
This led to trials of a group of species thought to be more cold hardy than 
most of these established at Villa Thuret in a site further inland where the 
climatic conditions are more severe.

A main test site was Ravin de Caunes some 50 km or so inland from Toulon and 
the first plantings there were in 1955. Twenty-one years later E. dalrympleana 
had reached about 2S m in height and 42 c ms d.b.h. Other species which had 
performed nearly as well were E. pauciflora, E. stellulata, E. gunnii, 
E. rubida and E. viminalis from Yarrangobilly. It was also of interest that 
there was substantial natural regeneration of pauciflora and stellulata 
following thinning of the trial plots.

At about this time also, M.H. Menager a colleague of Metro established plots 
on his private estate at Devinas near Bordeaux. The winters are considerably 
more severe here than further south and a testing period after establishment 
was on February 3rd, 1956, when temperatures for some days of -15oC to -17oC 
were experienced.

After this, out of a 50 or so plants the survivors were 47 E. gunnii, 
2 E. parvifolia, 1 E. debeuzevilles.

From a later, 1963, planting in the same area E. gunnii, E. dalrympleana ssp. 
(SPINCB) E. delegatensis (from Tasmania) and E. pauciflora show promising 
growth.

There have been other small trials in France too, including those by the Favier
family in Normandy where E. coccifera hybrids have performed well, and some 
excellent growth of E. dalrympleana in the Pyrenees near Bayonne.

From the evidence of trials like this further renewed interest in industrial 
wood production lead in the last few years to fairly extensive additional 
tests in the regions from Bordeaux south to Bayonne then along the foot of the 
Pyrenees at various sites, skirting Carcassone and Montpellier to Pierre Feu 
near Toulon.

The critical condition for eucalypts in these areas is low temperature in 
winter and especially the o-ccasional very cold spells which occur at 
intervals of some years. Any species used must be able to survive this stress 
reasonably well. But there are also additional constraints. Few eucalypts 
especially the more cold resistant ones are able to thrive in the more 
calcareous soils and also it has been common experience that species of 
Monocalyptus are of uncertain thrift as exotics outside Australia.

The evidence in France is challenging for the tree breeder. There are 
indications that there is a sufficiently high level of low temperature 
resistance to make very substantial gains through well known improvement 
methods.

There is some prospect, though it is less certain, that sensitivity to 
calcereous soils might be ameliorated, if not overcome.

The record of success of species of Monocalyptus from the more recently 
established plots gives a hint that there perhaps has been some progressive 
change in the suitability of the microbiological environment in France in the 
last 20 years and that species like E. delegatensis and E. pauciflora which 
are amongst the more promising cold resisters may not continue to suffer from 
the nutritional deficiencies which are so often seen in species of the 
"sub genus".

It is quite likely that the next decade or so will see eucalypts become a part 
of French forest resource.

L.D. Pryor

Reproduced from: The Forestry Log, Vol. 10, p.39-40, 1977.

-- 
Bob McKay		   	Phone:	+61 6 268 8169	    fax: +61 6 268 8581
Dept. Computer Science		Internet:	rim@csadfa.cs.adfa.oz.au
ADFA, Northcott Dve 		UUCP:...!uunet!munnari!csadfa.cs.adfa.oz.au!rim
Campbell ACT 2600 AUSTRALIA	ARPA:	rim%csadfa.cs.adfa.oz.au@uunet.uu.net
Newsgroups: rec.gardens