Eucalyptus, the Latin name for Eucalyptus, is a tall, fast-growing species of trees and shrubs. The birthplace of green giants of the plant world is the smallest continent - Australia and the islands closest to the mainland. Evergreen eucalyptus (tree) Europeans brought to France in the middle of the XIX century for cultivation in gardens, and dwarf forms - in greenhouses. Since then, these green skyscrapers, natural pumps, and a thunderstorm of germs have spread throughout the world.
Skin Changing Plant
On Earth, not many flora representatives are known who are freed from the bark on their own. The Russian writer V. Soloukhin was struck by this fact when he was resting in the Caucasus. He noticed that eucalyptus is a tree that is "always rejuvenated." Chinara (plane tree) is also able to independently dump the bark. For this feature, the tree is popularly called "shamelessness."
Widespread use is powerful and durable trunks, healing essential oil, leaves that do not dump eucalyptus (tree). The description of this amazing plant includes many interesting details. For example, the outer layer of the crust crumbles in March, when autumn begins in the southern hemisphere. Then the trunks and branches of eucalyptus trees become gray, greenish, yellow, sometimes bluish.
Eucalyptus Description
The leaves of the tree are opposite and regular, and their sizes depend on age. The main features of the leaf apparatus are the integral form of the plate, the presence of intercellular glands with essential oil. Adult leaves are lanceolate, with a pointed tip. Length is 12 cm, width - 2.5 cm. At a young age, they have a more pronounced silver hue, round or heart-shaped.
Eucalyptus is a tree that does not give a shadow, because the leaf blades turn edge to side to the sun. White flowers are bisexual, collected in umbellate or paniculate inflorescences, and solitary are also found. The sepals grow together with the ovary, and the petals are lignified, as a result, a fruit is formed - a box with a lid. Inside are small seeds that spill out when the flaps open.
Genus "Eucalyptus"
Flowering evergreen trees and shrubs belong to the myrtle family. In Australia, in the last century, 90% of the natural plantations were eucalyptus forests. There are about 700 species that are united by the genus Eucalyptus, most of them come from Australia, only 15 originate from the islands of Oceania.
For more than 100 years, eucalyptus (tree) has been cultivated in tropical and temperate latitudes, on the continents of Eurasia, Africa and America. Several heat-loving species that are grown in the Mediterranean, the United States, Brazil, the Middle East, and China are widely spread. These include eucalyptus:
- rod-shaped;
- almond;
- ball;
- ashen.
Eucalyptus flowers do not have a strong aroma, but attract bees. These nectar and pollen collectors in Australia prefer eucalyptus. Essential oils of different types of eucalyptus are used in alternative and official medicine, used in perfumes, cosmetology. Leaves of these amazing Australian plants also have medicinal properties.
Eucalyptus - the tallest tree in the world.
Trees are characterized by rapid, rapid growth. You can find quite large specimens that have reached only ten years of age. Here are some amazing facts:
- Almond eucalyptus in the first few years of life grows up to 3 m with a trunk thickness of up to 6 cm;
- trees in natural conditions can have a height of 12 m in 5 years, a thickness of up to 20 cm, old specimens are known to be more than 150 m high (30 m reaches such an unusual tree in girth ) ;
- the height (eucalyptus) of the trunk at the age of 20 is usually 30–40 m;
- genetically modified trees by 5–6 years old reach 27–30 m in height.
The famous Russian naturalist writer K. Paustovsky compared eucalyptus and conifers. It turns out that at the age of five this amazing plant gives more wood than spruce or fir at the age of 120 years.
The benefits of a green skyscraper
The height of the eucalyptus tree is 20 years old - with a 15-story building. Fully mature and ready for industrial felling planting at the age of 25-30 years. By the age of 40, trees can be taller and thicker than bicentenary oaks. From eucalyptus get paper, cardboard. Its hard and durable wood, comparable in quality to black walnut, gained world fame. It almost does not rot, drowns in water, and scares off wood-boring insects.
