Blaue Eukalyptus am Route 372, Ctra de Benamahoma a Grazalema, El Bosque, Spanien

Hi Wim,

Remember, buds and fruits are the best for identification. When photographing an unknown eucalypt, try to get photos of them. Leaves can help, too. Luckily, eucalypt buds and fruits are woody, so they remain intact for long time after they have fallen from a tree and they can be found almost always from the ground below the tree. This like photo set would be ideal:

http://www.jiggerjuice.info/plants/eucalyptus/eucalyptus-gracilis.html

Buds and fruits of other spp.:

http://northernbeachesherbarium.com.au/gallery/v/Trees/Eucalypts+-+bark+smooth/Eucalyptus+amplifolia/Eucalyptus+amplifolia+buds+and+fruit+_2_.JPG.html

http://northernbeachesherbarium.com.au/gallery/v/Trees/Eucalypts+-+bark+rough/Eucalyptus+crebra/Eucalyptus+crebra+fruit+and+buds.JPG.html

http://northernbeachesherbarium.com.au/gallery/v/Trees/Eucalypts+-+bark+smooth/Eucalyptus+tereticornis_001/Eucalyptus+tereticornis+fruit+_4_.JPG.html?g2_imageViewsIndex=1

http://www.florabank.org.au/lucid/key/species%20navigator/media/html/images/Eucalyptus_sideroxylon/buds%20fruits.jpg

You see, they differ!

Have nice holidays!

Kouta

Hi Kouta,

I have contacted a specialist-grower in exotic plants/trees. He gave me the name of a specialist in the Netherlands, but says the same as you do. I need close-ups of leaves and bark. I will contact this specialist as soon as I return from my holidays, that will start tomorrow. Next to that I contacted an office for tourism in Andalusia with some questions. I hope this will be helpful.

I agree with your suggestion of placing the tree under Eucalyptus sp. But that is indeed not possible yet. Nevertheless I keep these trees in mind and will change their description in the right way as soon as possible. They won’t stay eucalyptus gunnii forever, you can be sure of that. And, sorry for forgetting that we had an earlier contact about the Marrakesh tree. I thought it was with Conifers. That’s the problem when you grow older, your memory loses flexibility and capacity for names !

Greetings

Wim

Hi Kouta,

I have contacted a specialist grower in exotic plants/trees. He gave me the name of a specialist in the Netherlands, but says the same as you. I need closeups of leaves and bark. I will contact thsi specialist as soon as I have returned from my holidays.

I don't have a formal education in dendrology or botany either. I am also not a eucalypt specialist - it would be difficult to be in Central Europe where only few eucalypt species are hardy enough. I have only made five nature trips to Australia and tried to study to identify eucalypts in natural environments with the best Australian guides. I have learnt leaves, particularly mature leaves, have very little value in identification. You need to know:

1. How do buds, fruits and inflorescences look? Search them from the ground if you don't reach foliage.

2. How does bark look?

3. How is tree's general habit and size?

4. Which species are possible in the given climate and region?

For the determination of your species, it would be best to ask the park administration of the locality in question. The second best approach would be to try to identify them fruits and buds in hand with a good local or Australian guide. "Local" means Spanish in this case - it hopefully contains majority of the species used in Spain. With Australian guides you have to wade through hundreds of species but the right species is there for sure.

Keep adding trees from your countless travel destinations to MT. They are always top interesting. But in my opinion, it would be better to name unsure eucalypts as Eucalyptus sp., though I am not sure if it is possible yet.

Kouta

Hi Kouta,

Thank you for your reaction. I have a lot of books English, Dutch, French, German aso about trees and identifying them. But i have never had a formal education in dendrology or some related education. I realize that in the case of Eucalyptus my knowledge is insufficient. Nevertheless I uploaded them and I hope that this kind of discussions will -in the end- reveal the true species. Besides, I will have some opinions, that will make it easier for me to try and find information. If necesary at the government of Andalucia. So see this as a start and I am convinced that in some time these trees will appear on this site with the right determination.

Feel free to suggest whatever you think is necessary.

Wim

Hi Wim,

Like the Marrakech eucalypt, I think this is not E. gunnii. E. gunnii is a rather small tree from cool Tasmanian highlands. I strongly suspect it can reach this like dimensions in the warm climates of southern Spain or Morocco. The bark of E. gunnii is usually rough at the base up to a few metres. Do you have close-ups of buds or flowers?

I think these trees are not E. gunnii either:

http://www.monumentaltrees.com/en/esp/andalusia/cordoba/4447_alcazar/

http://www.monumentaltrees.com/en/esp/andalusia/cordoba/4448_jardiinesdelamercedplazadecolon/

But Owen Munday's tree in the UK looks true E. gunnii:

http://www.monumentaltrees.com/en/gbr/england/hampshire/3520_buttonslane/

Note the rough bark at the base. Also the smaller size and that it is growing in a much cooler climate.

I guess you have a European (maybe British?) identification book with only a few eucalypt species. Note that there are about 800 species of Eucalyptus, many of them being more suitable for warm climates than E. gunnii.

Kouta