Eucalyptus flowers: E. macarthurii in bloom

Phenology of E. macarthurii in Galicia (Northwestern Spain)

Gustavo Iglesias Trabado
GIT Forestry Consulting - Consultoría y Servicios de Ingeniería Agroforestal - www.git-forestry.com - EUCALYPTOLOGICS

Blooming starts: August
Blooming ends: October
Nº simultaneous flower/fruit crops: up to 3
Seed maturity after flower bud formation: 18 to 30 months
Seed maturity after blooming: 12 to 18 months

The Eucalyptus of Sir William Macarthur can reach up to 40 meters height when grown at forestry plantings on good sites, or remain a shorter tree of wider crown and retaining basal branches when grown as isolated specimen (20-30 m).

Its quite good cold hardiness, resisting down to -10ºC and more than 80 frost events per year, and its average growth rates, made of it one of the alternative species in Northwestern Spain to E. globulus for inland areas or beyond 500 meters above sea level before the widespread planting of E. nitens.

Prolific in flowering, individual blooms are very small sized and difficult to notice. In clusters of seven, they become small white masses, same way as E. pauciflora. But these inflorescences are yet the size of a thumb. Which does not stop bees and other pollinators.

Studies conducted in the 1980's by Pezeshki and the University of Washington (USA) at Lee Experimental Forest proved its cold hardiness reaches its limits around -14ºC, but can coppice after that.

We include it in category ATL1 (absolute minima from -5ºC to 10ºC) for safe cultivation, but suitable seed provenances and origins could be tried with caution in the mildest part of ATL2 zone (absolute minima from -10ºC to -15ºC).

Interesting literature

Pezeshki, S R (1987) Survival and Early Growth of Alnus rubra, Eucalyptus macarthurii, E. viminalis, and Populus trichocarpa in the Pacific Northwest. Tree Planters' Notes 38:4

Also in this site

Eucalyptus flowers: E. globulus in bloom
Eucalyptus flowers: E. nitens in bloom
Eucalyptus flowers: E. pauciflora in bloom


Other GIT links

Eucalyptus macarthurii: Camden Woollybutt Highland Forests in Northwestern Spain
Eucalyptus macarthurii: An example of anatomic study to assist species identification
Eucalyptus seed collection: the importance of good timing


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© 2008 Gustavo Iglesias Trabado. Please contact us if you want to use all or part of this text and photography elsewhere. We like to share, but we do not like rudeness.