Eucalyptus trunks are used where material durability is required. Piles of straight and smooth trees will stand in sea water for two decades without signs of decay. Wood of different species is unevenly colored, different in texture. Yellow, olive, white and reddish tones prevail, which are especially appreciated in the furniture industry and building decoration.
Transgenic trees
It is difficult to ignite eucalyptus wood, but the coal obtained from it is of high quality. The biotechnology departments of industrial companies have created genetically modified specimens that grow 40% faster even in thickened plantings, produce more wood and coal. Plantations of transgenic plants - eucalyptus, pine, poplar, papaya and other fruits, rape, soy, vegetables - occupy more and more space on Earth. Their experimental cultivation has been conducted since the 1980s in different countries. With the help of these plants, food and raw material problems can be solved, and ever-increasing world energy requirements can be satisfied.
For more than 10 years, Israeli biotechnologists have been studying the possibilities of industrial cultivation of GMO trees of eucalyptus and poplar. The massive introduction of such commercial landings is only constrained by biosafety laws. They regulate the scope of transgenic products, but are not accepted in all countries.
The consequences of introducing GMOs are not well understood, but it is already clear that transgenic eucalyptus plants are more resistant to pests and may have an unaccounted for effect on soil and living organisms. Possible consequences are associated with food webs in ecosystems. Eucalyptus and poplar scatter pollen in a vast area, live for decades, so the harmful effects last longer.
How can a modified eucalyptus (tree) be dangerous? Where a transgenic instance grows surrounded by natural forms, there may be their mutual pollination. This, according to experts in the field of biosafety, is fraught with uncontrolled consequences. Nightmare scenes from science fiction films may come true when shoots grow at incredible speed and break through walls.
Eucalyptus Landscaping
The evergreen plant has excellent windproof properties, drains raw soils. Eucalyptus roots are capable of absorbing an unusually large volume of water, which is why the tree is called the "green pump." The landscape architect will name many more valuable features that eucalyptus possesses.
The tree at home is grown more often, it is unpretentious, requires minimal maintenance. More time and care will be needed to form a bonsai using pruned branches and the main shoot. In landscape design, eucalyptus is suitable for stabilizing the soil on the slopes, slopes and banks of water bodies, to prevent erosion. The plant prefers moist, but well-drained sandy loamy soils (pH - from neutral to slightly acidic).
The healing properties of eucalyptus
Eucalyptus branches for air disinfection have long been hung in Australian hospitals. Phytoncides secreted by the plant have an antiseptic and calming effect. An infusion of leaves is used in folk medicine as an expectorant, disinfectant and anti-inflammatory agent. Infected wounds are washed with 15% decoction of eucalyptus leaves (pre-sterilized).
Eucalyptus oil
The most suitable for treatment is considered to be an essential oil obtained from the form of ball eucalyptus (ball). As medicinal raw materials, only old plant leaves are suitable. They are collected in summer and autumn, when the percentage of oil rises. Extraction to obtain volatile aromatic substances can be both fresh and dried leaves. Eucalyptus oil is a colorless, yellow or greenish liquid with a pleasant odor. This leaf processing product perfectly refreshes the air, saturates it with a useful and pleasant aroma. Eucalyptol, which is part of the oil, has an antiseptic and expectorant effect, helps with diseases of the oral cavity and throat. Apply it in sprays and lozenges for tonsillitis, flu.
To grow eucalyptus in a room, it is better to use seeds of relatively undersized species, place seedlings and seedlings in a small bowl. It will require annual transplantation or transplantation, intense sunlight and good hydration.
The fragrant leaves of each type of eucalyptus have their own aroma, which combines notes of lemon, rose, violet, lilac. Most of all, oil smells like laurel, turpentine, camphor. In the rooms where eucalyptus is grown, the trees delight the eye with elegant and useful foliage, purify the air with volatile products.